Elections: Facebook reveals most talked topics in Nigeria

Facebook has revealed the most talked about subjects and topics of conversation on its platform with regards to the upcoming Nigerian elections.

Using aggregated and anonymized data from the period of December 1, 2018, to January 22, 2019, the findings reveal that peaks in conversation happened between January 17 and 19, 2019.

The findings also list the economy as the most talked about conversation by topic trending across most states in Nigeria (61 per cent), closely followed by corruption (56 per cent) and agriculture (35 per cent).

Distribution of conversation by region highlights the states where conversations around elections occur from high to low. The study also shows that conversations are heavily driven by the young, mostly 18-24 year-olds (35 per cent) and 25-34 year-olds (35 per cent).

Men are more than likely to be involved in conversations around the elections with 68 per cent, compared to 32 per cent 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-personalized. 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 per cent as people can mention more than one topic in a single post or comment.