Social Networks, Social Media and Dispersed Leadership: Critical Perspectives on Emergent Leadership in African Networks and Social Movements

This article aims to provide new insights into organizational leadership and social interaction in networks. The article reports the findings of qualitative research investigating the emergence of a new social movement among Twitter users in Nigeria with wide-ranging ramifications for transformational change and sustainable development in Nigeria and Africa. Data for the study was collected using a variety of interview methodology as well as responses from users of Twitter to a qualitative questionnaire designed specifically to accommodate Twitter's 140-character limit. The results indicate an innovative use of Twitter as a virtual public sphere, the development of a new civil society identified with the Arab Spring and Occupy Movement, an informal network organized through social media and an ambiguous relationship with the old civil society comprised of formal organizations like trade unions and Non Governmental Organizations. This new online social network is characterized by an emergent, dispersed, distributed and participatory leadership.