Imperatives of Social Media in Curbing Insecurity in Taraba State: A Study of Select Semi-Urban and Rural Areas in Taraba State, Nigeria

Abstract

The mainstream media have been grossly inhibited in playing their surveillance role in the society due to several factors ranging from ownership interest and censorship among others which have mitigated their impact in curbing insecurity in Nigeria thereby giving rise to social media as alternative platform. The study was anchored on Disruptive technology theory while in-depth interview was used to serve as the research design to elicit data from thirty (30) participants from three local government areas of the Taraba State. This study examines the imperatives of social media in curbing insecurity in select semi-urban and rural areas in Taraba State, Nigeria. Among other things, the study as certain residents’ level of awareness on the social media usage for reporting security threats as well as examining the impact of residents’ social media usage on security alertness in the select semi-urban and rural areas in the state. As per the findings of the study, the social media usage for reporting security threats has gained popularity within the select semi-urban and rural areas as a result of the penetration and proliferation of social media platforms within those localities. The study concluded that the multifarious potentials of the social media can be maximised to boost security reporting in Nigeria’s semi-urban and rural areas that are fast becoming the epicenter for multi-dimensional forms of insecurity. Among other things, it was recommended that there is the need for collaboration between the relevant security stakeholders and the media to create awareness in the rural communities on how to use social media constructively for security reporting with facts and actualities.