Facebook and political participation: Virtuous circle and participation intermediaries

Abstract

Drawing from the results of a mixed-methods cross-national study focusing on Italy and the United Kingdom, this article explores how the contribution of Facebook to citizens' political participation varies in relation to pre-existing levels and different dimensions of political activity -namely, political expression and information vs political mobilization.The findings indicate that politically active individuals are the ones who take more advantage of the mobilization affordances of Facebook, whereas less politically active participants employ this social networking site mainly for political information. Activists consider Facebook as a key tool for the organization of political initiatives, enabling them to quickly communicate and coordinate, and to operate independently from traditional political institutions such as parties and trade unions. With regard to citizens who engage to a lesser degree in offline and online political activities, the informative power of Facebook 2 and its ease of use come into play. Facebook can, in fact, lower the thresholds of participation by making it more flexible. In addition, political information can reach less engaged users through the activity of participation intermediaries, activating a virtuous circle and potentially producing, in the long run, a mobilization effect.

Self-Reported Versus Digitally Recorded: Measuring Political Activity on Facebook

“…Traditionally, political participation refers to actions intended to influence political outcomes such as electoral or issue campaigning, protesting, or contacting officials; recently, however, digital media has expanded the range of activities considered to be political (Dahlgren, 2005;van Deth, 2015;Verba, Schlozman, & Brady, 1995). In addition to traditional behaviors, measures of online political activity may include discussion (Casteltrione 2016;Vitak et al, 2011), expressing one's opinion or support (Casteltrione, 2016;Gibson & Cantijoch, 2013;Gil de Zúñiga et al, 2014;Gil de Zúñiga, Veenstra, Vraga, & Shah, 2010), and sharing news links (Gibson & Cantijoch, 2013;Kwon, Moon, & Stefanone, 2015;Vitak et al, 2011). Many studies include measurements of general SNS use as well (Boulianne, 2015).…”

“…Errant self-reporting of political activity on Facebook, the dominant social networking platform in contemporary society, has implications for research that explores whether the platform expands participation. Research shows that individuals who are already politically engaged are more likely to report using Facebook for political activities and that Facebook offers its own unique forms of participation (Casteltrione, 2016;Gil de Zúñiga et al, 2014;Vissers & Stolle, 2014). However, if individuals overestimate their Facebook activity, as is the case with Internet use, mobile phone use, and news exposure (Araujo et al, 2017;Boase & Ling, 2013;Prior, 2009;Scharkow, 2016), this may inflate estimates of the platform's impact, particularly if errors are systematic and related to other political variables of interest.…”

The Revolution of Facebook: Political Education on Social Media through Nonformal Andragogical Communities of Practice

“…Du Preez and Lombard (2014) contend that while memes are part of identity construction, they are also part of identity display as they reveal true impressions of the user's offline persona. Casteltrione (2014) has proposed that Facebook can decrease the risk of political fragmentation and polarization, and elsewhere that members pre-existing levels of political activity reflect their mobilization efforts on Facebook (Casteltrione, 2016). Kearney (2016) connects political engagement on Facebook with interpersonal goals theory concluding that "…political posts entail greater affective and interaction-related risks than following political pages or updating one's profile, while "liking" political posts afford users a low-cost/low-reward strategy for managing interactions" (p. 106).…”

El uso de Internet en las elecciones presidenciales en México, 2018

“…De acuerdo con Vraga, Thorson, Kligler-Vilenchik y Gee (2015), aquellos jóvenes que se encuentran lo suficientemente politizados son menos reticentes a compartir contenido sobre política que aquellos que no mantienen un mayor interés en esta temática. También existen otras posturas que señalan que los ciudadanos que normalmente no cuentan con una participación activa pueden verse motivados a tenerla por las posibilidades que se generan en la esfera pública virtual (Casteltrione, 2016). Además, hay evidencia de que los usuarios pueden eventualmente cambiar su postura sobre un determinado tema con base en la información que consultan en los medios sociales (Diehl, 2016).…”