Nigeria

**New technologies were used to ask candidates about their policies (Giren: Zeynep)**
http://www.voanews.com/content/social-media-play-big-role-in-nigerias-elections041911-120222299/157928.html Nigerian president Goodluck Jonathan, nicknamed “The Facebook President,” first announced his candidacy on the popular social networking site. Statistics show that more than 90 million Nigerians own mobile phones and millions more have access to the Internet. Many Nigerians have used the new technologies to ask the various candidates about their policies. There have been campaigns to get Nigerian youth involved in the elections – by using social media to get them to register to vote.

===There is a case study of Nigeria where the internet access is low, which might be applied to regions in Turkey with relatively low access to social media to maximize the effects of social media. (Giren: Zeynep) ===

[|http://fairygodsister.wordpress.com/2011/03/23/social-media-and-the-new-dimension-to-nigerian-politics/|Nigeria]]]

There is a case study of Nigeria where the internet access is low, which might be applied to regions in Turkey with relatively low access to social media to maximize the effects of social media. As there was fraud on the election process itself they have developed a mobile app to report Freud on the spot by elligible voters (bit like Oy ve Otesi with an application twist- Z) Introducing a mobile application called “ReVoDa” by the Enough is Enough (EIE) coalation. (GREAT NAME FOR SOME COUNTRİES, Z.) It enables eligible voters become independent observers from whatever polling booths they may be at during Nigeria’s general elections in April. **It allowed citizens report incidents of violence/fraud, police and electoral staff behaviour (proper and improper), and results of the elections in their polling units,** **all with a couple of clicks of their mobile phones**. It recoreded 10,000 hits in the 72 hours “Politics and indeed the political arena has been flooded with young people who are not just interested in change but are in a hurry to see it happen. **Youth led groups like //What About Us//** team, [|**Vote or Quench**]**, ** [|**RSVP**]**(Register, Select, Vote and Protect), ** [|**Reclaim Naija**]**, ** [|**What About Us**]**, ** [|**Cool To Vote**], and a host of others creating awareness, educating, holding town hall meetings and calling on Nigerians to actively take part in selecting their leaders, the 2011 elections will not be left to politicians alone.
 * They have also used hashtags such as **[|**#Presidentialdebate**][|**#NN24PresDebate**]** where young Nigerians analysed the strategies and policies that each of the aspirants discussed ** (reffered as “a revolution just as powerful as the Tunisian and Egyptian: A social media revolution: “Young Nigerians have suddenly realized that they make up the majority and are coming together to ‘take charge’ of their country.
 * They have also used social media to bring people together physically to build up feelings of solidarity and hope. “So that elections would not be left to politicians alone” **

<span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">The efforts of these groups online (and offline) has not been without some success. In the just concluded voters registration exercise, 67million Nigerians registered, up from the 35million in 2007 (almost double) and the new ones are within the youth demographic


 * <span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">What started in twitter with the hashtag **[|**#lightupnigeria**]**<span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"> gave way to viral online groups **<span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">. Light Up Nigeria called for an overhaul of the nation’s power sector but simply said, ‘give us light’. Nigerians are orchestrating the revolution the country so desperately needs, and ensuring that after the awareness campaigns, mass mobilization of their peers to register, their votes count (or at least the incidences of rigging and electoral malpractices are reduced) by ‘creating’ citizen journalists using instruments like <span style="color: windowtext; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">[|ReVoDa]

= = =<span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">How the Internet (Social Media) is being utilized to stimulate change in democratic culture, and measure its effectiveness as a tool = =<span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">(Giren: Zeynep) =

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<span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Several youth-led empowerment and advocacy groups mobilized a high turnout for the Nigerian voters registration exercise in January 2011 through high-powered online campaigns such as the #IfNaijaVotes exercise on Facebook and Twitter. **Members of these groups also volunteered to register co-citizens where there was shortage of official staff while the registration deadline loomed**.