HAPPY New Year to all! I am happy to introduce to you this column called “The Digital Future”. It will discuss issues on information communication technologies for development (ICT4D).
People nowadays are always communicating, networking online and offline, creating content on Social media spaces.
Social media is the social interaction among people in which they create, share or exchange information, ideas using pictures, videos, audio and text in virtual communities. Others are busy coding and designing apps for use on our mobile phones, ipads, tablets and computers.
According to the Zambia Information Technology Authority (ZICTA) website, ICT statistics of last year’s third quarter show that there are about 3,362,056 mobile internet users in the country with a population of about 14 million people.
There are many social media sites but many Zambians have however subscribed to Facebook an online social networking service with over one billion users. Zambians have also joined common interest user groups, created by individuals, networks, political parties, workplaces and others.
In relation to elections, Zambians subscribed to Twitter have joined the elections conversation using hushtags #ZambiaElections2015, #ZambiaVotes and #ZambiansDecides. Zambia will be having a Presidential election on January, 20, 2015. We only have a few days to go before Zambians elect a new President. This Presidential election comes after the death of late President Michael Chilufya Sata on October, 28, 2014 in a London Hospital in the United Kingdom after an illness.
His death came four days after Zambians celebrated the country’s Golden Jubilee celebrations of Independence on October, 24, 2014. During this period, Zambians had already taken to social media to congratulate themselves of the landmark victory of having celebrated 50 years of Independence.
No sooner did Zambians celebrate the Golden Jubilee than the President died. A sad cloud hangover Zambia after information went round on social media that late President Sata had died.
Social media has been breaking news which traditional media has later been reporting sometimes in more detail. It was here that Citizens increased their content on social media to participate and engage in elections.
President Sata’s personal Facebook page “His Excellency Michael Chilufya Sata” has 108,626 likes. His Facebook page remains one of the notable pages amongst Zambians with a very huge following.
Zambians have been creating election content and sharing it on their social media pages.As the world goes digital, we expect an increase in the use of ICTs in an election process.Some social media reports have been accurate and fair while others have been inaccurate, slanderous and full of lies.
New Facebook pages have been created on social media in relation to the 2015 Presidential elections. This includes facebook pages of first time aspiring Presidential candidates which are less than 90 days old.
The “Electoral Commission of Zambia” has a Facebook page with 18, 033 followers. The Facebook page has updated information for voters. The page still needs to attract more likes as there are more registered voters in Zambia who are interested in voter education. However, it should be noted that not every voter is subscribed to Facebook.
The most popular Facebook page among the aspiring Presidential candidates is that of “Hakainde Hichilema” leader of the United Party for United Development (UPND) with more than 92,834 likes.
The facebook page is three years old as it was created in 2011. Other similar platforms are a “UPND campaigns for 2016” a facebook group with 9,280 members and the “UPND Real Change” facebook page with 4,609 likes and “UPND image builder” a public group with 4, 633 members. All this content is also supported by a website http://hh-zambia.com/ which also has a blog within the site.
“Edgar C. Lungu” Patriotic Front (PF) aspiring candidate has a facebook page with over 32, 000 likes while the “Friends of Edgar Honourable Edgar Lungu” page has 2,608 group members. “Zambia Patriotic Front” facebook page has about 3,352 likes.
Patriotic Front “Pabwato” facebook page has 4,774 likes while “IfintuniLungu” facebook page has over 4,152 likes. Sadly there other three duplicate facebook pages on the same with a few likes just like the Friends of Edgar other pages with few likes.
There is also a Facebook group called “PF in Diaspora” where there are 1,464 members who mostly engage in the election conversation but do not vote because of lack of eVoting in the country.
Forum for Democracy for Development party aspiring President Edith Z Nawakwi facebook page has 13,609 likes. Her personal facebook page called Edith Nawakwi has about 674 friends.
The FDD Zambia facebook page has about 860 likes. The page is two years old and lacks online management.
“Movement for Multi Party Democracy” Facebook page has about 9,522 likes. There are many MMD associated Facebook pages such as “MMD reloaded 2016” with 303 members. “MMD Zambia” facebook group has 76 members and “MMD NafutiNafuti” with 235 likes showing a portrait of former Rupiah Banda.
Dr Ludwig Sondashi has a personal facebook profile page with about 232 friends. There also exist two more related facebook profile pages which are not developed as they lack content.
“Elias Chipimo” has a personal facebook page with 5000 friends and has a political facebook page with over 16 000 likes.
Eric Chanda from the Fourth Revolution (4R) Party has a personal facebook profile with about 2, 131 friends.
Tilyenji Kaunda from the United National Independence Party (UNIP) has duplicate facebook pages which are un managed and have no content.
Peter Sinkamba Presidential aspirant from the Green Party has three duplicate facebook profiles. There is however one profile facebook page for Sinkamba which has some election update.
Other unmanaged Facebook pages are for General Godfrey Miyanda of the Heritage Party. His page has only one post created on September 11, 2011.
Daniel Pule Presidential aspirant of the Christian Democratic Party (CDP) has a personal facebook page which is also not updated with political content. The cover page however advertises the party CDP.
Campaign content is scattered and is all over different Facebook pages. Instead of being curated to particular Facebook pages for the Presidential Candidates content is on different personal Facebook pages. The Facebook pages of Presidential candidates have not been well managed since information is all over on social media.
“Social media in the recent past has brought out a lot of information about political contenders. It’s provided a diverse source of information compared to Television and radio as it comes out as is.
Social media has made people know more about aspiring candidates,” says Matongo Maumbi a Journalist in an interview.
Maumbi observed that it was unfortunate that social media has fueled a lot of tribalism and regionalism which can be a recipe for civil disturbance. There’s a lot of misinformation cluttered on social media.
“In all social media has helped a lot of people and politicians create and share information thereby empowering the would be voters. Social media has the power to improve voting and discourage voter apathy,” explained Maumbi.
Zambians have taken to social media to participate in elections and are using social media, as they do not want to silence their voices.Because of the vast amount of people on Facebook, the door for social networking abuse is wide open.
Although social media has many positive attributes a lot of negatives have been seen in relation with joining the Zambia election 2015 conversation.The major negative has been the social networking abuse.
Lying on social media has easily been seen in Facebook posts on election content. Social media is really about trust. When that trust is broken and no matter what one updates on their social media it is difficult to believe what ones shares on their account.
Unfortunately, as many Zambians get on Facebook to talk about elections, abuse in terms of lying has increased.
“People are using Facebook for propaganda purpose to give wrong information that advantages their preferred candidate.
It had contributed to polarization in the mainstream media as it tries to counter react to the allegedly false information being presented,” said Henry Kabwe a senior Journalist in an interview.
He added that there were very few cases where people who post to Facebook have been professional.
“The professional ones have been a good source of information although there are allegations from opposing camps that some pictures from rallies could be manipulated to show that they were well attended.
Apart from lies, some Facebookers have been using defamatory terms and tribal sentiments to ensure that their candidate is defended. Some candidate’s use of social media leaves much to be desired. They have not tapped into a resource that can substantially add votes to their side,” explained Kabwe.
Apart from lies we have also seen Cyber bullies emerge on Facebook. Bullies have often harassed the victims through writing derogatory remarks and teasing in the comment section.
Victims of bullies have been teased because they have supported a particular Presidential candidate openly on their Facebook walls.
In some cases, anonymity offered by the Internet makes it possible for bullies to attack others on social media.
Bullies can subscribe to Facebook using fake names and use fake profile pictures. The best way to get rid of bullies is to unfriend them and never respond to their requests.
In conclusion, any facebooker should be weary of the content they create as it will be part of their digital footprint.