Facebook has revealed the most talked about subjects and topics of conversation on its platform with regards to the up-coming Nigerian elections. Using aggregated and anonymised data from the period of December 1st 2018 to January 22nd 2019, the findings reveal that peaks in conversation happened between 17th and 19th January 2019. The findings also lists the economy as the most talked about conversation by topic trending across most states in Nigeria (61%), closely followed by corruption (56%) and agriculture (35%).
Distribution of conversation by region highlights the states where conversations around elections from high to low. The study also shows that conversations are heavily driven by the young, mostly 18-24 year-olds (35%) and 25-34 year-olds (35%). Men are more than likely to be involved in conversations around the elections with 68%, compared to 32% of women. As for the countries across Africa where the Nigeria election is being discussed most, aside from Nigeria, conversations are most prevalent across fellow West African countries, Ghana and Sierra Leone, followed by Zambia and Cameroon.
Facebook also measured conversation including posts, comments, shares, likes and reactions-related election, with all data aggregated and de-personalised. Conversations were identified based on keywords and combinations of keywords that were associated with discussions around the election. All data is aggregated and anonymized and percentages add up to more than 100% as people can mention more than one topic in a single post, or comment.
