ROLES OF THE SOCIAL MEDIA IN DACWAH ACTIVITIES: FACEBOOK IN FOCUS

Social media has formed part of daily life activities of majority of internet users. The invention of Facebook and other social media platforms has revolutionized the human interaction. The proliferation of Dacwah activities on social media became expedient as Muslim scholars take advantage of the platform to spread the teachings of Islam to the Facebook users. However, the abuse of the Facebook space in the guise of Dacwah activities has risen to its peak by some pseudo-scholars, who have usurped the platform to spread wrong teachings about Islam. Thus, this paper examines the roles played by social media in Dacwah activities with special focus on Facebook, as one of the social network sites commonly adopted by many scholars for spreading Islamic knowledge and information. Descriptive and analytical methods have been employed in carrying out this research. The descriptive method has assisted in describing the manners of Dacwah activities on social media, while the analytical method was used in analyzing the roles Facebook has played as a platform for the propagation of Islam. The paper reveals that social media is an inevitable and effective tool for the propagation of Islam because of its easy accessibility, smooth and quick connection to others. It also reveals that despite the significant roles the social media, particularly Facebook, plays in spreading information about Islamic teachings to the users, Dacwah activities are facing some challenges which are undermining the progress of Islamic propagation in the contemporary society. The paper concludes by recommending the application of regulations to guide against the misuse of Facebook for Dacwah activities so as to reduce misrepresentation of both Islam and Muslim Scholars.