Social Media Election Campaign

Being confronted with an overflowing pile of information or message delivery is nothing new in the digital age. The rapid development of new social media platforms has altered the way political institutions like politicians, political parties, foundations, institutions, and political think tanks handle their election campaigns. Hence, this study seeks to identify the most discussed issues on social media during the election campaign using a systematic review method, taking into account potential articles published from January 2021 to December 2022 on Google Scholar. Variations in the terms used in this research include campaign, election, political institutions, social media, and systematic review. The author’s keyword is to reflect the content of a journal that conforms to the desired essence. After the screening process and based on the title and abstract, nine studies met the criteria as per the objective of this research. Results indicate that the most discussed issues are the biographies of the candidates, followed by party ideologies and manifestos. The topics covered in this research aid in the understanding of existing issues in political campaigns. Future research should improve studies on the benefits of social media during election campaigns for both parties, candidates, and voters.


Introduction
Being confronted with an overflowing pile of information or message delivery is nothing new in the digital age. The rapid development of new social media platforms has altered the way political institutions like politicians, political parties, foundations, institutions, and political think tanks handle their election campaigns (Oparaugo, 2021). According to Dogra and Kaur (2021), the election gives citizens a way and a platform to choose the party they want to see in power.
Free media has long been recognised as a foundation of democracy and plays a vital role in persuading political consequences during elections (Dogra & Kaur, 2021). Prior to the development of the internet, political campaigns were promoted by airing ads on radio, television, magazines, and newspapers. Today, social media has played that role not only in activities, including open discussions on alternative development policy options during elections, restricted. As a result, contesting parties only use social media as a one-way communication tool to promote party manifestos and ideologies and to introduce candidates to voters who have cell phones to share the latest information about the party's activities, photos, and events that have taken place (Awinia, 2021).
The ongoing transition in information and communication technologies (ICTs) has changed the landscape of democracy and the way people participate in politics (Oparaugo, 2021). Previously, voters had to attend a live performance in order to see a politician or a candidate. However, voters can participate in live streaming events and interact with candidates and politicians by attending online gatherings (Pratama et al., 2021). According to Hanafi and Abd Rahim (2017), social media can undoubtedly serve as a medium for democratic activities and be unrestricted in its freedom to engage in all kinds of public discourse. Social media is unaffected by political or legal officials. Thus, all types of critical discourse, information exchange, and interpersonal contact are possible. Sassi (2010), cited in Hamedan et al. (2019), indicates that the emergence of new technologies has created a space where individuals are free to voice their views. This is because social media sites are not supervised by any political party. Alternative media are media channels that are interactive and have no barriers to transmission across distance and time around the world.
Global society is now synonymous with the use of social media as a source of political information acquisition, compared to the use of conventional media. To some extent, news coverage and the content of issues discussed on social media have an impact on how people react (Hamedan et al., 2019). Although research on election campaigning on social media has increased over the past few years, it is still unclear what issues political institutions talk about on these platforms. Hence, this study seeks to identify the most discussed issues on social media during the election campaign.

Research Methodology
A systematic review method was used in this study, taking into account potential articles published from January 2021 to December 2022. The collection of electronic data through Google Scholar was to identify studies related to social media during the election campaign. Variations in the terms used in this research include campaign, election, political institutions, social media, and systematic review. The author's keyword is to reflect the content of a journal that conforms to the desired essence After the screening process was done and based on the title and abstract, nine studies met the criteria as per the objective of this research. The next step, the full-text article, is evaluated. The main research question that guided the study was, "What are the most discussed issues on social media during the election campaign?" The study also seeks to investigate its main objective, which is to determine the most discussed issues on social media during the election campaign. The topics covered in this research aid in the understanding of existing issues in political campaigns. Future research should improve studies on the benefits of social media during election campaigns for both parties, candidates, and voters.
Finally, the data is extracted from each independently reviewed article based on the date and year of publication, authors, types of studies, country, methods used, and the findings on the contents on social media during election campaigns. Articles that meet the criteria were used in this study, as set out in the table below. There are nine studies chosen for this paper. Four papers were qualitative (interview and observation), two were quantitative (survey and content analysis), two were concept papers, and one was mixed-method. Four were conducted in Nigeria, two in India, and one in Bahrain, Indonesia, and Tanzania respectively. The election campaign and promotion through radio channels and on Twitter had a positive and significant impact on the parties' vote gains during the 2014 Indian general election. Furthermore, the predictive power of radio is found to be more influential than Twitter. (Elareshi et al., 2021) (Bahrain) Using online platforms for political communication in Bahrain election campaigns.

A qualitative study
The findings showed that politicians in Bahrain generally preferred Twitter in election campaigns to boost support and mobilise for political engagement. They portray themselves as active and dedicated representatives on Twitter as a means of self-

Title
Research Design and Methodology Description promotion. However, Bahraini women in politics have a long way to go before they can effectively represent themselves in digital media politics because men generally profit from personalisation more than women do.

Findings
Social media plays an important role in shaping public opinion on vital political matters. The public used social media to express their concern and criticism on issues that concern their welfare, which the traditional media may not dare report or broadcast. New populist political players have developed their voters by directly communicating with them using the Internet. This shift occurred in tandem with the rise of social media (Dogra & Kaur, 2021).
Compared to previous elections, the 2015 general election in Nigeria saw a greater use of social media, which was also used to post offensive information about the candidates. Furthermore, the majority of people spread or were most likely to spread propaganda and a lot of false information because it was what they thought to be true. Steps must be taken to reduce the enduring potential for misinformation, propaganda, and rumours that, if misinterpreted, will result in conflict situations as social media usage continues to acquire enormous traction in society (Irenoa, 2021).
A study in Tanzania found that social media had a transformative influence on key political party campaign operations like promoting party ideology, manifestos, and biographies of the candidates, social justice, and human rights. They also enforce ethics, implement market changes, raise money for the party, and run slogan campaigns. Social media was used to inform voters of the election date and encourage party members to cast their ballots. Voter requests were also made using voters' mobile devices. They submit messages, videos, and art clips to canvass for voters. On the other hand, it gave the party the ability to recruit new supporters for their campaign and to add those who had just joined as members (Awinia, 2021).
According to a study conducted in Indonesia, there were numerous ways to use social media in the election campaign. Being yourself, being polite to everyone, and knowing the campaign's target audience are all examples of these methods. Diverse goals necessitate different approaches to social media. Age, gender, and educational background are among the campaign's aims. Issues of economic, political, and social problems were covered in the discussion. This includes women's rights to win female voters as well as the candidate's biography. According to the attention economy theory, news content that attracts more attention is more likely to be watched, shared, and distributed than news content that fails to pique the public's interest. The attention economy is a notion that is influenced by social media (Pratama et al., 2021).
It has become a fact that the political future of any country rests on the shoulders of its youth. A study on youth participation in political engagement in Nigeria found that most of the youth were exposed to various messages during the election period, leading to 91% of the respondents agreeing that Facebook and WhatsApp were useful tools for youth mobilisation during the 2019 general election. Since young Nigerians acclimatise easily to technological trends, such as mobile devices, the choice of using social media for political communication is very high. In the elections, youth participation creates awareness about the importance of voting in a democracy through electronic media. Social media encourages openness and greater accuracy in the political process, offers participatory democracy, and speeds up the announcement of election results. It was also used for campaign updates and other messages that focused on voter education and election results (Michael et al., 2021).
Overall, attacking opponents was the most common strategy for verbal and nonverbal resources. Attacks against opponents were also associated with a higher number of likes and shares. WhatsApp allows for the easy and fast sharing of fake news, as it has the largest occurrence of legitimation strategies, followed by Facebook. On the other hand, social media is a crucial instrument for informing the public about political events and activities to manipulate public opinion. In particular, expert and role model authorities are frequently used to validate false information about President Buhari's death and cloning, the governing party's plot to rig and destabilise the 2019 election, the current administration's massive corruption, and impending ethnic violence. Due to their use of discourse markers like makebelieve imagery, emotive language, emotional appeals, rational conclusions, divisive remarks, verbal indictments, and coercive verbs, the research contends that these strategies are effective persuasive tools (Igwebuike & Chimuanya, 2021).

Conclusion
To conclude, in order to understand the role of any media in any political process, one needs to look at the surrounding political environment. A Malaysian-based data science organisation suggests that any party leader who effectively utilises the wonders of social media and big data may have an edge in winning the election. Similar strategies were used back in 2018 when the Pakatan Harapan (PH) coalition overthrew Barisan Nasional's (BN) government in the 14th general election (GE14) with a campaign strategy that had a digital focus.
It has been discovered that the more people use social media platforms for news, the more their political views are influenced. Not only can social media affect the message, but it may also influence the dynamics of political corruption, values, and conflict. The issues that are most discussed by political institutions during election campaigns are the biographies of the candidates, followed by party ideologies and manifestos. Social media was used to inform voters of the election date, encourage party members to cast their ballots, raise money for the party, and provide election results. The topics covered in this research aid in the understanding of existing issues in political campaigns. Future research should improve studies on the benefits of social media during election campaigns for both parties, candidates, and voters.