AUDIENCE INTERACTION WITH DIGITAL SPOKEN WORD PERFORMANCES: A STUDY OF SOKOTO'S ONLINE POETRY

Abstract

This paper examines how audiences receive and interact with spoken word poetry performed in digital spaces, using the online performances of Sokoto, a Kenyan Bukusu spoken word poet, as a case study. Drawing on theoretical frameworks of oral performance studies and digital communication, the study analyses audience engagement as evidenced through comments, likes, shares and subscriptions on social media platforms including Facebook, TikTok and YouTube. The study analysed Sokoto’s six spoken word performances through careful and repeated watching of selected performances. The researcher transcribed and translated the poems into English. The analysis of the psychographic data was a two-way transactional process where the researcher read the audiences’ reaction and analysed accordingly.  The paper argues that the physical distance inherent to virtual performance does not impede the bilateral exchange between performer and audience; rather, digital feedback mechanisms constitute a new form of participatory spectatorship. The findings demonstrate that audiences are not passive consumers but active co-creators of meaning who influence the volume, pace, content and mood of spoken word performance. The study further highlights how performance in indigenous languages in this case Lubukusu does not restrict audience reach but can, in fact, extend a poet's influence across ethnic, national and international boundaries. Implications for oral literature scholarship and digital performance practice are discussed.