Social media and protest planning: An examination of the 2024 #EndBadGovernance protests in Nigeria

Some digital activism and social movement scholars argue that social media platforms are not an effective tool for organizing protests and building political engagement or that social media platforms are veritable tools for protests and political participation. What is less studied is the degree to which individual social media platforms impact protest organization and political participation. There is a need to unbundle these platforms to ascertain the impact of these media platforms. This study attempts to fill that gap. It does so by interrogating the role of social media platforms in planning and coordinating the 2024 #EndBadGovernance protests in Nigeria. Analyses of survey data collected in Nigeria ( N = 400) show that protesters who used Instagram, Facebook and WhatsApp to plan and coordinate the 2024 #EndBadGovernance protests are more likely to report participating on the first day of the protests. Findings from this study contrast with anecdotal claims by some scholars and commentators that X is the foremost platform for protest organization in Nigeria. This study finds that using X to plan for and coordinate the protest reduces the likelihood that the protester will join on the first day of the protests. This does not mean that X is not a veritable platform for protests coordination. X is important but protesters in Nigeria do not highlight it as their engine room for protest organization. Results like the above serve as a caution to scholars not to generalize social media use as individuals and countries use digital platforms differently. These patterns of use may be because of affordability, digital literacy and cultural alliance.