Facebook is... Fostering Political Engagement: A Study of Online Social Networking Groups and Offline Participation (original) (raw)
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A Particular Set of Skills: The Effects of Internet Uses on Political Participation
Despite a growing body of research devoted to understanding the relationship between internet use, social capital, civic skills, and political participation, the relationships between these concepts remains unclear. This article examines how types of internet use effect political participation. I argue the same motivation can drive an individual to engage in physical or virtual action. The motivation leading to virtual group membership, therefore, is the same motivation as leading to physical group membership. Since both physical and virtual group membership are rooted in the same motivation, membership in either type of group should produce similar effects on social capital and civic skills. I test the hypotheses under empirical scrutiny by examining how membership in virtual groups affects an individual’s likelihood to vote, volunteer, or donate in the 2008 and 2010 U.S. federal elections. Following the Civic Voluntarism Model, I find membership in virtual groups effect the likelihood of engaging in time-based political acts but has minimal effect on voting and donating. The findings indicate the effects of membership in virtual groups mirror the effects membership in physical groups have on political participation. Thus, the theory and findings offer a resolution to the inconsistencies in the literature examining internet use and political participation.
Direct and differential effects of the Internet on political and civic engagement
Journal of Communication, 2007
Given the significant rise in the number of Americans who turn to the Internet for political information, we examine the effects of these behaviors on political and civic engagement in an evolving media landscape. Specifically, we test hypotheses derived from competing models-the instrumental approach, which posits direct effects of Internet use and a psychological approach, which predicts contingent effects. Analyses of the 2004 American National Election Studies (N = 1,212) reveal a pattern of direct effects of Internet use on basic information acquisition and use but contingent effects for concrete acts of civic or political engagement. These results provide an important window on the political impacts of contemporary Internet use and suggest that future reassessments of the Internet's role in public life should continue to probe for direct as well as differential effects.
The Effect of Internet Use on Political Participation
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Conflicting claims have been put forward regarding the effects of Internet use on real-life political participation. Some argue that Internet use, and the accompanying political resources, stimulates political participation; others fear that intensive Internet use is associated with a withdrawal from public life. This article's authors test both claims on a representative sample of 6,330 16-year-olds in Belgium. They investigate young people's behavior, assuming that young people are the most avid information and communication technologies users and the most susceptible to the influence of various socialization experiences. The authors introduce a distinction between time spent on the Internet (time-replacement hypothesis) and various activities performed online. Results show time on the Internet does not have an effect on the propensity to participate in public life. Although some online activities are clearly and significantly associated with offline political participatio...
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The internet is a political participation medium that has been subject to constant changes. Just since 2008, there has been a significant increase in the amount of people who use the internet for political purposes. Building on the work of Brian Kruger and others I evaluate whether the internet brings new participants into the political process or if the internet only "reinforces" those who already participate. I utilize data from recent American National Election Studies to employ an ordinary least-squares regression model for recent presidential election years and assess whether the internet has brought new participants into the political fray via online political participation. I then employ a mixed effects model to identify the driving force behind an increase in online participation. Similar to Krueger and other’s findings I can conclusively claim that the internet is continuing to serve as a medium for participation by those who are not known to be active participant...
Political Participation and the Internet Assessing Effects Causal Mechanisms and Consequences
The aim of this paper is to review the main questions dealt with by the literature on the effect of Internet on political participation. The paper distinguishes three relevant aspects: the estimation of the impact of Internet on the levels and types of political participation; the analysis of the causal mechanisms that lie behind the relationship between Internet use and participation; and the effect of the Internet on participatory inequalities. We conclude by identifying the aspects on which there is a relative consensus among scholars, the debates surrounding controversial conclusions obtained from different empirical analyses, and those questions where further research seems particularly necessary.
In what ways do online groups help to foster political engagement among citizens? We employ a multimethod design incorporating content analysis of online political group pages and original survey research of university undergraduates (n = 455) to assess the relationship between online political group membership and political engagement-measured through political knowledge and political participation surrounding the 2008 election. We find that participation in online political groups is strongly correlated with offline political participation, as a potential function of engaging members online. However, we fail to confirm that there is a corresponding positive relationship between participation in online political groups and political knowledge, likely due to low quality online group discussion.
New Media & Society, 2013
In the time since the rise of the Internet, it has often been claimed that it has the potential to contribute to the quality of democracy by fostering citizens’ involvement in politics. So far, empirical evidence regarding this purported effect has been mixed, and many questions about the consequences of specific forms of political Internet use (PIU) have remained unanswered. This study expands the knowledge about the relation between PIU and political involvement by examining the effect of active and passive forms of PIU on citizens’ political involvement: more specifically, interest and voter turnout during election times. The results obtained from a panel study of a representative sample of the Dutch population ( N = 985) reveal a positive relation between particular forms of PIU on the one hand and voter turnout and political interest on the other hand. In addition, for two specific forms of PIU, the positive effect on voter turnout is more prevalent for citizens who exhibit low...
Internet and political participation
Political C ommunication C onference, International Political Science Association (IPSA) & International Association of Media and Education Research
Political Communication is often restricted and confined to the area of institutional politics, forgetting public opinion, public sphere and social movements. However, Political Communication ‘is also about understanding and making sense of civic affairs’ (Kaid 2004: 13). One claims that political communication must not be limited to the instrumental communicative strategies from institutions and political parties. It can and should study spontaneous and informal public spheres, considering public conversation, political discussion and collective action. Additionally, it must observe the changes and mutations induced by the appearance of new communicative environments and their impact on political activity
The broadest definition of political participation refers to all forms of involvement in which citizens express their political opinion and/or try to influence political views and decisions of political decision-makers, other powerholders or people. Within the scientific literature there is a broad consensus on the view that political participation is one of the cornerstones of a wellfunctioning democracy. One of the perhaps newest forms of political participation are based on the use of on-line communication tools.