Social media and citizen-led Anti-Galamsey activism in Ghana A study of user posts on Facebook

Abstract

Social media platforms have become an important arena for activism and mobilization; opening up direct communication and conversation channels between the general public and users seeking to raise awareness and mobilize the public toward a common course. The current study investigates user posts on anti-galamsey activism on Facebook, exploring how social media is shaping citizen-led activism in Ghana. Drawing from the Social Movement Theory and Ekman’s Theory of Basic Emotions, and underpinned by qualitative content analysis, the study analysed 1350 Facebook posts by citizen anti-galamsey activists. The study shows galamsey continues to thrive primarily due to political interference, leadership failure and high unemployment rate. Again, the study indicates that, the effectiveness of social media activism is closely tied to the types of posts used. Moreover, the study divulges negative emotions are not only prevalent, but can be more engaging for some social media users, thus, individuals have a tendency to pay more attention to negative posts. The four emotions (fear, anger, sad and disgust) outpoured by the citizen anti galamsey activists were all negative emotions out of the six emotions listed by Paul Ekman. This study concludes that, Facebook is a potential platform to mobilize public opinion against illegal mining (galamsey). Hence, the government and its apparatus should actively participate and harness information from these online conversations to address concerns and guide in providing updates on measures being taken to combat galamsey.