#ugandavotes – the impact of social media in reporting elections

Facebook and Twitter are well established tools of the trade for many journalists but less so in countries such as Uganda. However, the recent elections may well have changed that. In a guest blog post, Ruth Aine a journalist from the Radio station Power FM in Kampala, describes the rise of social media during Uganda's recent elections.

I rise early everyday, but Friday 18 February 2011 was different. I knew I was going to be a part of history and witness history being made in my country.

I had never taken part in an election before. This was the first time I had even registered to vote. And better still, along with voting, I was taking a part in this historic day as a journalist.
The mood leading up to election day was very tense. With the Electoral Commission labelled by the Opposition as inadequate and the public’s anticipation that something bad might happen, there were mixed feelings and a lot of uncertainty in the community.

At about 6:45am I posted my first tweet. I was on my way to work and when I passed by my polling station I saw there was some activity – but no polling officials, no voting materials.
That was my first eyewitness report – dispatched to the world by the microblog service Twitter.

After arriving at work and reading my first bulletin on air, I walked to the nearest polling station which was at the Buganda Road Public Library.

There I found that voting had begun right on time. There was also a host of international observers and media people. That too I tweeted. A simple fact to report but sending it via Twitter under my own account and voice, I felt as if journalism was being reborn. Most of us were using our mobile phones for reporting.

I work for a radio station in Kampala, but our internet access is restricted. Our station management says that social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter are a waste of time. Thus they have been blocked. Thank God for my phone! We were on the move and this was mobile reporting.

#ugandavotes

With the hash tag #ugandavotes, journalists and Ugandans began tweeting about what was going on around them. It felt great I must say – definitely a wow feeling. It was amazing how in a split second you could see what was happening in the rest of the country.

Rosebell Kagumire, a local journalist with The Independent newspaper, an IPS Africa Contributor, and a reporter with Isis Women’s International Cross Cultural Exchange (Isis-WICCE), says that it was the first time that she witnessed so many Ugandans using a social network for an event that was important to the future of the country. Rosebell believes Ugandans use Facebook more than Twitter, but Twitter was more engaging and had a lot of breaking news throughout during the elections.

“I believe we would make a bigger impact if Ugandans had started using the social networking sites from the day of the launch of the campaigns. I would actually say that with all the much televised impact of the sites on the revolutions and protests across the Middle East, many Ugandan youth began to get more involved in the discussions of what was going on in their country.”

I could not agree more. I had friends that were drawn in by the discussion by social media, and were not journalists. Timothy Bryan Matsiko, a lawyer by training, says that over the past few months Twitter in Uganda evolved into an efficient tool for citizen reporting.

John Kiggundu Abimanyi, a journalist working the Daily Monitor, one of Uganda’s high circulation dailies, says that this was the first "online election" that we have ever had in the country. He believes that Facebook and Twitter helped to attract the interest of Ugandan internet users in the election process. And, ordinary people took on the role of citizen reporters by posting status updates and tweets.

Old media using social media

This election period also saw established media houses try their hand at social media – many for the first time. A newspaper known more for its racy tabloid content than hard news created a Twitter profile. The Daily Monitor joined the Twitter ranks as did the New Vision. Interestingly the Daily Monitor began re-tweeting updates posted by tabloid competitors. In a world where everyone is scrambling to be the first to break the leading story, this was something different.

However it is important to note how and when Ugandans usually log-on and use the internet. Most Ugandans are online only during office hours. And even with many high income people with better net access tweeting, #ugandavotes never made the international trend list on Twitter.

As John Kiggundu Abimanyi puts it, "This was terrible!" However, for journalism and democracy in Uganda, we cannot ignore though that this small start was definitely a step in the right direction.

Abimanyi is confident that journalism and the use of social media in Uganda is developing. He argues that when more people realise the impact of Facebook and Twitter, the number of active users in Uganda will grow. Of course we're proud to have watched the first steps of how the media and citizens began using these new tools and know that our pioneering work during the 2011 elections in Uganda is likely to have a lasting impact.

There is a lot of openness on Twitter. People speak frankly and are not afraid to say whatever is on their mind. It is amazing – if only the media here was that open and direct.

And while tweets were mainly about politics commenting on who was winning and losing, there were also some light and memorable moments. Timothy Bryan Matsiko began #BeigyePlaylist. Dr Col Kizza Besigye is the leader of the opposition. He came second in the polls and has disputed the results, citing massive irregularities. So on a day when his greatest rival was announced the winner of the elections, what music would he listen to? People offered their suggestions by Twitter – that's what the #BesigyePlaylist was all about.

#ugandavotes was the definitive reference for anyone who wanted to know what was going on exactly in the country. It gave birth to citizen media in Uganda.

Ruth Aine participated in a DW-AKADEMIE election reporting workshop for radio journalists that took place in Kampala in September 2010.