TWITTER AS POLITICAL COMMUNICATION PLATFORM IN ELECTION CAMPAIGNS IN GHANA

This article argues that political parties need to emphasise relationship building as part of their election communication to ensure the sustainability of the party. This is based on the premise that they should also engage in two-way communication. Social media such as Twitter provides the opportunity for engagement and two-way communication with the electorate. It is therefore not surprising that the use of social media by political parties is becoming a common phenomenon. This is also the case in Ghana where political parties are increasingly using social media in their campaign communication. The question however remains whether political parties are using the interactive capabilities of social media or merely focusing on one-way communication messages. Against this background, this article examines the use of social media in intra-party elections of the New Patriotic Party and the National Democratic Congress in Ghana during the 2018 elections. By means of content analysis, the messages on the political parties' Twitter platforms during their national executive elections in 2018 were analysed. The findings indicate that the New Patriotic Party and the National Democratic Congress used Twitter for one-way communication with stakeholders and the public. The messages mainly informed the public about their activities and programmes, rather than interacting with them to develop mutually beneficial relationships. The political parties made tweets infrequently to users and followers on Twitter. Therefore, the political parties did not utilise the interactive capabilities of the social media platform to engage with the electorate and build relationships.