SOCIAL MEDIA INFLUENCE ON POLITICAL OPINIONS IN ABEOKUTA METROPOLIS

ABSTRACT Social media has become domesticated in many sociological spaces as a platform for engaging political topics. It is a highly polarised setting featuring not only engaging but also opinionated discourses that have continued to attract research attention. This study investigated the influence of social media on formation and expression of political opinions in Abeokuta Metropolis, with a view to underscoring the growing significance of social media in politics, examining types of political contents propagated and accessed, and investigating the role of social media as a tool for political engagement, misinformation, propaganda, and as algorithm-driven content generation or opinion formation. Descriptive design was employed. Data were collected using survey as instrument. Structured questionnaires were distributed to 200 respondents made up of students of three tertiary institutions in Abeokuta, Ogun State. Five social media platforms, namely, Facebook, Twitter (X), Instagram, WhatsApp, and TikTok were purposively selected. Data were analysed using descriptive statistics on Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS). Social media platforms served as major source of political information. The platforms enhanced political awareness, and facilitated opinionated conversations among respondents. Respondents identified social media as a tool for political mobilisation. A Social media served bred misinformation, ideological polarisation, and manipulation. The findings underscore that social media offers opportunities for democratic participation, but presents significant challenges to informed political discourse due to rising misinformation. There is need for enhanced digital literacy, fact-checking mechanisms, and legal policies or laws to curb the spread of false information, while safeguarding free expression. Keywords: Social media discourse, Political opinion, Misinformation, Political engagement Word counts: 246