A New Space for Political Behavior: Political Social Networking and its Democratic Consequences

Abstract

Social networking sites (SNS) currently boast more than half a billion active users worldwide

Issue-Specific Engagement: How Facebook Contributes to Opinion Leadership and Efficacy on Energy and Climate Issues

“…Our results suggest that Facebook activity merits a more nuanced approach than traditional measures, which often combine diverse ways of consuming and expressing views on the social media site (Bode et al, 2014;Vitak et al, 2011). In this study, we distinguish between three types of Facebook activity: news consumption, news expression, and issue-specific engagement.…”

“…Facebook activities such as sharing links and liking pages can contribute to an individual's self-perceptions about their role in the political process on a particular issue in several ways, including by building the vocabulary and skills related to public activism or by publicly committing oneself to a position (Bode et al, 2014;Pingree, 2007;Thorson, 2012;Verba et al, 1995). Further, these Facebook activities may also encourage a retrospective evaluation of one's own attitudes, as selfperception theory might suggest (Bem, 1972; see also Ikeda et al, 2008).…”

“…This group is particularly important to study on this issue, because Republicans are divided in their attitudes on the issue of climate change and energy policy (Leiserowitz, Maibach, Roser-Renouf, & Hmielowski, 2011;Pew Research Center, 2013). Further, research suggests Republicans have been less engaged in using social media for political information in recent presidential elections (Bode, Vraga, Borah, & Shah, 2014;Fernandes, Giurcanu, Bowers, & Neely, 2010;Vitak et al, 2011). Therefore, it is important to understand how Facebook activity among a divided group generally less engaged in social media for political purposes can contribute to their issue-specific attitudes.…”

La relación entre el consumo de medios digitales, la participación y la eficacia política. Un estudio sobre los jóvenes universitarios en Colombia

“…Con respecto a la primera categoría, nos hemos propuesto esclarecer si, en efecto, existe una relación entre la participación política de los jóvenes colombianos en los medios sociales, tal y como ha sido avistada en otros contextos (Park, Kee & Valenzuela, 2009;Bode et al, 2014); asimismo, también resulta pertinente observar cómo influye dicha participación en línea, con la participación política fuera de línea como segunda categoría, una interacción que ha sido ya abordada por la literatura previa (Verba, 1962;Brady, Verba & Lehman, 1995;Estrada, 1995;, si bien aún no hemos encontrado un estudio sobre el caso de Colombia que se haya detenido en este fenómeno. De igual manera, consideramos importante tomar en cuenta la tercera categoría, la cual señala en qué medida ha cambiado el consumo de medios tradicionales en el grupo poblacional escogido, y de qué manera el surgimiento de los medios digitales coexiste o ha comenzado a reemplazar la forma tradicional de informarse (Delarbre, 2011;Arellano, 2013;Villamil, 2017).…”

Digital media use and participation leadership in social protests: The case of Tiananmen commemoration in Hong Kong

“…Early research suggests that, while overall Internet use by itself does not necessarily lead to political participation, there has been substantial evidence showing a positive impact of Internet use for political purposes on participation (Boulianne, 2009). With the rise of social media since the late 2000s, a bourgeoning literature has also shown that using social media for seeking public affairs information, opinion expression, and/or mobilization can lead to both online and offline political participation (e.g., Bode et al, 2014;Conroy et al, 2012;Dimitrova et al, 2014;Enjolras et al, 2013;Macafee and De Simone, 2012;Skoric and Poor, 2013;Tang and Lee, 2013;Towner, 2013;Valenzuela, 2013).…”