2. Research Questions
• Do Americans believe that social
media usage can encourage political
participation?
• Does social media usage increase
traditional political participation?
• Does social media usage increase
new forms of civic engagement?
2
3. Literature Review
• Who uses social media?
• 88% of Americans have a Facebook
• 70% check their Facebook at least 3 times a
week
• 44% use Facebook as their main news source
(Baumgartner and Morris 2009)
3
4. Literature Review
• Does social media usage equal increased political
participation?
• No more likely to sign a petition, vote or write to a
politician
• Hope in Germany?
(Bichard, Johnson, Setzler and Zhang 2010)
(Sander, Sprenger, Tumasjan and Welpe 2010)
4
5. Literature Review
• Redefining forms of political participation
• “For this dimension of civic and political engagement
then, the evidence suggests an optimistic picture of
the Internet as a positive force for democratic
citizenship”
(Moy and Xenos 2007)
5
6. Hypotheses
• H1: The majority of Americans believe that social
media encourages political participation and
supplies useful political information and news.
• H2: Social media users will be no more likely than
other citizens to engage in traditional forms of
political participation such as voting, contributing
money to a campaign or volunteering for a
campaign.
• H3: Social media users will be more likely than other
citizens to engage in new forms of civic
participation such as downloading and uploading
political videos to the Internet and “friending”
politicians on Facebook and Twitter.
6
7. Dependent Variables
• Opinions about social media
• Encourage voting
• Acquiring political news
• Twitter supplies relevant political
information
7
8. Dependent Variables
• Traditional Forms of Political Participation
• Registered to vote
• Voted in 2010 elections
• Contributed money to a campaign in the
2010 elections
• Volunteered for a campaign in the 2010
elections
8
9. Dependent Variables
• New Forms of Civic Engagement
• Friended a politician on Twitter
• Friended a politician on Facebook
• Uploaded a video about politics
• Downloaded a video about politics
9
10. Independent Variable
• Social media usage
Control Variables
• Income
• Education
• Age
• Gender
• Race
• Party Identification
10
12. Opinions About Social Media
by Social Media Usage
120
100
100
Internet Encourages
Percentage
80 83.6
78.2 Voting
60 66.7 67.3
60.4 Internet Aids in
Acquiring Political
40
Information
Twitter Supplies Relevant
20
Political Information
0
Social Media User Non Social Media User
Social Media Usage
12
13. Traditional Political Participation by
Social Media Usage
100
90
89.4
80
81.1
70 75.7
Percentage
Registered to Vote
60 62.5
50 Voted
40
Contributed Money to a
30
Campaign
20 Volunteered for a
10 6.5 Campaign
1.1 2 1.5
0
Social Media User Non Social Media User
Social Media Usage
13
14. New Political Participation by Social
Media Usage
20
18
17.6
16
14
Percentage
Uploaded Political Video
12
10 11.2 11.2 Downloaded Political Video
10.1
8
Friended a Politician on
6
Facebook
4 Followed a Politician on
4.4
2 2.9 Twitter
2.5 1.4
0
Social Media User Non Social Media User
Social Media Usage 14
15. CHANGE IN THE PROBABILITY OF BEING A
SOCIAL MEDIA USER AS EACH INDEPENDENT
VARIABLE INCREASES FROM ITS MIN TO MAX
VALUE
Educ (0 -> 1)
Age (0 -> 1)
Income (0 -> 1)
Race (0 -> 1)
Party (0 -> 1)
Gender (0 -> 1)
-0.20 -0.10 0.00 0.10 0.20 0.30 0.40
15
16. THE PROBABILITY OF DOWNLOADING A VIDEO ABOUT
POLITICS
EACH INDEPENDENT VARIABLE AT ITS MINIMUM AND
MAXIMUM VALUES WITH ALL OTHER VARIABLES HELD
CONSTANT
Probability of outcome at minimum value Probability of outcome at maximum value
Educ (0 -> 1)
Age (0 -> 1)
Income (0 -> 1)
Race (0 -> 1)
Party (0 -> 1)
Gender (0 -> 1)
Social Media
User (0 -> 1)
.00 .1016
17. CHANGE IN THE PROBABILITY OF VOTING AS
EACH INDEPENDENT VARIABLE INCREASES
FROM ITS MIN TO MAX VALUE
Educ (0 -> 1)
Age (0 -> 1)
Income (0 -> 1)
Race (0 -> 1)
Party (0 -> 1)
Gender (0 -> 1)
Social Media User (0 -> 1)
-0.10 0.00 0.10 0.20
17
18. Discussion
• Americans think highly of social media’s capability to
increase political participation
• No significant changes in traditional forms of political
participation
• No significant changes in new forms of civic engagement
Why aren’t sentiments
translating to actions?
18
19. Conclusion
• Control variables: income, education, age
• Are social media users proportionally
represented in survey?
• Evolving social media
19
