Assessing the Perception of Online Media Users on the Debate of the Recent Violence in Ethiopia (2015-2018); the Case of Facebook and Its Relation with Violence
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Date
2018-06
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Addis Ababa University
Abstract
Currently billions of people are sharing different contents on online media. As Facebook is one
of the dominant social media tools throughout the world, millions of Ethiopians are also using it
for various reasons including political issues. The objective of this research is to assess the
perception of Facebook users on violence occurred in Ethiopia from 2015-2018. The violence
here is to refer the nationwide riots that occurred in Ethiopia and that seems to last in May 2018.
Triangulation of quantitative and qualitative methods has been employed in this research. The
qualitative data were collected from a Focused Group Discussion with seven prominent
Facebook activists and some violence related Facebook posts by “Ethiopians”. 166 people have
participated through questionnaires for quantitative data and survey responses were analyzed
using frequency distribution and percentage analysis. Coding and analyzing of these data were
carried out using SPSS version20 software. The result obtained from both FGD and
questionnaire substantially shows Facebook has been at the center of the violence by creating a
platform to exchange information related to violence. According to the Facebook users, the
information was basically instructional and guiding messages on how to protest in an organized
manner. Peoples on the research have witnessed that there is strong relation between what has
been posted on Facebook and the type of violence on the ground (59.1%). Furthermore, the
research shows there is strong level of consensus among online users that the role of Facebook
for the consequent Political Change is immense by impacting the pace and space of the violence
(65%). The study also indicated that Facebook can’t be considered as the cause of the violence,
rather it was the main tool for the intensification of the violence using as a catalyst for the riot.
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Assessing the Perception of Online Media