Utilization Of Social Media As A Source Of Co-Operative Information Among The Youth In Meru County, Kenya

ABSTRACT

This study sought to examine the utilization of social media as a communication tool by

co-operatives in Meru County in the dissemination of co-operative information among the

youth. The researcher explored the potential of social media and examined its usage and

barriers as a communication tool among the co-operatives. Largely, the study notes that

the growth and usage of social media has been enabled by the internet and technological

advancement. This thesis aimed at finding out the extent to which the co-operatives in

Meru County use social media as a communication tool in enhancing the uptake of their

services among the youth. The objectives of this study were to assess the communication

tools used by the co-operatives in Meru County, to ascertain the extent to which social

media is being used as a communication tool in enhancing the uptake of co-operative

services and to ascertain barriers to usage of Social media as a communication tool by cooperatives.

This study used positivist paradigm, which is based on facts and considers the

world to be external and objective. The study was conducted in Meru County in Kenya

using mixed methods. Both qualitative and quantitative data was used. The data collected

was integrated in the design analysis by explaining and building it within the large data

framework. The study explored the technological determinism theory and the social

construction of technology theory to underpin and encapsulate how technological culture

can shape the future of the co-operative movement. In this study the researcher

interviewed key informants in the co-operative movement. The study found out that 83%

of co-operatives under study utilized social media as a source of co-operative information.

However, only few youths are members of co-operatives. From this study, co-operatives

in Meru County were found to have huge ICT and communications gaps and risk to

follow economies all across Africa being faced with low-paid, informal work, and youth

unemployment. To address this gap, social media as a communication tool, offers one of

the best solutions in line with the sector’s principles. Co-operatives need to explore how

digital platforms, rooted in the principles of broad-based ownership and democratic

governance, could come to fruition across co-operatives in the county focusing on their

potential and feasibility, global and local contexts, case studies and success stories,

openness and transparency, policy and sustainability; this will further set co-operatives to

radically prepare the social organization of emerging technologies among themselves

aiming to re-design with community wealth in mind. This study strongly tasks cooperative

and communication scholars to link radical democracy and the internet as a tool

for corporate extraction, and how to reverse the process while harnessing the dividends of

social media as a communication tool among co-operatives.