Examining Twitter Political Discourse in Kenya: The Case of #Electionske2017 during the 2017 Elections

Abstract

As a result of high internet penetration in Kenya, political discourse has slowly shifted to cyberspace effectively forming online public spheres. With this in mind, this study sought to examine themes of inclusivity, equality and problematization of issues on Twitter during the Kenyan 2016/2017 elections using the hashtag #electionske2017. The study used the public sphere theory by Jurgen Habermas to examine political conversations of Kenyans on Twitter. To accomplish this, the study applied a quantitative research approach and used content analysis to analyze a random sample of 3,000 tweets collected over a period of 1 year, 11 months. Results indicated that 56% of the tweets analyzed contributed toward Twitter as a public sphere, therefore qualifying Twitter as a viable public sphere platform. Out of the 56% of tweets which contributed toward a public sphere, 87% sought to problematize issues, 11% touched on issues to do with equality, and 2% touched on issues to do with inclusivity. This indicates that although Twitter can be harnessed toward being a healthy public sphere, it requires more inclusive discourse and views from different social groups need to be given an equal opportunity to be discussed. The study recommends that Twitter users need to not only analyze political actions by different stakeholders, but also have to include more perspectives and equally analyze the issues expressed by “weaker” social groups. The study recommends that further studies be carried out on the nature of sentimentality of views expressed and that academia should find a way to engage with Twitter to enable easier access to historical data.