Libraries at University of Nebraska-Lincoln
Abstract
Globally, there is a conspicuous paradigm shift in political communication as a result of the emergence of social media. In contemporary political communication, highly sophisticated soft ware and hardware are used to manipulate texts and visuals in a manner that best conveys the feelings of the users. This reality has greatly modified representational political communication which has challenged the thinking of contemporary scholars as they jostle to describe and explain such visual communication techniques. The prevalence of this scenario among Nigerian social media users is the motivation for, and the problem of this study. Consequently, this study examined the nature of political pictures and illustrations common on social media and examines the implications of such visual representations on political mobilization and participation. It is hoped that this study will significantly expand literature on social media –political communication nexus