social media influence on political views research paper

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Original research article, social media influence on politicians' and citizens' relationship through the moderating effect of political slogans.

• School of Management and Economics, North China Electric Power University, Beijing, China

The digitalization of communication means has revolutionized the way people observe and react to the social and political developments in their surroundings. The rapidly growing influence of social media prompted this exploratory research article on the use of social networking sites by politicians to build a cordial and strong relationship with the common citizens. This article focuses on investigating social media's influence on the relationship between politicians and citizens through the moderating effect of political slogans. Social media not only enables the politicians to directly communicate with the citizens but also encourages political participation of citizens in the form of feedback via comments on social networking sites. Political slogans play a significant role in the image building of a particular political force in the eyes of citizens. A quantitative analysis approach is utilized in this study. Data are collected via a survey questionnaire from a variety of social media users with a cross-sectional time horizon. In total, 300 people submitted their responses via the questionnaire, which was circulated in the first 2 months of this year (i.e., January and February 2022). The convenience sampling method was utilized for data collection across two cities in Pakistan. Smart PLS 3 has been used for hypothesis testing. The effect of the Moderator, i.e., political slogans of the basic four political parties of Pakistan are measured individually. Results show that the impact of social networking sites and politics on politicians' and citizens' relationships is positive and significant. This study can be a stepping stone for further related research to enable the politicians to make positive relationships with the citizens by effectively utilizing the social media platform.

Introduction

Social media (SM) is rapidly turning into a key commodity in establishing links with various individuals, cultures, and businesses. Golbeck et al. (2010 , p. 1613) portrayed social media as a platform that possesses the capabilities to facilitate interpersonal and group interaction. It also provides news and unique opportunities for community leaders, elected officials, and government service providers to inform and be informed by, the citizenry. Social media is at the forefront of the marketing strategies devised by many leading industries and businesses to connect with existing and future consumers. The collaboration of various social media platforms also plays a crucial role in identifying and resolving various complications related to marketing and advertising strategies ( Tsimonis and Dimitriadis, 2014 , p. 329–330).

Today's world has been converted into a “global village” thanks to the spectacular rise of social media. It means that everyone around the world can communicate with each other freely and with ease. Consumers and businesses both get a lot of benefits out of social media. Consumers generally rely on social media to accumulate all the related knowledge of products or services desired by them ( Song and Yoo, 2016 , p. 85–86). Organizations should adopt social media to promote their products as it is the most direct and easily accessible means of communication to influence public perception. It is widely seen as a tool to eloquently express opinions and beliefs.

Social media encompasses “highly interactive platforms” designed to share information, facilitate different types of discussion, and develop relationships with other users; the interactive platforms are created through different technologies ( Kietzmann et al., 2011 , p. 241). A framework is developed in the literature where social media is thoroughly explained with the help of seven building blocks. The seven building blocks are as follows: identity, conversations, presence, relationships, reputation, sharing, and groups. The brief descriptions of these building blocks are provided below:

• Identity: the personal information provided by the user.

• Conversations: communication between the users on social media.

• Sharing: the amount of content shared by the users.

• Presence: social media can give information about the users whether they are online or not.

• Relationships: the level of association between the users.

• Reputation: depicts how aware are the users of their status and that of others in a social media setting.

• Groups: a building block that describes the capability of users to form communities and sub-communities.

The reason for proposing this framework is to explain social media clearly but the organizations are not able to extract desirable results from utilizing social media as they are unaware of the range of services available on the social networking sites. A large number of social media users are provided with one-of-a-kind experiences related to the political subject matter. The randomly chosen posts shared by these users and highlighted by the algorithms working behind the scenes of such social networking sites play a critical role in information sharing ( Marwick and Boyd, 2011 , p. 142–143; Gillespie and Boczkowski, 2014 , 188; Vraga, 2016 , 601). Consequently, according to a similar study ( Bode, 2016 , p. 44), social media offers a better and more vibrant platform for such diverse political subject matter in comparison to some live forums or sessions attended by people in person.

There are a number of leading social media platforms that have attracted large numbers of users worldwide. Some of these social media giants which are analyzed in this study are described briefly in the coming paragraphs.

Facebook is one of the leading social media networks operated worldwide. Facebook declared almost 2.8 billion active users monthly ( Facebook Reports First Quarter 2022 Results , 2022 ) in 2020 and was listed as the fourth most used global internet service. Also, it was touted as the most downloaded mobile app in the last decade. Facebook can be simultaneously accessed from multiple internet-connected devices. The first step for Facebook users is the registration of an account that can then be set up with some personal information. The personal profile page of every user stores the content shared by the user and is known as the “Timeline” since 2011 ( Gayomali, 2011 ; Panzarino, 2011 ; Schulman, 2011 ; Knibbs, 2015 ). It allows users to post pictures, videos, and text to be shared either with people added as friends or publicly to people all over the world. Facebook users can interact privately as well through instant messaging and also have the option to join groups and follow pages according to their interests. It played a revolutionary role in interconnecting individuals all over the world and provided a platform to share personal views, opinions, and data with the audience of their choice. It was as early as 2008 that public figures including politicians started exploring this new avenue for information sharing and narrative building ( Carlisle and Patton, 2013 , p. 883–884; Skogerbø and Krumsvik, 2015 , p. 354–355). With time, political communication and marketing have become a new normal globally as Facebook provided a state-of-the-art advertisement platform with a wide audience range ( Bossetta, 2018 , p. 472).

Twitter is among the most popular social media platforms utilized by large corporations, common users, and politicians alike all over the world. Even heads of state actively use this platform for communicating their policy statements on various critical issues. Twitter was launched in 2006 but flourished rapidly in the last decade. It was reported that 340 million daily tweets were posted by around 100 million Twitter users by 2012 ( Twitter, 2012 ). In addition to that, around 1.6 billion searches were handled by the social media platform ( The Engineering Behind Twitter's New Search Engine, 2011 ; Lunden, 2012 ). It is mentioned ( Molina, 2017 ) that the number of active Twitter users surged to 330 million by the start of 2019. It has become a key tool of communication in today's digital world.

Blogs/forums

A weblog or online forum is also referred to as a digital diary where a person can share information globally in the form of posts and initiate a discussion with others as well ( Blood, 2000 ). The posts shared by the users are arranged from the newest to the oldest. Before the last decade, blogs were limited to individuals sharing information concentrated only on a specific topic. However, in the last decade, multiple individuals have been able to collaborate on a wide variety of topics. This has significantly enhanced the internet traffic for blogs and online discussion forums. Universities, think tanks, activists, and even government entities have established these weblogs and discussion forums for disseminating information. Almost all the topics related to general life are discussed here ranging from sports, arts, religion, science to politics, and philosophy. A simple weblog is a combination of text, images, and links to other similar pages on the internet. The interaction of people via public comments is another important part of the blog and online forums. With every passing day, the popularity and number of such blogs are increasing rapidly. Politicians and political organizations have also established dedicated weblogs and online forums to enhance political participation from the general public.

YouTube is a social media platform for sharing video content, and it was launched at the beginning of 2005. It is regarded as the second most searched website after Google Search. It has been estimated that around 2.5 billion monthly users ( Most Used Social Media 2021 , 2022 , p. 2022) on average watch videos for almost one billion hours every day ( Goodrow, 2017 ). Another study estimated in 2019 pointed out that more than 500 h of video content/min is uploaded on YouTube ( Hale, 2019 ; Neufeld, 2021 ). It is claimed to be at the heart of multiple cultural and social trends in today's society. In the field of political communication, YouTube has brought the politicians and common public much closer. A classic example of this is the collaboration of YouTube and CNN for US presidential debates where the common public was able to ask questions directly. Social experts touted that YouTube has altogether altered the political environment ( YouTube News: A New Kind of Visual News, 2012 ). A famous example of utilizing social media for political communication in the past decade is the Arab Spring. One of the leading activists in the Arab Spring pointed out that they utilized Facebook for protest planning, and this was managed through Twitter and shown worldwide through YouTube ( Seelye, 2007 ).

Social media can generate interest in many types of brands, events, products, or services. Andrew Peter, the regional director of The Pacific West Communications, can be taken as an example. He used Facebook for Singapore Tattoo Show to promote and advertise it. He instantly connected with the prospective visitors to that event. Initially, there were 5,000 expected visitors for that event; in the end, around three times the intended audience joined the show, and it turned out to be a huge success ( Scott, 2009 , p. 40–41). This example depicts that social media can be a constructive tool that can facilitate individuals and corporations to spread awareness among common citizens about their products or services.

Social media is an up-and-coming field that is being developed day by day and has been influencing almost every aspect of our lives. The number of instances where social media influenced the political subject matter is already visible in numerous parts of the world. Howard Dean, a Democrat representative endorsed as the pioneer of utilizing social media/internet for promoting political subject matter, performed his duty as the Governor of Vermont (1991–2003) and later ran for president in the 2004 election. Similarly, Barack Obama utilized his Twitter account in the lead-up to the US presidential elections of 2008 for promoting his political viewpoint. Those elections were the first major political event that included the social media impact in forming public opinion on various issues of political subject matter.

Another such example is the Berlin state election of 2011 where the Pirate party astoundingly won 15 seats out of 23. Their success was believed to be largely based on accessing voters via social media. The party is believed to collect its 120,000 votes from a number of different sources like young people voting for the first time, Social Democrats, the silent voters of the past, the Greens, and the Christian Democrats. Young Voters (18–34 years old) voted for the Pirate party in large numbers (one in every five votes). In the same year, the True Finns won the Parliamentary elections of Finland by putting to use social media to influence public opinion on the political subject matter. It was instrumental for them in engaging their believers and also expanding their voter base.

A few years back, the Turkish military wanted to shut down government affairs. This situation was controlled via social media in which messages were sent to the citizens to come out of their homes in support of the government. Donald Trump, then President of the United States, also used social media in the recent US elections and succeeded in influencing citizens. Similarly, Pakistan and India are also trying to influence the world to lean toward their respective points of view through the effective utilization of social media communication channels. Even elections have been carried out in some countries around the globe by utilizing social media platforms ( Lies and Fuß, 2019 , p. 138).

This study focused particularly on the rising influence of social media on the political participation of the common public in Pakistan. The leading political party of Pakistan, namely Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (2021) (PTI), is the most active and popular political force on social media in Pakistan. They utilized it effectively to win the general elections in 2018 and formed the government as well. Let us take a look at some of the factors that attracted the attention of authors for carrying out this research in Pakistan.

Social media politics in Pakistan

It is worth mentioning here that Pakistan possesses the second highest percentage of youth population worldwide and this fact has revamped the political landscape of Pakistan ( Ittefaq and Iqbal, 2018 , p. 4). Among the social media platforms, Facebook is the most widely used platform for political communication, although globally Twitter is the most widely used for political communication. The influence of social media on the political landscape of Pakistan started growing rapidly in 2008 ( Eijaz, 2013 , p. 117). Internet penetration is relatively low in Pakistan as compared to other regional countries. However, the situation is gradually improving. One of the recent surveys in Pakistan showed that only 19% of people have internet access. The situation is rapidly changing with the increased utilization of technology (particularly social media) in various critical areas like health, politics, and education. This prompts increased research content on dissecting the influence of social media use ( Ittefaq and Iqbal, 2018 , p. 3–4).

Social media platforms have turned out to be a much-needed social space for the average citizen to express their opinions and engage in meaningful debate on a number of complex, social, and political issues in Pakistan. This has in turn improved the turnout of the general elections considerably ( Ahmad and Sheikh, 2013 , p. 353–354). Similarly, another study ( Zaheer, 2016 , p. 281–282) focused on university students and analyzed the impact of social media on the political participation and perception of students in Pakistan. It revealed that online activism had a great impact on encouraging the student's involvement in political debates and activities. The study was carried out in one of the biggest cities in Pakistan.

According to one of the recent surveys, 44.61 million people in Pakistan are internet users and 37 million people of these are active on social media platforms. The survey further analyzed the usage of popular social media platforms and reported 36 million Facebook users, 6.30 million Instagram users, 2.15 million Snapchat users, and 1.26 million Twitter users. It also pointed out that 77% of the total active social media users are 18–34 years old. This confirms that mostly young people in Pakistan are actively utilizing social media (We Are Social, n.d.). Another similar survey carried out in 2018 found that 22% of the total Pakistani population are internet users. Out of this 22% users, the social media users are 18%. This survey also confirmed that the majority of social media users are the youth of Pakistan.

Due to the large youth population of Pakistan, politicians make an effort to encourage them to vote for them. The popularity of social media among the youth has made it the most attractive platform for political communication in election campaigns. Large and popular social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube are used to target political communication campaigns ( Kugelman, 2012 ). The utilization of social media for political marketing is now a very common practice globally. All the major political parties maintain their active presence on social media platforms to effectively communicate their policies and opinions. Michaelsen (2011 , p. 37–39) also discussed the impact of technological revolution and in particular, social media on political involvement all over the world. It asserted that predominantly young people of Pakistan have adopted social media as the most common mode of communication and interaction. The advent of social media has opened up new avenues of information for the common public and there is an increased probability that anyone could gain access to the required information to a larger extent ( Kugelman, 2012 ).

Significance and contributions

Social media has played an instrumental role in creating more political sense and social awareness among the citizens and have encouraged them to share their opinions. The policies supposedly created for the benefit of citizens should take into account their requirements, needs, and wishes. The novelty of this research idea is in the promotion of social media as a platform for the politicians to build their narrative in front of the citizens while simultaneously allowing them to give their feedback, enabling a trusting bond between them. This study emphasizes developing a trustworthy bond between politicians and citizens. It is necessary that politicians remain accountable to the public because the citizens elect them for the betterment of themselves and their country. The end goal of this research study is to get answers which can enable politicians to improve their relationships with the common citizens via social media. They can also utilize the social media platform to make people more cognizant of their agendas, thoughtfulness, and future plans.

In going through the related literature, a research gap was identified in “Brand strategies in social media, Georgios Tsimonis and Sergios Dimitriadis Department of Marketing and Communication, Athens University of Economics and Business, Athens, Greece” ( Tsimonis and Dimitriadis, 2014 , p. 328–344). This research study analyzed the brand strategies promoted through social media channels for the virtual benefit of customers. It recommended dissecting social media's influence on the relationship between government/politicians and citizens. In our view, there are no such particular research articles focused primarily on this topic. Hence, the authors performed a simple analysis of politicians' and citizens' relationships previously ( Fatema et al., 2020 , p. 110) without considering the moderating effect (which is included in the research model for this study). The major objectives of this research article are listed below:

• Study the influence of social media on politicians' and citizens' relationships.

• Analyze the impact of political slogans of four main Pakistani political parties on politicians' and citizens' relationships.

• Examine the moderating effect of political slogans on politicians' & citizens' relationships.

This stated research can contribute to the overall study of this topic in a number of ways:

• It can open up a new path in the research arena as very few studies in the past have addressed the relationship between politicians and citizens in quantitative, cross-sectional research design.

• Also, this study adds a new dimension to the research arena as it intends to investigate the moderating effect of political slogans as a moderator.

• This research study also introduces use of partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) analysis for social media studies.

• Last but not least, this study helps politicians a lot in their promotion and crafting of their positive image in front of the citizens through social media.

Literature review

The word “social” means “connection with the society,” the interaction with the people, and the word “media” means “the medium by which information is conveyed to the world.” The combined term “social media” means the medium by which people share information about different things or scenarios ( Auvinen, 2008 , p. 8). It has become necessary for people to get information about anything via different online sources. The terms “social” and “media” are very much interrelated but not perfectly synonymous, and they are used in different ways.

Social media is heralded as an interactive platform, intended to enhance communication among individuals and corporations via the exchange of ideas, photos, and videos. They have become an integral part of modern marketing plans for any corporation or individual and may as well replace the older and traditional marketing tactics completely ( Vera and Trujillo, 2017 , p. 603–605).

The three rudimentary and interconnected fragments of social media are social interaction, content, and communication media ( Dann and Dann, 2011 , p. 345–346). Figure 1 illustrates how social media is constructed through the interconnection of these three fragments. These three rudimentary fragments should be available in time so that the basic requirements can be completed properly. Social interaction is the link between social media users and others via social media services. Content is defined as the data that is available on social media and can attract social media users. Lastly, communications media is described as the platform that facilitates sharing of subject matter and communication between the users. Several research studies concluded that social media users intend to satisfy their specific wants and targets via social media use that they are unable to fulfill otherwise ( Raacke and Bonds-Raacke, 2008 , p. 170; Macafee, 2013 , p. 2767–2768). People naturally need social media in this global era of technology, as communication is a basic necessity. Every individual can approach the openly shared information. These acts have local as well as global impacts. Social media can create and elevate the concept of “brand awareness” ( Fanion, 2011 , p. 76–77).

Figure 1 . Social media components.

There are incalculable advantages to social media. Social media has altered people's thoughts and thinking processes. It has changed the way people communicate. It has provided a better platform for people to communicate and share their feelings and thoughts. The advantages given by social media are discussed below. The eight key changes that are provided by social media are described here briefly.

• The first change is the secrecy of its users, which means that those who comment mostly use nicknames or assumed names.

• The second change is the variety of information social media presents.

• The third change is omnipresence. It means that there are no longer any places to hide. Through social media, our life becomes a public space.

• The fourth change is rapidity and speed. Presently, a day's worth of information is dissemminated in minutes. In the past, it was very difficult to spread any information fast.

• The fifth change is the relationships made by social media.

• The sixth change is the shift from the objective to the subjective.

• The seventh change is that recorded information is transformed. Through social media, pictures and videos are not only shared but can also be transformed into a combined format.

• The eighth change is how though a government can limit or restrict the information on social media, customary censorship cannot keep up with altering web pages.

Almost every person utilizes social media in one way or the other. It has become a necessary part of everyday lifestyle. It is very helpful and informative as well. Social media networks are structures linked with individuals and corporations with interlinked emotional or fiscal values. In other words, it is a conduit for numerous kinds of people who exhibit a distinct set of behaviors ( Gil de Zúñiga et al., 2011 , p. 587; Alnsour and Al Faour, 2020 , p. 81); this study examines the result of informational motivations for social networking sites. Safko (2010 , p. 24) described social media as a collaborative communication platform where corporations can focus on customers' needs and expectations.

Cao and Havranek (2013 , p. 7−8) concluded that people are at the heart of social networking sites' operations rather than the commodity. Social media can help corporations understand consumer behavior better, which can in turn lead to improved commodity performance ( Keegan and Rowley, 2017 , p. 19). According to Evans (2008 , p. 263), social networking sites provide insight into real people with shared interests and incorporate individual experiences as well. Brand awareness is largely due to social media and it has been increasing with every passing day ( Fanion, 2011 , 76). Gummerus et al. (2012 , p. 859) ascertained that social media is not solely for work but also forms the basis for good associations and entertainment benefits.

Social media and politics

Previous studies have shown that traditional media plays a key role in shaping pictures of the privileged (sometimes over the top) with the imagery used in many cinemas around the world ( Fiske, 1994 , p. 189–198; Callaghan and Schnell, 2005 , p. 180). The political scenario is “medialized”, which leads to political figures following media trends ( Schultz, 2004 , p. 225; Strömbäck and Esser, 2009 , p. 208). In contrast, social media eliminates the typical journalist or media role, and one is in charge of one's own self image in the public eye ( Salgado and Strömbäck, 2012 , p. 144–161). Social media provides political figures to construct their image in their own way by themselves.

Some researchers have equated internet presence to political activity ( Tolbert and Mcneal, 2003 , p. 176–177; Polat, 2005 , p. 437–438; Scholl, 2009 , p. 478). Kruikemeier et al. (2013 , p. 54–55) established that social media interaction by politicians can impact the participation of the citizen in the political subject matter. Kobayashi and Ichifuji (2015 , p. 575–577) have also concluded in their study that repeated interaction through Twitter has a positive impact on the political behavior of users.

Marketing professionals have focused their energies on increasing the number of social media users ( Mohan and Sequeira, 2016 , p. 15). Social media giants like Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, MySpace, and Wikipedia are widely known communication websites. They are also known as “Web 2.0” tools. Web 2.0 is a specific term that describes the 21st century Internet as a place where the users can yield and share ideas, share any piece of information with others, co-operate and help each other, etc. ( Kaplan and Haenlein, 2010 , p. 60–61).

Previous research states that politicians use social media for promoting themselves (as individuals as well as the political party office bearer) using ideas and policies they want to put into practice ( Enli and Skogerbø, 2013 , p. 760). Thorough studies have also disclosed how the use of social media by politicians affects the citizens as their potential voters. They found that the citizens' reaction to politicians who use Twitter in a more personalized way was more positive compared to others as it shows the humane and normal prospects of their lives which are otherwise unknown to the citizens. This shows that politicians who are more active and interactive on social media are more popular and likable in the eyes of the citizens. Results from the study of Parmelee and Bichard (2011 , p. 164) on Twitter in American politics state that followers get frustrated when any politician uses Twitter or any other social networking site for one-way communication instead of two-way.

Digital marketing and personal branding

A brand is an older generic term that generally points to the organizations and their products that are available to the users. Personal branding, on the other hand, is a newly invented terminology that has not been widely accepted as an academic term, but with the growing influence of social media in this modern age, personal branding has taken the shape of a handy product. Building or creating a brand is a topic that has a divided opinion across both literature and history. Kapferer (2008 , p. 13) is a staunch believer of this concept but at the same time ( Grönroos and Helle, 2010 , p. 566) has emphatically stated that it is not a pre-requisite in this discussion. Kapferer (2008 , p. 182) further defines branding as an impalpable asset and a basic tool for creating value in this modern age.

According to Hughes et al. (2008 , p. 1–2), a personal brand can be identified as a branch of brand theory and can be defined in the terms of a person's name, emblem, character, or design or their combination which in turn targets the facilities of a seller or a network of sellers helping them in differentiating among the chief competitors. Another major authority in this field is known as “The American Marketing Association”. It has defined the terms brand and branding as follows: “A brand is a customer's experience represented by a collection of images and ideas; often, it refers to a symbol such as a name, logo, slogan, and design scheme.” Brand image and brand identity are seen many times and are a common occurrence in the related literature ( Kapferer, 2008 , p. 173–174; Grönroos and Helle, 2010 , p. 568).

Millions of people are interconnected through this common medium of communication known as social media or digital media. Brand awareness is created when the firms advertise and promote their brand names on different social media websites and the huge number of people who use those websites get acquainted with those brand names and become potential consumers ( Alford and O'flynn, 2012 , p. 34–35). In a nutshell, social media nowadays acts as a platform to construct one's brand with the help of various tools. As described by Schawbel (2008 , p. 22), “In the digital age, your name is the only currency”.

A large number of research studies focused on the terms of digital marketing and brand strategy. Social networking sites have revolutionized the interaction of brands with their respective consumers. One of the key advantages of these platforms is the ability to understand consumer behavior and ability through feedback ( Radpour and Honarvar, 2018 , p. 54). The under-discussion research topic is linked with both branding and digital marketing. A politician who wants to establish a good relationship with the public is considered a “Brand” in this case: “Branding is a marketing strategy which involves creating a differentiated name and image in order to establish a presence in the customer's mind, attract customers and keep them loyal to the brand”. In this research study, the politician wants to promote themself via social media, which includes Facebook, Twitter, etc. This type of promotion comes under the umbrella of “digital marketing”. The term is described as the selective, quantifiable, and collaborative marketing of any commodity/amenities by utilizing digital technologies to enhance the number of customers and keep hold of them too.

The connection and relationship between politicians and citizens are studied under the banner of public relations (PR) strategies. Social media includes social networking sites (SNS) that act as a major platform to achieve or establish such a kind of connection. SNS, such as Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, etc., have quickly established themselves as one of the most effective means of influencing the relationship or connection between the citizens and their elected representatives (politicians). The relationship established through SNS can serve various purposes like influencing a campaign for the election of a candidate, promoting political ideology, accomplishing an objective, or incrementing a quota of funds. It has become one of the most powerful weapons to achieve any selected goals in this modern era of this digitalized world.

Political communication

Increased utilization of social media among the public has enhanced their receptivity to political communication. Almost all the political forces have reformed the traditional communication channels through the integration of digital communication methods. It involves creating specific blogs and websites to communicate their political opinions directly and more effectively to the common public in addition to their active presence on social media platforms ( Serrano et al., 2018 , p. 7–8; Papakyriakopoulos et al., 2018 , p. 2). The ability of the public to interact directly with the political forces by commenting has altered the traditional political communication channels. The interaction between the public and political forces on social media platforms is in stark contrast to the traditional communication channels ( Mccombs and Shaw, 1972 , p. 185–187). The role of a field journalist is reduced marginally due to the ability of political forces to interact directly with the common public via social media platforms. The social media platforms put into use certain recommendation procedures to distribute political content to like-minded common public users ( Bakshy et al., 2015 , p. 1131–1132). Political communication is either accessed directly via interpretation or indirectly through various related social media posts by the public ( Choi, 2015 , p. 697–700; Hilbert et al., 2017 , p. 445–446). Social media users can react to political communication in two ways. The first option is to react via social and political activity and the other option is to react publicly by commenting on the shared political communication. The direct interaction of the common public has the dual impact of influencing the passive users of the social media platforms and pressurizing the political forces to act in a certain manner. This modern political interaction has completely altered political communication. The amalgam of publicly commenting on the political content and publicly discussing the political content with other common public users has made social media a place of combative diversity. Social media platforms act as a place for sharing opinions and receiving feedback, which forms the basis of political communication. Online political discussions protected under democratic principles lead to “conflictual consensus” ( Doucet, 2002 , p. 143), which further extends to social choices. Therefore, it would not be an exaggeration to hold social media platforms responsible for enhanced political participation by the common public.

The direct exposure to political forces through social media platforms with concerted political opinions and demographic features has forced the public to adapt accordingly ( Nielsen and Vaccari, 2013 , p. 2336–2338; Schoen et al., 2013 , p. 532–533; Diaz et al., 2016 , p. 2–5; Jungherr et al., 2016 , p. 52–53; Hoffmann and Suphan, 2017 , p. 552–553). Hence, the political forces keep all these aspects in mind to tailor political communication to platforms like Twitter.

Politics and citizens

Political trust is defined in terms of the performance of politicians and government entities in ralation to public expectations ( Miller and Listhaug, 1990 , p. 358). Rigorous studies have revealed a deeper connection among informed users and indicate that their political opinions are formed more in line with the socially active politicians than the uninformed users who do not follow any political discussions online ( Moy et al., 2005 , p. 572; Shah et al., 2001 , p. 154; Wellman et al., 2001 , p. 448–450).

Most businesses have focused on social networking sites based on the user's motivations and features ( Boyd, 2004 , p. 1; Sweetser and Lariscy, 2008 , p. 179–180; Papacharissi, 2011 , p. 304–318). Little to no attention has been given to how social networking sites influence the political participation of citizens who are users of those platforms and how that can lead to the increase or decrease of their confidence in their respective governments. Online or digital communication can be the catalyst for engaging younger people in political subject matters ( Lupia and Philpot, 2005 , p. 1125). Similar views were echoed by Lee (2006 , p. 419–421) who deduced that active online participation in politically active forums or groups leads to higher political participation of individuals.

The repeated appearance of content related to the political subject matter on SNS encourages users to express their political opinions more freely without it being taken as offensive or too sensitive a topic to be discussed openly ( Vitak et al., 2011 , p. 109–111; Halpern and Gibbs, 2013 , p. 1161). Social media or SNS gives everyone a platform where they are free to build their persona in any way they prefer while allowing them the luxury to control how many real-life details they are willing to share publicly ( Enli and Thumim, 2012 , p. 10; Enli and Skogerbø, 2013 , p. 763). Increasingly intimate communication through SNS, such as Twitter and Facebook, further emboldens this image among the followers who act in a positive way toward politicians ( Kruikemeier et al., 2013 , p. 60).

The political work of a slogan

The political scientist, Murray Edelman theorized about politics and its actors as a “constructed spectacle” ( Burnier et al., 1994 , 242–244). Edelman pointed out that politicians' portrayal of themselves aims at legitimizing their own being and doing. For Edelman, analysis of politics and politicians is done by watching what they do, how they present themselves, and also by examining their language. The symbolism of various kinds is an important key for use in both language and gestures for actors in politics.

Political slogans are the basis of any political campaign and are formed to serve particular political gains. They are among the most prominent and regularly employed symbols of a politician. They target a particular social or economic issue and present their position in the form of slogans as they are seen to be more effective. Space limits can be placed on a campaign poster or an ad banner, and time limits can affect what can be said in a television advertisement or a message aired on the evening news. However, a sharp and concise slogan can overcome these restrictions by giving a louder and clearer message ( Hodges, 2014 , p. 349).

Historical review of political parties

The four major political parties under discussion took part in the general elections of Pakistan (2018) in which PTI emerged as the most successful party. It bagged a total of 16, 903, 702 votes in the national assembly securing 156 seats out of 342. The second most successful party in terms of bagging the second highest number of votes was Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz [PML (N)] which got 12, 934, 589 votes and took 85 seats in the national assembly. Pakistan's People's Party (PPP) appears the third highest vote getting party taking 6, 924, 356 votes and securing 64 seats in the national assembly of Pakistan. Several Islamic parties also took part in these general elections with different names and got 2, 573, 939 votes in total, bagging 16 seats in the national assembly ( Election Commission of Pakistan, 2020 ). Let us have a brief look at each of the four main political forces in Pakistan.

Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz

Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz is a faction of the All-Pakistan Muslim League that played a primary role in the creation of Pakistan. General Zia dissolved the government in 1987 and elected the National Assembly. This is the era when PML was divided into a number of factions. In 1993, Muhammad Nawaz Shareef laid the foundation for PML (N). After going through a lot of purging, the Pakistan Muslim League (Quaid-e-Azam) PML (Q) and PML (N) remain the survivors so far. The political slogans change with time, and currently, the main slogan is, “Vote ko izzat do (Respect the vote)” ( Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz, 2021 ).

Pakistan Tehreek-E-Insaf

This political party was established in 1992 by Imran Khan. It is devoted to combating injustice in our daily lives and establishing a society based on the principles of equality, justice, and fair play for every citizen of Pakistan. They have called for a change in the name of establishing a Naya Pakistan. Their social media campaign is hailed as a gamechanger in the politics of Pakistan and effectively played the key role behind their ascendance to power in 2018. Their political slogan is to end corruption to ensure justice and accountability for all.

Pakistan's people's party

The inaugural session of the PPP was held in Lahore from 30 November to 12 December 1967. At the same meeting, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto was elected the president. The party pledged to eliminate the feudal system by the established principles of socialism and to protect and improve the interests of farmers ( Pakistan Peoples Party, 2021 ). The PPP actively participated in politics with the slogan of “Roti, Kapra Aur Makan” (bread, clothes, and shelter) and “all Power to the people” ( Pakistan Peoples Party, 2021 ).

Religious parties

Religion has always played an important role in the history of Pakistan and has been an active part of the politics of Pakistan. Pakistan's people believe that politics or religion is an inter-related thing and cannot be separated. They form an important part of the political history of Pakistan. Their political slogan is to implement and practice the Islamic governance system ( Jamaat-e-Islami Pakistan, 2020 ).

Base theory and framework

The base theory for this research is the “Theory of self-presentation and self-disclosure” or “Impression Management Theory” ( Goffman, 1959 , p. 141; Schau and Gilly, 2003 , p. 387). Although some similar theories suggested earlier focused on the performance of a person, this is the first theory that is peculiarly focused on the self-presentation topic. The basic idea behind this theory explains that individuals are more open to promoting information that is aligned with their own opinions, and hence, they strongly believe that it will cause a positive impact on the people.

The impression management theory is among the most cited theories in research matters linked with self-presentation or identity presentation. The author of this theory argued that an individual's actions are based on the people surrounding him. The image portrayed through those actions (in line with the audience's preferences) is carefully thought off beforehand by the individual. The impression management theory not only focuses on the mask an individual put on in connivance with the audience's preferences but also sheds light on the thought process behind it.

The basic ideology behind this impression management theory, as quoted by the authors, is to control one's image in front of the surrounding people and build a persona. To influence and mold the opinions and actions of the surrounding people, one can portray specific impressions linked to one's capabilities, personality, ideas, emotive state, and other related traits. The creation of one's image in the eyes of the surrounding people can play a critical and constructive role in achieving preset goals and ambitions.

Research methods

There are two main types of research methods, quantitative research and qualitative research ( Ghauri and Gronhaug, 2005 , p. 109). To solve a particular problem, the research is done using one of the above-mentioned research methods. They are briefly described below.

Qualitative method

Qualitative research is utilized when the research article employs descriptive data based on conceptualization as endorsed in previous research articles ( Ghosh and Chopra, 2002 ; Ghauri and Gronhaug, 2005 , p. 110). When the concerning variables that are responsible for generating an outcome are not obvious, or when the number of participants or results under research is insufficient for statistical analysis, the qualitative research method is utilized. Participants of the research might range in magnitude from a single person to vast groups, and the topic of research can range from a specific demeanor to the operation of a large and multifaceted organization. Researchers are most interested in analyzing people's convictions, enthusiasm, and behavior, as well as those of organizations. Designed or unrestrained interviews, observation via participation or exterior observation, and scrutiny of inscribed information are all common examples of research approaches. When contextual forces are vague, overwhelming, or sensitive to external stimuli, qualitative methods are the most suited research method.

Quantitative method

Quantitative research is used when the research article intends to calculate and analyze the numerical data results ( Saunders et al., 2009 , p. 161). The basic ideology behind this research method is to critically analyze the impact of peculiar conditions known as independent variables on the consequence of interest also known as dependent variables in a numerical manner. Under these circumstances, observers usually draw interpretations from direct observation methods like real experiments. Another possibility is to draw interpretations through affiliations formed as a result of performing a statistical analysis technique. These interpretations are most accurate in cases where the contributing factors are tightly managed and are free from any unobserved interference. In these specific situations, the predicted results are deemed more reliable and effective. Based on this literature review, the following theoretical framework for this research study is proposed in Figure 2 given below.

Figure 2 . Theoretical framework.

Hypothesis formulation

Based on this literature review, a set of nine alternative hypotheses are proposed in this research article to achieve the objectives highlighted in the aforementioned sections. They are presented here as follows:

H1: Social Networking sites and politics have a significant and positive impact on politicians' and citizens' relationships.

H2: The political slogan of PML (N) has a significant and positive impact on politicians' and citizens' relationships.

H3: The political slogan of PPP has a significant and positive impact on politicians' and citizens' relationships.

H4: The political slogan of PTI has a significant & positive impact on politicians' & citizens' relationships.

H5: The political slogan of religious parties (RPs) has a significant and positive impact on politicians' and citizens' relationships.

H6: The moderating effect of the political Slogan of PML (N) positively moderates the relationship between politicians and citizens.

H7: The moderating effect of the political slogan of PPP positively moderates the relationship between politicians and citizens.

H8: The moderating effect of the political slogan of PTI positively moderates the relationship between politicians and citizens.

H9: The moderating effect of the political slogan of RP positively moderates the relationship between politicians and citizens.

Research methodology

Sekaran and Bougie (2016 , p. 87) recommend that if the research article intends to carry out hypothesis testing, the quantitative research method is the more suitable option. The deductive approach is put into use for hypothesis formulation in this study. Brink and Wood (2012 , p. 49) explain that in the quantitative method, the data related to hypotheses is collected and then fed into the software for testing purposes. These tests will provide the true fundamentals and figures, which will play a central role in explaining the research hypothesis precisely. In this study, quantitative data was obtained via questionnaires. There is no limitation of demographic elements like gender etc., imposed while conducting this research through the questionnaire. A few open-ended questions were included in this questionnaire as well to encourage the participants to express their views and opinions. The Likert scale technique was use for the questionnaire.

Sampling design

This study approaches the people who use social media for a variety of purposes. The survey is aimed at evaluating the influence of social media on citizens and their opinions regarding the particular political subject matter. A convenience sampling technique is used. The sample size is 300 individuals in this cross-sectional study. The data are collected only once through the questionnaire in January and February of 2022 for hypotheses testing ( Sekaran and Bougie, 2016 , p. 88). The questionnaire was adapted and modified to gathering responses from social media users (respondents in this research). The two major variables of this research article are as follows:

• Social media and politics

• Relationship between politicians and citizens.

All the items for these two variables are adapted ( Lee, 2013 , p. 62).

Validity and reliability

To ensure the validity and reliability of the data collected through the questionnaire, it is first pilot tested. This helps to avoid any issues the respondents might encounter while filling it. Hence, the questionnaire is pilot tested and checked properly. This study specifically investigated the numerical analysis of the data collected via questionnaires to verify the data. In the literature on reliability analysis, Cronbach's alpha is very important. It is the basic measure of reliability ( Cronbach, 1951 , p. 15). The Cronbach's alpha is 0.860 (calculated in SPSS) for the dependent variable (politicians' and citizens' relationship). As the value shown in Table 1 is larger than 0.5 (typical benchmark), it implies that the instrument (questionnaire) is reliable.

Table 1 . Reliability statistics.

Measurement technique

The software applied for this research is Smart PLS for data analysis. The PLS has the ability to do multiple analyses and also saves time in recent high-ranked journals ( Baraghani, 2008 ). The name “path-modeling technique,” has been given to this technique due to its ability to run numerous compound analyses simultaneously. Researchers use PLS more in recent publications as well for statistical analysis ( Hair et al., 2011 , p. 148). Moreover, the most advanced form of regression analysis is structural equation modeling (SEM) ( Wong, 2013 , p. 2). The researchers can get different results at the same time by using this method. Hence, the SEM analysis is carried out in smart PLS software for this study.

Data analysis

Descriptive statistics (demographic).

Descriptive statistics provides the demographic dynamics of the data collected by the individuals. Morgan and Hunt (1994 , p. 32) state that demographic statistics evaluate the gender-based difference. Table 2 shows that the percentage of respondents aged 18–25 years is greater than others at 52.7%. Further, it explains that 55% of respondents are men, and the other 45% of respondents are women. The total sample size is 300 individuals of which 135 respondents are women while 165 respondents are men. In the next part, it explains that the main proportion of the respondents has a master's education qualification. In the last part, it illustrates that 58% of the respondents are students while the others have less percentage.

Table 2 . Descriptive statics (demographic).

Social media (general background)

Table 3 given below shows that the percentage of Facebook users is greater than other social media site users (82%). This table shows that out of 300 individuals, 246 users use Facebook more than other sites. In the next section, it explains that 38% of people use social media sites for 1 h per week. Similarly, it further shows that 45% of people prefer to use Mass Media channels for 1 h per week. Others use mass media channels for more than 1 h a week. At last, the table explains that 71.3% of the mass media channel users prefer to use a TV for the purpose of getting information while the others use magazines, radio, and newspapers.

Table 3 . Descriptive analysis (social media).

Figure 3 shows the basic model of this study. In this figure, SNS and politics are independent variables and the relationship between politicians and citizens is a dependent variable. In this model, political slogans are the moderator variable. Further, this moderator variable has four dimensions i.e., political slogans of basic four Pakistani political parties. The four basic parties which represent most of the population of Pakistan are PML (N), PPP, PTI, and RPs. Their political slogans are as follows:

Figure 3 . PLS basic model.

PMLN: Vote ko Izzat dau (respect the vote)

PPP: Roti, Kapra aur Makan (bread, clothing, and housing)

PTI: End corruption, Justice for all.

Religious Parties: Implement fully the Islamic system of governance.

The PLS-Algorithm and Bootstrapping are calculated in Figure 4 because the basic purpose of this study was to compute the results of the political slogans of four parties individually. Hypotheses are created based on Figure 3 . The results are discussed in the coming sections on the based selected parameters.

Figure 4 . PLS-SEM model.

Reliability

Wong (2013 , p. 2–4) showed that the PLS-SEM model should be evaluated in a study of the manuscript covering the eight basic things. These eight things include reliability indicators and internal consistency, loading external models, endogenous variables, convergence and difference validity, path coefficients, and structural path differences. These eight things have been followed by the minimum thresholds required.

Outer loadings reflect the correlation between the item and its corresponding latent variable. The outer loadings of all the items forming a part of the model have a value greater than the minimum acceptable value of 0.7 because before bootstrapping, the items having outer loadings <0.7 were removed ( Wong, 2013 , p. 8).

In addition, the indicator reliability has the minimum acceptable value of 0.4, preferably 0.7. Table 4 given below shows that each item considered in the model has a value >0.4 indicator reliability.

Table 4 . Item's reliability and loading.

Composite reliability

The minimum acceptable value for the internal consistency reliability of each latent variable model must be >0.7. Table 5 shows that each latent variable has a composite reliability value more than the minimum acceptable value of 0.7 in the model.

Table 5 . Composite reliability of latent variables.

The convergence validity of the data is evaluated by the AVE (mean-variance) in the PLS evaluation. All the data values are above 0.5 as shown in Table 6 (lower limit for data validity). Wong (2013 , p. 6) recommended that the off-diagonal values in the latent variable correlation must be lower than the diagonal ones in case of discriminate validity. The heterotrait-monotrait (HTMT) value should be lower than 0.9 with a confidence interval lower than 1 ( Henseler et al., 2015 , p. 123). Table 7 shows that both the HTMT value and confidence interval are <0.9 and 1, respectively. Therefore, the related variables bear the convergent validity in the model.

Table 6 . Convergent validity.

Table 7 . Discriminant validity.

R 2 for the research model

For the dependent variable (relationship between politicians and citizens), the coefficient of determination is 0.504. This means that the independent variable (SNS and politics) explains 50.4% variance in the dependent variable. It demonstrates that the adopted research model has the robust quality to explain the phenomenon.

Path coefficient for the research model

Path coefficient of this research model shown in Table 8 depicts that SNS and politics have the most dominant effect on RP between politicians and citizens (0.597) as compared to other moderator variables, such as PS-PTI (0.158), PS-PPP (0.064), PS-RP (−0.026), and PS-PML (N) (0.096). The path relationship between independent and dependent variables is significant. The path relationship between the four dimensions of the moderator and the dependent variable is not significant as their values are <0.1 ( Hair et al., 2012 , p. 332) except for one dimension, i.e., PS-PTI (0.158), because its value is greater than (0.1). Therefore, it can predict that PS (PPP), PS (RP), and PS [(PML (N)] are not strong moderators (dimensions) in the relationship between politicians and citizens.

Table 8 . Path coefficients.

Moderation impact

Two-stage PLS ( Henseler and Chin, 2010 , p. 86) is applied in this research study for analyzing the moderate effect of Political Slogans on the relationship between politicians and citizens. Table 8 shows that the path co-efficient of the interaction terms has positive values except for the relationship between the moderating effect of the political slogan of PML (N) on the relationship between politicians and citizens. This study is conducted to investigate the effect of moderation that weather it is positive or negative. The β and p -values indicate that the moderation is positive in the case of political slogans of PPP, PTI, and RP. The most significant of all the interaction terms is the moderating effect of PS(PTI), which has values of β = 0.08 and p = 0.05 because the β value should be equal to 1 and the p -value should be <0.5. The path model is modified and turned into a single indicator in this research model ( Henseler and Chin, 2010 , p. 84) as depicted in Figure 4 .

Assessment of the hypothesis

H1: Social Networking sites and politics have a significant and positive impact on the relationship between politicians and citizens.

It is positive and significant as β is 0.597 and the p -value is 0.000. The value of the T -statistic is 11.969 which is larger than 1.96. Also, the p -value is lower than 0.05 so, the impact of SNS and politics on the relationship between politicians and citizens is positive and significant. Therefore, the hypothesis is accepted.

It is positive and significant as β is 0.096 and the p -value is 0.005. P -value is lower than 0.05 so, the impact of the political slogan of PML (N) on politicians and citizens is positive and significant. Therefore, this hypothesis is also accepted.

The value of β is 0.064 and the value of p is 0.010; this shows that the impact of the political slogan of PPP is significant and positive on politicians' and citizens' relationships. Results state that this hypothesis is also accepted.

H4: The political slogan of PTI has a significant and positive impact on the politicians' and citizens' relationships.

It is also accepted because the values of β and p are 0.158 and 0.004, respectively. It means that the relationship between the political slogan of PTI and the relationship between politicians and citizens is positive and significant.

H5: The political slogan of RP has a significant and positive impact on politicians' and citizens' relationships.

The value of β is −0.026 and the value of p is 0.622; this shows that the impact of the political slogan of PPP is not positive and significant on politicians' and citizens' relationships because the p -value is >0.5. This hypothesis is rejected.

H6: The moderating effect of the political slogan of PML (N) positively moderates the relationship between politicians and citizens.

The results state that this hypothesis should be rejected as β is −0.019.

H7: The moderating effect of the political slogan of PPP positively moderates the relationship between politicians & citizens. It is positive as the value of β is 0.045. This hypothesis is accepted as the value of β is positive.

H8: The moderating effect of the political slogan of PTI positively moderates the relationship between politicians and citizens. Similar to that of H7, this is also positive because the value of β is 0.083. So, this hypothesis is accepted.

H9: The moderating effect of the political slogan of RP positively moderates the relationship between politicians and citizens. This hypothesis is accepted because the value of β is 0.034.

The circle of the dependent variable in Figure 4 illustrates that the influence of variance in the dependent variable is explicated by the independent variable. The values on the arrows illustrate the extent of influence of one variable on the other ( Wong, 2013 ).

Social Media is the most persuasive form of promotion. The data for the current study has been gathered from active social media users. As the results indicate with the values β = 0.597 and p = 0.000, SNS had a significant and positive impact on politicians' and citizens' relationships. Also, the value of T-statistics is quite high (11.969) than the threshold value reiterating the basic research objective of this article that political communication through social networking sites has attracted more citizens to publicly express their opinions and discuss important political matters. SNS remains an easily accessible and popular medium of communication to the political parties and individual politicians to convey their political opinion and ideology in an effective manner. Therefore, H1 is accepted. A number of previous research studies analyzed and studied the role of social media in the modern-day political scenario. Among those, the study by Halpern and Gibbs (2013 , p. 1159–1168) deduced that SNS are directly and indirectly involved in enhancing political debate and participation. The results from this study also coincide with the findings mentioned above.

The moderator in this research study is a political slogan and its impact on the relationship between politicians and citizens is analyzed. Political slogans are deemed as one of the key pillars of political communication, and different political slogans have a different impact on the respective political parties. In this research study, political slogans have four further dimensions i.e., the basic four political parties of Pakistan. The results mentioned in the previous section with the value of β as 0.096, 0.064, 0.158, and p as 0.005, 0.010, and 0.004 indicate that the political slogan of PML (N), PPP, and PTI has a significant and positive impact on the relationship between politicians and citizens. Therefore, H2, H3, and H4 are accepted. The highest value of β is recorded regarding the impact of the political slogan of PTI on the relationship between politicians and citizens. It was mentioned in the background and literature review sections that PTI is the leading political party in Pakistan for effectively utilizing the SNS as a tool for political communication and these results reaffirm that. But the political slogan of RP is found to be insignificant with values of β and p as −0.026 and 0.622, respectively. Therefore, H5 is not accepted. This highlights the fact that the more conservative RPs are lagging behind in the evolving political environment which is seriously harming their ability to connect with the youth of Pakistan. this in turn means the decreasing influence of these RPs in the political scenario of Pakistan.

The moderating impact of Political Slogans of these four fundamental parties was found to be different from the direct impact on the relationship between politicians and citizens. The results depict that political slogans when used on social media moderate the relationship between politicians and citizens. But when the results of these dimensions were measured individually, the outcome was different from the direct impact of the four dimensions. Political slogans of PPP, PTI, and RP were found to have a positive moderating impact with the value of β as 0.045, 0.083, and 0.034. Consequently, H7, H8, and H9 are accepted. It shows that when these three political parties prominently used their respective political slogans on social media, citizens responded more enthusiastically and showed enhanced interest. The most significant moderating impact was noted for PTI. It proves that citizens more actively believe in their political slogan of ending corruption to ensure justice and accountability for all. However, the only political party for which the moderating effect of the political slogan has been found negative is PML (N) ( β = −0.026). Therefore, H6 is not accepted. The reason behind this shift in results is most probably the previous record of the PML (N) as they kept changing their political slogan from time to time. The overwhelming success of PTI's social media campaign and the increasing popularity of its political slogan also played a huge role in this aspect. However, it is pertinent to mention here that PML (N) is still the second largest political party in Pakistan. It is because of the fact that mostly, youth are active on SNS and hence, get affected by the political communication campaigns launched by the political parties. The older generation, which is not actively using the SNS and still relies on traditional communication sources constitute a large portion of their vote bank. Similar studies ( Ahmad et al., 2019 , 1–9; Tareen and Adnan, 2021 , p. 130–138) regarding political communication via social media have been carried out in Pakistan. However, the authors of this study were not able to find any similar study which specifically investigated the moderating impact of political slogans of major political parties in Pakistan.

To achieve research objectives and answer the research questions regarding the impact of social media on politicians' and citizens' relationships through the moderating effect of political slogans, the hypotheses are tested through PLS (SEM). Data for the test of hypotheses was taken from social media users from two cities in Pakistan. The results of this study demonstrate the positive and significant relationship between politicians' and citizens' relationships and the relationship between politics and social media. The results also emphasized the importance of political slogans in establishing a bond with the citizens and encouraging their political participation. H1 regarding the impact of social media on the relationship between politicians and citizens is accepted. Furthermore, H2, H3, and H4 regarding the impact of political slogans of PML (N), PPP, and PTI on the relationship between politicians and citizens, respectively, are accepted, but H5 regarding the impact of the slogan of RP is rejected. Also, H7, H8, and H9 related to the moderating effects of political slogans of PPP, PTI, and RP, respectively were accepted while H6 linked with the moderating effect of the slogan of PML (N) was rejected in light of the results.

The purpose behind carrying out this research is achieved, and it has the ability to add a new research dimension. The use of SNS for election campaigning and political communication is becoming increasingly common worldwide and Pakistan is no different. The rising number of internet users and the large youth population are the factors that reinforce the importance of SNS in future political scenarios in Pakistan. The political parties and politicians who are more active and organized on SNS have better chances of reaching out to citizens in an effective manner. In Pakistan, these types of research should be done because our country needs development in every field. It is essential that politicians do not merely communicate with citizens but also build better relationships with them via trust-building actions. The results further show that trust builds trustworthiness.

Future recommendations

The present research can be further improved and enhanced to give even better results by following these recommendations:

• This research is based on the data collected from two cities. The data collection for future studies can be expanded to more cities or countries for enhancing the understanding of the model.

• The sample size can be increased in the future to obtain more precise results.

• Future studies must also cover data collection from the people who work on social media for the promotion of political activities. It will add a new dimension to this research and can be really helpful in obtaining more realistic results.

• This research has generally covered only the youth; future research must also cover more experienced or seasoned people who have more knowledge about political situations.

• Smart PLS does not work on dimensions; in the future, different software can be used to further improve the results.

Data availability statement

The original contributions presented in the study are included in the article/supplementary material, further inquiries can be directed to the corresponding author.

Author contributions

SF: conceptualization, writing—original draft, and methodology. SF and DF: data acquisition and formal analysis. LY: supervision. SF, LY, and DF: writing—review and editing. All authors contributed to the article and approved the submitted version.

Conflict of interest

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Publisher's note

All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article, or claim that may be made by its manufacturer, is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.

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Keywords: social media, social networking sites, politicians' and citizens' relationships politics, political slogans, political parties

Citation: Fatema S, Yanbin L and Fugui D (2022) Social media influence on politicians' and citizens' relationship through the moderating effect of political slogans. Front. Commun. 7:955493. doi: 10.3389/fcomm.2022.955493

Received: 04 June 2022; Accepted: 29 July 2022; Published: 27 September 2022.

Reviewed by:

Copyright © 2022 Fatema, Yanbin and Fugui. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY) . The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

*Correspondence: Shafaq Fatema, shafaqf@ymail.com

This article is part of the Research Topic

The Impact of Disinformation on European Public Institutions and Local or Regional Media: Mapping Strategies for Fact-Checking

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Expert Commentary

How does social media use influence political participation and civic engagement? A meta-analysis

2015 paper in Information, Communication & Society reviewing existing research on how social media use influences measures such as voting, protesting and civic engagement.

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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License .

by John Wihbey, The Journalist's Resource October 18, 2015

This <a target="_blank" href="https://journalistsresource.org/politics-and-government/social-media-influence-politics-participation-engagement-meta-analysis/">article</a> first appeared on <a target="_blank" href="https://journalistsresource.org">The Journalist's Resource</a> and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.<img src="https://journalistsresource.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/cropped-jr-favicon-150x150.png" style="width:1em;height:1em;margin-left:10px;">

Academic research has consistently found that people who consume more news media have a greater probability of being civically and politically engaged across a variety of measures. In an era when the public’s time and attention is increasingly directed toward platforms such as Facebook and Twitter, scholars are seeking to evaluate the still-emerging relationship between social media use and public engagement. The Obama presidential campaigns in 2008 and 2012 and the Arab Spring in 2011 catalyzed interest in networked digital connectivity and political action, but the data remain far from conclusive.

The largest and perhaps best-known inquiry into this issue so far is a 2012 study published in the journal Nature , “A 61-Million-Person Experiment in Social Influence and Political Mobilization,” which suggested that messages on users’ Facebook feeds could significantly influence voting patterns. The study data — analyzed in collaboration with Facebook data scientists — suggested that certain messages promoted by friends “increased turnout directly by about 60,000 voters and indirectly through social contagion by another 280,000 voters, for a total of 340,000 additional votes.” Close friends with real-world ties were found to be much more influential than casual online acquaintances. (Following the study, concerns were raised about the potential manipulation of users and “digital gerrymandering.” )

There are now thousands of studies on the effects of social networking sites (SNS) on offline behavior, but isolating common themes is not easy. Researchers often use unique datasets, ask different questions and measure a range of outcomes. However, a 2015 metastudy in the journal Information, Communication & Society , “Social Media Use and Participation: A Meta-analysis of Current Research,” analyzes 36 studies on the relationship between SNS use and everything from civic engagement broadly speaking to tangible actions such as voting and protesting. Some focus on youth populations, others on SNS use in countries outside the United States. Within these 36 studies, there were 170 separate “coefficients” — different factors potentially correlated with SNS use. The author, Shelley Boulianne of Grant MacEwan University (Canada), notes that the studies are all based on self-reported surveys, with the number of respondents ranging from 250 to more than 1,500. Twenty studies were conducted between 2008 and 2011, while eight were from 2012-2013.

The study’s key findings include:

• Among all of the factors examined, 82% showed a positive relationship between SNS use and some form of civic or political engagement or participation. Still, only half of the relationships found were statistically significant. The strongest effects could be seen in studies that randomly sampled youth populations.
• The correlation between social-media use and election-campaign participation “seems weak based on the set of studies analyzed,” while the relationship with civic engagement is generally stronger.
• Further, “Measuring participation as protest activities is more likely to produce a positive effect, but the coefficients are not more likely to be statistically significant compared to other measures of participation.” Also, within the area of protest activities, many different kinds of activities — marches, demonstrations, petitions and boycotts — are combined in research, making conclusions less valid. When studies do isolate and separate out these activities, these studies generally show that “social media plays a positive role in citizens’ participation.”
• Overall, the data cast doubt on whether SNS use “causes” strong effects and is truly “transformative.” Because few studies employ an experimental design, where researchers could compare a treatment group with a control group, it is difficult to claim causality.

“Popular discourse has focused on the use of social media by the Obama campaigns,” Boulianne concludes. “While these campaigns may have revolutionized aspects of election campaigning online, such as gathering donations, the metadata provide little evidence that the social media aspects of the campaigns were successful in changing people’s levels of participation. In other words, the greater use of social media did not affect people’s likelihood of voting or participating in the campaign.”

It is worth noting that many studies in this area take social media use as the starting point or “independent variable,” and therefore cannot rule out that some “deeper” cause — political interest, for example — is the reason people might engage in SNS use in the first place. Further, some researchers see SNS use as a form of participation and engagement in and of itself, helping to shape public narratives and understanding of public affairs.

Related research: Journalist’s Resource has been curating a wide variety of studies in this field. See research reviews on: Effects of the Internet on politics ; global protest and social media ; digital activism and organizing ; and the Internet and the Arab Spring . For cutting-edge insights on how online organizing and mobilization is evolving, see the 2015 study “Populism and Downing Street E-petitions: Connective Action, Hybridity, and the Changing Nature of Organizing,” published in Political Communication .

Keywords: social media, Facebook, Twitter

About The Author

John Wihbey

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Open Access

Peer-reviewed

Research Article

Reliance on Facebook for news and its influence on political engagement

Roles Conceptualization, Formal analysis, Funding acquisition, Methodology, Writing – original draft, Writing – review & editing

* E-mail: [email protected]

Affiliation College of Mass Communication, University of the Philippines Diliman, Diliman, Quezon City, Philippines

Roles Formal analysis, Investigation

Roles Investigation, Project administration

Affiliation School of Languages, Humanities, and Social Sciences, Mapua University, Intramuros, Manila, Philippines

• Clarissa C. David, 
• Ma. Rosel S. San Pascual, 
• Ma. Eliza S. Torres

• Published: March 19, 2019
• https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0212263
• Reader Comments

This paper examines the link between reliance on Facebook for news, political knowledge, and political engagement in the Philippines. We tested five hypotheses using data gathered from an online survey of 978 Filipinos conducted from February 1 to March 31, 2016. Findings support the hypothesis that those who rely less on social media as a news source exhibit higher levels of perceived knowledge about politics than those who rely more on it for news. Controlling for traditional news use, following political officials or institutions on social media is associated with higher levels of political interest and engagement, those with more politically active friends on Facebook have higher levels of exposure to political content online, and there is a positive correlation between Facebook being a source of information about politics and discussing politics more often with others. However, the hypothesis that those with more friends on their network who are politically active, will have greater political knowledge and more political engagement than those who have few politically active friends on their Facebook network is not supported.

Citation: David CC, San Pascual MRS, Torres MES (2019) Reliance on Facebook for news and its influence on political engagement. PLoS ONE 14(3): e0212263. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0212263

Editor: Antonio Scala, Institute for Complex Systems, CNR, ITALY

Received: October 8, 2017; Accepted: January 30, 2019; Published: March 19, 2019

Copyright: © 2019 David et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License , which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

Data Availability: All relevant data are within the paper and its Supporting Information files.

Funding: This research is supported by the Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research and Development of the University of the Philippines, Diliman through an Outright Grant to the corresponding author Clarissa C. David. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.

Competing interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Introduction

High levels of engagement in politics are a sign of a healthy democracy, where the citizenry is empowered and interested in being involved in matters of the State. More than the overall level of involvement in politics, it is the equitable distribution of this participation that is important. Inequitable political participation may result in a government that supports only the interests of those who participate. (e.g., [ 1 ])

Young citizens are notoriously difficult to engage in political life, often setting aside politics for entertainment (e.g., [ 2 – 4 ]) and they are often thought to be less engaged than older citizens. In the new media environment however, young citizens have turned en masse to social media for news about politics and public affairs.[ 5 ]

Social media sites, the most popular of which is Facebook (FB), allow users to build networks of contacts from individual or group profiles.[ 6 ] It is a legitimate venue for engagement in civic and political life, and in the most developed countries, now an important source of political news. Social media’s role in the complex relationship between news use and political engagement has become the subject of much research, with most findings suggesting that platforms such as FB have positive influences on outcomes related to politics (e.g., [ 7 ]).

In the Philippines, a developing country with a high poverty rate, roughly 58% are Internet users and more than 90% of these are on FB.[ 8 ] What are the implications of FB use for news consumption and political participation in the context of a developing country with a traditionally low level of news use?

This paper seeks to examine the influence of reliance on FB for news on political engagement, independently of use of traditional news sources. We attempt to examine various sources of information about news and political affairs on FB, including government agency FB pages and news sites. Specifically, it hypothesizes that for individuals who consider it a news source, those who follow political officials and institutions on social media and those with more politically active social media friends in their online news network are more knowledgeable and more highly engaged, independently of their traditional news consumption.

News online and political engagement

There is a mature literature around the question of whether Internet use is consequential to political engagement, and most studies conclude that its influence is generally positive. It has been found to increase political engagement,[ 9 – 10 ] increase knowledge about political campaigns,[ 11 ] and improve voting or other types of participation.[ 12 – 13 ] Internet-based expression of political views are linked to offline forms of participative behaviors.[ 14 – 18 ] Evidence is likewise accumulating that these relationships extend to the social media platforms of FB and Twitter, where users are connected as they share and engage with various kinds of content, including news and public affairs.

Our research has a specific interest in the use of FB for news consumption, and its influence on political engagement. The platform is now the main driver of traffic to news websites, and while it does not generate original news content and the company has made specific statements that they are not a news or media company, FB has grown into an important medium for news.

In a 2016 study, Pew Research Center accounted that 62% of adults in the US get news from social media.[ 19 ] Majority of the social media news consumers that they surveyed reported that they only get their news from one social media site—FB. In fact, the same study reported that 66% of FB users get news from FB. (ibid)

Some recent work on the information gaps created by the online news environment suggests that less educated and less politically inclined citizens do not benefit with as much gain in political knowledge from online formats compared to print, while the more educated citizens gain knowledge regardless of the medium.[ 20 ] In the mid-2000s, scholars were already concerned that the expansion of choice in news content and sources, through news websites, would lead to a widening of knowledge gaps (e.g., [ 21 ]). Experimental and survey studies that examine information disparities between newspaper reading and online news reading mostly find that knowledge is better retained when reading newspapers compared to reading online news websites. Online formats no longer had the traditional cues present in print, such as story importance cues.[ 22 ] Moreover, organization by topical menus meant that users were more likely to stay within their issue interests and in the end become less exposed to issues that fall outside their core set of concerns.[ 23 ]

The entry of social media as a source of news, and the growing reliance of the general public on these channels for news consumption, re-opens this line of inquiry. FB is considered as a new layer of gatekeeping, its algorithm and the preferences of a user’s friends list determine whether you see a story and how many times it will cross your feed. It remains an open question whether political news read through FB opens up a new market for this content or only provides an additional channel of access to those who are already news consumers in other media. At least for the young, those who we consider as digital natives, FB is a natural part of their media habits and for many of them, there could be a reliance on the platform for exposure to political news. It is thus as important to know the quality of their use of this media platform.[ 24 ]

This study is interested in the idea of reliance on FB for information, that is, the degree to which users are dependent on FB for news so that without it, they would have limited exposure. We hypothesize that those who are reliant on FB were not politically engaged and interested to begin with, and thus, would have little political knowledge outside of their FB feed.

The empirical association between political knowledge and interest, engagement, and participation in civic and political activities is well-established (e.g., [ 25 – 26 ]). Understandably, one’s decisions concerning participation depends on relevant political knowledge.[ 27 ] The positive relationship between Internet use and participation is stronger with interactive platforms like blogs and social networks rather than static platforms online.[ 28 ] Social media use, especially for political content, has been found to correlate with various forms of political participation (e.g., [ 29 – 30 ]), although some conflicting findings also question whether these are effects and whether they are direct or indirect.[ 26 ] Further, others contend that the Internet has caused many to retract from public life.[ 12 ] Gil de Zuniga, Jung, and Valenzuela find evidence that information seeking on social media sites are predictive of online and offline participatory behaviors.[ 27 ] These existing studies guide our further hypothesis that following various sources of political news on FB feeds, like government institutions, pages of politicians and candidates, or news pages, would be associated with higher levels of political engagement and interest, including higher levels of political discussion with others.[ 31 – 32 ] These associations are hypothesized to exist independently of traditional news media exposure.

Reliance on FB for political news content would mean that one’s news exposure is influenced more strongly by the mechanisms on the platform that determine what kinds of news and political content appears on a person’s news feed. The main factors that influence the content you would see on your feed may be likened to filtering: the stories that people in your social network share, the stories that are viral or trending (popular), and those that are pushed by paid advertising.[ 27 ] Each of these factors interact with the other, for instance news stories that are “liked” by people in a social network and are trending in the broader environment, are more likely to appear on your feed.

It is possible that political content exposure on social media is amplified in effect compared to traditional media. People are able to translate their interests into participation because what they see include opinions and emotional appeals of people that they know. We are more inclined to pay attention to utterances from friends and family, and more likely to think more carefully about arguments that come from them rather than strangers or even reporters. Groups now turn to social media for recruitment, to expand their constituency.[ 31 , 33 ] This line of argument privileges social capital as a key enabler of participative behaviors, both online and offline.[ 7 , 27 , 34 ]

Since content shared and posted across FB are diverse, and only a portion of it is political in nature, we expect that those whose social networks have more politically active people will have greater exposure to news content than others, and that this would be associated with higher levels of political knowledge and engagement. This is consistent with findings of Wolfsfeld, Yarchi, and Samuel-Azranal,[ 35 ] which show that social media-based political content exposure is more highly correlated with traditional measures of political participation than regular media. The association is much stronger even, between social media-based political news exposure, and digital political participation.

Facebook in the Philippines

The Philippines just entered its status as a “middle-income” country, from a long history of being a poor country with a large proportion of the population living in poverty (around 22%). It is a country with low levels of high school and college graduation rates and generally low access to many forms of technology. Most recent data show laptop and desktop computer ownership/access at only 24.3% of households across the country,[ 36 ] most schools do not have computers in classrooms, and most students do not have access to one. However, the rapid adoption of smartphones and the sharp decline in the costs of smartphone units that are capable of Internet connection led to an expansion of internet access in the Philippines.

Officially, Internet penetration rate in the country is less than 40% for a country of 101 million people. However, according to FB, there are over 50 million Filipinos in the country on their platform. Among those that report having access to the Internet, over 94% report having a social media account and the vast majority of them are on FB.[ 37 ] As such, the Philippines is often characterized as the social media capital of the world, on top of its reputation as the texting capital of the world. The leading telecommunication companies in the country offer access to the FB app on smartphones without charging for data usage; this further grew the population of Filipinos on FB.

The Philippines has a history of low levels of political knowledge acquired from traditional media, no doubt owing to the very low circulation rates of newspapers (at best, 15% read the paper regularly). Most news consumption happens through television, and these days, social media. Compared to FB growth even in developed countries, FB in the Philippines grew rapidly into the main driver of news traffic among the most prestigious news outlets in the country. A paper (authors) on the role of FB on news reporting in the country reveals that among the top 4 news websites, FB-referred traffic accounts for between 60%-90% of clicks into news sites. This was a year ago and it is reasonable to think that these percentages have grown since. Television remains the number 1 news source across the country; but among those with Internet access, it is likely that the majority of news consumption is FB-driven.

This unique situation of the Philippine news reading public makes it a good venue to study the potential implications of reliance on FB for political news. Fresh out of a contentious election with controversial results, FB-based campaigning and political activism have flourished and thrived, some say, to the detriment of civilized political debate. Online discussions and comments grew vicious and sometimes violent, and full of political–and personal–vitriol, thus recently prompting the Senate to open a hearing on the problem of social media’s effect on culture. Clearly FB has an important role to play in the Philippines’ news use, political knowledge, and engagement with politics, providing an interesting context for understanding the relationships hypothesized in this study.

Based on where we are now in the literature on social media, political knowledge, and engagement, this research seeks to contribute to this fast-growing area by looking specifically at FB as a news source, reliance on it as a source of news and information, and its correlation with political engagement.

This research is guided by an interest in answering the research question: Is FB use associated with political engagement, knowledge, and opinions about important political issues? To systematically investigate how these concepts relate to each other, the following hypotheses are posed:

H1: Those on social media who rely less on FB as a news source exhibit higher levels of perceived knowledge about politics than those who rely more on it for news.

Hypothesis 1 is posed in relation to a conceptualization that “reliance” means using Facebook as a source of information without the benefit of using other traditional media sources, such as television or newspapers. As reviewed above, the Philippine news market is not strong, there has historically been low newspaper reading publics. Thus, high reliance individuals are those that, in the extreme case, only get their political knowledge from Facebook while those with low reliance may still get knowledge from the platform but also get knowledge from other news sources. The direction of the hypothesis is consistent with extant literature showing higher knowledge among those with higher news media consumption [ 10 , 11 ].

H2: Following political officials or institutions on FB will be associated with higher levels of political interest and engagement.

One of the ways Facebook is used by political actors and institutions, as well as media, is to create and maintain official institutional and personal accounts which are used to publicize programs, accomplishments, and information pertaining to an agency or a politician. We hypothesize that when users are following such pages on FB, they are more likely to have higher levels of engagement and interest because the active and conscious decision to click “follow” on a page indicates a willingness to regularly see information on those pages. In certain markets where survey data are available, following politicians on social media is as high as 35% in some countries, and that the reason for following is an interest in hearing directly from politicians and learning more detailed information [ 38 ].

H3: Having more politically active friends on FB will result in higher levels of exposure to political content online.

Consistent with empirical literature on political discussion and online political engagement [ 39 ], as well as what is known about the FB algorithms that prioritizes on individual newsfeeds stories shared within networks [ 40 ], we apply these ideas to predict that having more politically active friends on FB will result in higher exposure levels to political content. That is, if an FB user has a large number of friends who are politically active, interested, and engaged, those same friends will be posting and reposting about politics, news, and current affairs, which means that even if the primary user is not necessarily politically interested, s/he would have a higher likelihood of being exposed to political content by having online social networks that are politically interested.

H4: Independently of traditional news consumption, those who are exposed to news through social media will discuss politics more often with others than those who are not exposed to news through social media.

When publics on FB encounter political information on the platform, we hypothesize that they are more likely to engage in discussions about politics in the same space, through commenting and having other kinds of online and offline conversations with others about the stories they see circulating online. This hypothesis is based on what we know about exposure to political information and political discussion, that generally, regardless of medium, there are positive associations found in various studies which extends as well to information found online. [ 41 , 42 ]

H5: Those with more friends on their network who are politically active, will have greater political knowledge and more political engagement than those who have few politically active friends on their FB network.

One effect of political knowledge, discussion, and interest is political engagement, according to historical political communication literature that examines processes of media influence and interpersonal discussion about politics. [ 43 , 44 ] Since those with politically active friends on Facebook will see more political information as hypothesized in H4, they are hypothesized to gain more knowledge and consequently, be more likely to engage politically.

This study is based on an online survey of Filipinos based in the Philippines. The questionnaire contained items that measure FB use, reliance on it for news, reports of pages that they follow, and general political interest and engagement among others. It was constructed using SurveyMonkey which hosted the survey, data collection, and data recording. The questionnaire was posted online through an FB page post containing the link to the questionnaire, which was then promoted to Filipinos between the ages of 15 and 45. A Filipino version of the questionnaire and post was also promoted. Data gathering was conducted between February 1 and March 31, 2016.

The study is an opt-in online survey with informed consent. Participants were informed that their participation is completely voluntary, anonymous, and that they can abandon the survey at any time even after it has been started. The University of the Philippines does not have an Institutional Review Board, but the grant review process includes opportunity for the granting body and the reviewers to reject the proposal based on possible harm to subjects. A signed copy of the Waiver Certification for Ethics Review by the Vice Chancellor of Research and Development of the University of the Philippines, whose office funded this research, is submitted as a supporting document.

A total of 1,555 respondents started the survey; 1,439 answered in English while 116 answered in Filipino. Respondents who fell outside of the age range, those not residing in the Philippines, and those who abandoned the questionnaire before getting to the last question, were screened out. The final sample size is 978, where 41% are male. The average age of the sample is 23 years and the biggest number of them completed high school (44.9%) followed by those who completed college (33.2%). A big majority of the respondents are from Manila (74.2%) and the rest are from other parts of the country.

Owing to the non-probability nature of the sample drawn for this study, this paper makes no claims of representativeness to a broader population in terms of prevalence of social media use or any other descriptive factor. The value of the following results is in the significant multivariate relationships tested, which still hold internal validity even when external validity is weak. [ 45 ] The primary objective of this analysis is not to make population inferences, but to test relationships between variables, for which, nonprobability sampling can provide data with value particularly with exploratory research such as this one. The inability of a sample to represent a broader population “does not necessarily negate their usefulness for research”[ 46 ].

FB news reliance.

Respondents were asked “If you were not able to see any news about politics and government from FB, how informed would you be about current events?” The response options were Not Informed at All, Only Slightly Informed, Well-Informed, and Fully Informed.

Knowledge of politics.

Self-reported political knowledge is calculated using two questions. The first is how much do respondents think they know about politics and the second asks whether they typically turn to others for information or others turn to them for information.

Interest in politics.

Respondents answered one question on political interest on a 4-point scale from Not at all interested in politics to Very interested in politics. The question was “Please tell us how interested you are in national politics.”

Political engagement.

Offline engagement is a standard measure of the sum of activities respondents said they have done in the past year, including volunteering for a political organization, attending a rally, encouraging another person to vote, being an active member of a group that tries to infleunce public policy or government, volunteering or working for a school-based political party, and displaying a campaign button or sticker.

Exposure to FB news.

Respondents reported how many of each type of FB page they follow on their FB feed, these include: government offices and agencies, political organizations, politicians and candidates (local and national), news organizations and reporters, political commentators, issue-based groups and other political parties or non-government organizations. For each category, the response options are 0–1, 2–4, and 5 or more. The first three categories were non-news sites; the mean was computed for these, then another mean was computed for the news sites. The two means were summed for a variable that ranged from 2–6 (alpha = 0.85, M = 3.25, SD = 0.99).

FB Informs on politics.

On a 4-point scale ranging from A Lot to Not at All, respondents were asked if FB helps them with the following: staying informed about current events, staying informed about the local community, learning about political issues that affect them personally, learning about political issues that affect the country, and learning their friends’ political beliefs. The scale is reliable (alpha = 0.84).

Discussing politics.

Discussing politics is a mean index of three items, one that asks how often they discuss politics with others (4-point scale from Nearly Everyday to Less Often than a Few Times a Month), whether they lead the conversation or listen (0/1), and how much they enjoy talking about politics with friends and family (4-point scale from Very Much to Not at all). The final index ranges from 0.75 to 2.

Politically active friends on FB.

The mean of five items was computed to represent how many of a respondent’s friends on their FB network are politically interested and active (alpha = 0.88). These include a question on the proportion of their FB friends who are interested in news, how many are politically active, how many frequently post or share news stories, and how many post their personal opinions about politics.

Multivariate regressions run to test the hypotheses posed control for age, educational attainment, sex, income group, interest in politics, attention paid to politics on FB, and how much they follow traditional news (i.e. newspaper, television, radio).

In the sample, reliance on FB for news was relatively high, with 63% reporting that if they did not obtain news from the platform they would only be slightly informed, and another 4% saying they would not be informed at all. Only 33% say that without FB as a source, they would be well informed or fully informed. The average level of self-reported political knowledge is 2.56 on a 4-point scale with higher values indicating greater knowledge (Standard deviation of the Mean = 0.66). Twenty-eight percent (28%) say that they are usually the source of information by others, and the rest (72%) say that they typically turn to others for political information. Level of political interest in the sample was an average of 2.77 on a self-reported scale from 0 to 4 with higher values indicating higher interest levels (Standard deviation = 0.64). Political engagement offline was measured by asking respondents of a list of 11 possible forms of engagement, how many they engaged in over the past year, the possible range of the resulting index is 0–11 and the overall mean is 3.46 with a standard deviation of 2.44.

On using FB to stay informed about politics, the respondents on average indicated they use FB to stay informed at 2.26 (standard deviation = 0.6) on a scale ranging from 0–4 with higher values indicating greater use of FB for political information. The computed scale for discussing politics ranges from 0.75 to 2.75 with higher values indicating more discussion, the mean is 1.76 and standard deviation 0.5. The index computed for proportion of politically active friends on FB ranges from 0.2–3.8 with higher values indicating more politically interested and active friends (M = 2.4, SD = 0.7).

Bivariate-level tests of hypotheses are reported using Pearson’s R correlation coefficients, while multivariate tests are conducted through Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) regressions which allows for the application of statistical controls to test robustness of bivariate associations. Table 1 reports the Pearson’s r correlations matrix for all variables in hypotheses.

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https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0212263.t001

Hypothesis 1 posits that those on social media who have lower reliance on FB as a news source would exhibit higher levels of perceived knowledge about politics. Results indicate that at the bivariate level, self-assessed knowledge of politics is moderately and positively correlated with FB news reliance (Pearson’s r = .444*; n = 966). The mean level of knowledge among those who say they are fully reliant on FB for news is 4.3, while for those who would remain well-informed even without FB as a news source is 5.69, and for those who would remain fully informed even without FB it is 6.85. Those on FB who rely less on it as a news source exhibit higher levels of perceived knowledge about politics than those who rely more on it for news. Thus, at the bivariate level, those who are less reliant on FB for news perceive themselves to be more knowledgeable about politics than those who are reliant, supporting hypothesis 1.

To examine the robustness of the association, it was tested in an ordinary least squares regression where knowledge is the main dependent variable and reliance is the main independent variable, other variables were added as controls or as part of the hypothesized effects ( Table 2 ). OLS Regression was run predicting self-assessed political knowledge ( Table 2 ) with news reliance, FB use measures, news exposure measures, and other relevant variables and controls. Each of the three models adds new variables as controls. Model 1 controls for FB-related variables, Model 2 adds controls for following traditional news, interest in poltiics, and discussing politics, while Model 3 adds controls for all demographic variables. Adding each set of controls in different models provides additional information in terms of which controls were likely reducing the predictive value of the main independent variable.

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0212263.t002

OLS regressions generate two coefficients, Model “Bs” and model betas, the latter is a standardized version of the former. Model “Bs” are changes in the independent variable resulting from changes in the dependent variable, expressed in the unit of the dependent variable. That is, for each unit increase in FB news reliance, there is a 0.61 unit increase in perceived political knowledge, controlling for all other variables in the model. Model betas are standardized partial correlation coefficients between the independent variable and the dependent variable, controlling for the other variables in the model.

With all controls applied, there is a remaining significant association between reliance on FB for news and self-assessed political knowledge (beta = 0.179*). In the same model, the strongest associate of knowledge is discussing politics (beta = 0.315*) followed by following news and government agency pages on FB (beta = 0.163*). Among demographic controls, males and younger respondents are less likely to be politically knowledgeable. The total model explains 33% of the variance of self-assessed political knowledge.

Hypothesis 2 posits that following political officials or institutions on social media will be associated with higher levels of political interest and engagement. Respondents that report following more FB pages of government agencies and news websites are more likely to say they are interested in politics (Pearson’s r = 0.464; n = 925), more likely to engage in offline political activities (Pearson’s r = 0.3434; n = 823), and more likely to display online political engagement (r = 0.483; n = 886). Controlling for following news on traditional channels and other variables in the model, hypothesis 2 is supported.

With controls for all the same variables as in Table 2 , the relationship between following news pages online and political engagement remains significant such that those who report following government agency and news sites on FB tend to be more politically engaged offline (b = 0.267*). The full model results can be found in Table 3 , wherein the column for Model 4 coefficients reflects results controlling for demographic variables.

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0212263.t003

Hypothesis 3 is likewise supported such that controlling for traditional news use, those with more politically active friends on FB have higher levels of exposure to political content online, as measured by whether FB informs them about politics (Pearson’s r = 0.352; n = 947).

The same holds true at the bivariate level with Hypothesis 4, whereby there is a positive correlation between FB being a source of information about politics, and discussing politics more often with others (r = 0.312, n = 947). Table 4 shows regression results for models predicting political discussion. It is evident that with multiple controls, there is no longer a significant association between FB being a source of information about politics, and political discussion. Significant predictors of discussing politics with others are non-reliance on FB for news, paying attention to politics on FB, being interested in politics, and following news site pages on the social media platform.

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0212263.t004

Hypothesis 5 posits that those with more politically active friends on their network will have greater political knowledge and more political engagement than those who have few politically active friends on their FB network. Tables 2 and 4 show that this hypothesis is not supported. There is no significant relationship between having a larger number of politically active friends on FB and being more politically knowledgeable and engaged.

In this research we seek to examine how “reliance on FB” for political news influences citizens’ political knowledge and participation. We understand reliance to mean that if one does not receive news stories through the FB platform, there would be no alternative source and the result is low knowledge of politics. There was a special interest in capturing these associations among relatively young people, those below the age of 45 years old.

The online survey of young Filipinos on FB result in support for most hypotheses posed in this study. Respondents who say they are fully reliant on the platform for news, think of themselves as less politically knowledgeable than those who say they are not reliant. This association holds even while controlling for news consumption in traditional news channels. Following the FB pages of political officials or institutions on social media is associated with higher levels of interest and engagement among respondents. Moreover, respondents who report having more friends who are politically active report higher levels of exposure to political content online.

The hypothesis that those who see themselves as sources of political information during conversations are also more likely to discuss politics with others was not supported by the data. Also not supported was the hypothesis that those with more friends on their network who are politically active will have higher levels of knowledge and engagement than those who have fewer politically active friends on FB.

FB’s growth as a significant player in the news market does not happen in a vacuum without the convergence of certain factors. It happens within the context of a continued existence of traditional news, news consumer’s social networks, and an effort among news sources (e.g. government agencies) to engage directly with their constituents through the platform. This research attempts to capture some portion of this dynamic.

While reliance on FB for news is positively associated with self-assessed political knowledge, it is not a significant predictor of engagement. People do receive information from FB, and for some of them it is their only source of news. Without FB, it is possible that these individuals would have no other source of news and thus, would have lower levels of political knowledge. In that sense, FB is bringing in new audiences for public affairs, through more incidental forms of exposure in FB feeds than through information-seeking behaviors such as checking news websites. Those who follow official government pages or official news pages on FB are more knowledgeable, even when controlling for reliance and other measures in this study. Thus, the remaining significant effect of reliance on knowledge captures incidental exposure, the kind that is not a result of stories appearing across one’s news feeds after having followed a news outlet’s FB page. If this interpretation is correct, then it is theoretically consistent with the lack of influence of FB reliance on political engagement. The reliant are those who have little interest to begin with, they see stories on their feed only because their social network share them (in the extreme scenario), and thus, they are least likely to have interest in political action.

The lack of support for hypothesized associations between political activity of friends on FB and political knowledge and engagement is curious. Momentarily setting aside the possibility that the reason is methodological, the apparent lack of significant relationship is intriguing. If you have many friends on your feed who are politically active and interested, it stands to reason that either through persuasion or exposure or both, you would be more willing to engage in political action. The absence of a correlation, where the significant correlates to offline political engagement are interest and following news, suggests that FB may not be an effective way to mobilize those whose current interest in politics is either null or weak.

There are a number of limitations to this study, foremost of which is its reliance on self-reports on knowledge and reliance on FB for news. Studies that have examined different measures of political knowledge [ 47 ] conclude that “knowledge tests” are the best most objective indicators, and self-reported ones are questionable in their ability to capture real knowledge. That said, the results reported in Table 1 suggests that the measure captures a substantial amount of variance, such that it correlates with variables that it is usually associated with (e.g. discussing politics, age, sex). In other words, while not the ideal measure, it captures political knowledge in some way. Follow-on research could focus on greater methodological work in measuring “reliance” using a more expansive battery of questions that capture all other potential sources of political information.

Since the study’s respondents are only Filipino audiences, the degree to which findings are applicable to outside markets remains an open question. However, we submit that the reliance on Facebook for news delivery and the influence it has had on the nature of the news consuming public is felt in many countries in the world. Replications of the same hypothesis tests, using the same questionnaire, in different markets are welcome and would provide a nuanced cross-country picture of the scope and breadth of the impact that FB has in individual countries.

This research presents possible take-off points, especially as FB itself makes stronger its claim of being the main portal through which citizens learn about public affairs, discuss it, organize action around it, and define themselves as citizens. Various lines of inquiry on the implications of FB on news production and consumption remain open, with the former commanding greater attention and faster development in the literature. The evolution of news consumption through FB and its effect on the political opinions and behaviors of citizens varies across countries of differing political regimes, levels of development, and access to technology.

In a country like the Philippines where the population does not have a strong history of journalism and news use, FB’s role in the shaping of politics and citizenship is likely going to be bigger, and will happen faster than in more developed and stable democracies. The potential of FB to bring in and create larger audiences for news is strong, but this has also meant that the bar for what counts as “news” is low for most of these new audiences. It is an evolution of citizenship and political engagement that will be influenced disproportionately by FB, what it decides to do, and how it decides to define its role in the news media landscape.

Supporting information

S1 file. survey questionnaire..

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0212263.s001

S2 File. Survey dataset.

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0212263.s002

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• Social Media Seen as Mostly Good for Democracy Across Many Nations, But U.S. is a Major Outlier

2. Views of social media and its impacts on society

Table of contents.

• Most do not think they can influence politics in their country
• The perceived impacts of the internet and social media on society
• Majorities view social media as a way to raise awareness among the public and elected officials
• Widespread smartphone ownership while very few do not own a mobile phone at all
• Most say they use social media sites
• Frequent posting about social or political issues on social media is uncommon
• Acknowledgments
• Appendix A: Classifying democracies
• Appendix B: Negative Impact of the Internet and Social Media Index
• Appendix C: Political categorization
• Classifying parties as populist
• Classifying parties as left, right or center
• Appendix E: Country-specific examples of smartphones
• Appendix F: Country-specific examples of social media sites
• Pew Research Center’s Spring 2022 Global Attitudes Survey
• The American Trends Panel survey methodology

When asked whether social media is a good or bad thing for democracy in their country, a median of 57% across 19 countries say that it is a good thing. In almost every country, close to half or more say this, with the sentiment most common in Singapore, where roughly three-quarters believe social media is a good thing for democracy in their country. However, in the Netherlands and France, about four-in-ten agree. And in the U.S., only around a third think social media is positive for democracy – the smallest share among all 19 countries surveyed.

In eight countries, those who believe that the political system in their country allows them to have an influence on politics are also more likely to say that social media is a good thing for democracy. This gap is most evident in Belgium, where 62% of those who feel their political system allows them to have a say in politics also say that social media is a good thing for democracy in their country, compared with 44% among those who say that their political system does not allow them much influence on politics.

Those who view the spread of false information online as a major threat to their country are less likely to say that social media is a good thing for democracy, compared with those who view the spread of misinformation online as either a minor threat or not a threat at all. This is most clearly observed in the Netherlands, where only four-in-ten (39%) among those who see the spread of false information online as a major threat say that social media has been a good thing for democracy in their country, as opposed to the nearly six-in-ten (57%) among those who do not consider the spread of misinformation online to be a threat who say the same. This pattern is evident in eight other countries as well.

Views also vary by age. Older adults in 12 countries are less likely to say that social media is a good thing for democracy in their country when compared to their younger counterparts. In Japan, France, Israel, Hungary, the UK and Australia, the gap between the youngest and oldest age groups is at least 20 percentage points and ranges as high as 41 points in Poland, where nearly nine-in-ten (87%) younger adults say that social media has been a good thing for democracy in the country and only 46% of adults over 50 say the same.

The publics surveyed believe the internet and social media are affecting societies. Across the six issues tested, few tend to say they see no changes due to increased connectivity – instead seeing things changing both positively and negatively – and often both at the same time. 

A median of 84% say technological connectivity has made people easier to manipulate with false information and rumors – the most among the six issues tested. Despite this, medians of 73% describe people being more informed about both current events in other countries and about events in their own country. Indeed, in most countries, those who think social media has made it easier to manipulate people with misinformation and rumors are also more likely to think that social media has made people more informed.

When it comes to politics, the internet and social media are generally seen as disruptive, with a median of 65% saying that people are now more divided in their political opinions. Some of this may be due to the sense – shared by a median of 44% across the 19 countries – that access to the internet and social media has led people to be less civil in the way they talk about politics. Despite this, slightly more people (a median of 45%) still say connectivity has made people more accepting of people from different ethnic groups, religions and races than say it has made people less accepting (22%) or had no effect (29%). 

There is widespread concern over misinformation – and a sense that people are more susceptible to manipulation

Previously reported results indicate that a median of 70% across the 19 countries surveyed believe that the spread of false information online is a major threat to their country. In places like Canada, Germany and Malaysia, more people name this as a threat than say the same of any of the other issues asked about. 

This sense of threat is related to the widespread belief that people today are now easier to manipulate with false information and rumors thanks to the internet and social media. Around half or more in every country surveyed shares this view. And in places like the Netherlands, Australia and the UK, around nine-in-ten see people as more manipulable.

In many places, younger people – who tend to be more likely to use social media (for more on usage, see Chapter 3 ) – are also more likely to say it makes people easier to manipulate with false information and rumors. For example, in South Korea, 90% of those under age 30 say social media makes people easier to manipulate, compared with 65% of those 50 and older. (Interestingly, U.S.-focused research has found older adults are more likely to share misinformation than younger ones.) People with more education are also often more likely than those with less education to say that social media has led to people being easier to manipulate.

In 2018, when Pew Research Center asked a similar question about whether access to mobile phones, the internet and social media has made people easier to manipulate with false information and rumors, the results were largely similar. Across the 11 emerging economies surveyed as part of that project , at least half in every country thought this was the case and in many places, around three-quarters or more saw this as an issue. Large shares in many places were also specifically concerned that people in their country might be manipulated by domestic politicians. For more on how the two surveys compare, see “ In advanced and emerging economies, similar views on how social media affects democracy and society .”

Spotlight on the U.S.: Attitudes and experiences with misinformation

Misinformation has long been seen as a source of concern for Americans. In 2016 , for example, in the wake of the U.S. presidential election, 64% of U.S. adults thought completely made-up news had caused a great deal of confusion about the basic facts of current events. At the time, around a third felt that they often encountered political news online that was completely made up and another half said they often encountered news that was not fully accurate. Moreover, about a quarter (23%) said they had shared such stories – whether knowingly or not.

When asked in 2019 who was the cause of made-up news, Americans largely singled out two groups of people: political leaders (57%) and activists (53%). Fewer placed blame on journalists (36%), foreign actors (35%) or the public (26%). A large majority of Americans that year (82%) also described themselves as either “very” or “somewhat” concerned about the potential impact of made-up news on the 2020 presidential election. People who followed political and election news more closely and those with higher levels of political knowledge also tended to be more concerned.

Among adult American Twitter users in 2021, in particular, there was widespread concern about misinformation: 53% said inaccurate or misleading information is a major problem on the platform and 33% reported seeing a lot of that type of content when using the site. 

As of 2021 , around half (48%) of Americans thought the government should take steps to restrict false information, even if it meant losing freedom to access and publish content – a share that had increased somewhat substantially since 2018, when 39% felt the same.

Most say people are more informed about current events – foreign and domestic – thanks to social media and the internet

A majority in every country surveyed thinks that access to the internet and social media has made people in their country more informed about domestic current events. In Sweden, Japan, Greece and the Netherlands, around eight-in-ten or more share this view, while in Malaysia, a smaller majority (56%) says the same.

Younger adults tend to see social media making people more informed than older adults do. Older adults, for their part, don’t necessarily see the internet and social media making people less informed about what’s happening in their country; rather, they’re somewhat more likely to describe these platforms as having little effect on people’s information levels. In the case of the U.S., for example, 71% of adults under 30 say social media has made people more informed about current events in the U.S., compared with 60% of those ages 50 and older. But those ages 50 and older are about twice as likely to say social media has not had much impact on how informed people are compared with those under 30: 19% vs. 11%, respectively.

In seven of the surveyed countries, people with higher levels of education are more likely than those with lower levels to see social media informing the public on current events in their own country.

Majorities in every country also agree that the internet and social media are making people more informed about current events happening in other countries. The two questions are extremely highly correlated ( r = 0.94), meaning that in most places where people say social media is making people more informed about domestic events, they also say the same of international events. (See the topline for detailed results for both questions, by country.)

In the 2018 survey of emerging economies , results of a slightly different question also found that a majority in every country – and around seven-in-ten or more in most places – said people were more informed thanks to social media, the internet and smartphones, rather than less. 

In some countries, those who think social media has made it easier to manipulate people with misinformation and rumors are also more likely to think that social media has made people more informed. This finding, too, was similar in the 2018 11-country study of emerging economies: Generally speaking, individuals who are most attuned to the potential benefits technology can bring to the political domain are also the ones most anxious about the possible harms. 

Spotlight on the U.S.: Social media use and news consumption

In the U.S. , around half of adults say they either get news often (17%) or sometimes (33%) from social media. When it comes to where Americans regularly get news on social media, Facebook outpaces all other social media sites. Roughly a third of U.S. adults (31%) say they regularly get news from Facebook. While Twitter is only used by about three-in-ten U.S. adults (27%), about half of its users (53%) turn to the site to regularly get news there. And a quarter of U.S. adults regularly get news from YouTube, while smaller shares get news from Instagram (13%), TikTok (10%) or Reddit (8%). Notably, TikTok has seen rapid growth as a source of news among younger Americans in recent years.

On several social media sites asked about, adults under 30 make up the largest share of those who regularly get news on the site. For example, half or more of regular news consumers on Snapchat (67%), TikTok (52%) or Reddit (50%) are ages 18 to 29. 

While this survey finds that 64% of Americans think the public has become more informed thanks to social media, results of Center analyses do show that Americans who mainly got election and political information on social media during the 2020 election were less knowledgeable and less engaged than those who primarily got their news through other methods (like cable TV, print, etc.).

Majorities or pluralities tend to see social media leading to more political divisions

Around half or more in almost every country surveyed think social media has made people more divided in their political opinions. The U.S., South Korea and the Netherlands are particularly likely to hold this view. As a separate analysis shows, the former two also stand out for being the countries where people are most likely to report conflicts between people who support different political parties . While perceived political division in the Netherlands is somewhat lower, it, too, stands apart: Between 2021 and 2022, the share who said there were conflicts increased by 23 percentage points – among the highest year-on-year shifts evident in the survey.

More broadly, across each of the countries surveyed, people who see social division between people who support different political parties, are, in general, more likely to see social media leading people to be more divided in their political opinions.

In a number of countries, younger people are somewhat more likely to see social media enlarging political differences than older people. More educated people, too, often see social media exacerbating political divisions more than those with less education. 

Similarly, in the survey of 11 emerging economies conducted in 2018, results of a slightly different question indicated that around four-in-ten or more in every country – and a majority in most places – thought social media had made people more divided.

Publics diverge over whether social media has made people more accepting of differences

There is less consensus over what role social media has played when it comes to tolerance: A 19-country median of 45% say it has made people more accepting of people from different ethnic backgrounds, religions and races, while a median of 22% say it has made them less so, and 29% say that it has not had much impact either way.

South Korea, Singapore, Italy and Japan are the most likely to see social media making people more tolerant. On the flip side, the Netherlands and Hungary stand out as the two countries where a plurality says the internet and social media have made people less accepting of people with racial or religious differences. Most other societies are somewhat divided, as in the case of the U.S., where around a third of the public falls into each of the three groups.

Younger people are more likely than older ones in most countries to say that social media has increased tolerance. This is the case, for example, in Canada, where 54% of adults under 30 say social media has contributed to people being more accepting of people from different ethnic groups, religions and races, compared with a third of those ages 50 and older. In some places – and in Canada – older people are more likely to see social media leading to less tolerance, though in other places, older people are simply less likely to see much impact from the technology.

In most countries, people who see social media leading to more divisions between people with different political opinions are more likely to say social media has made people less accepting of those racially and religiously different from them than those who say social media is having no effect on political division. People who see more conflicts between partisans in their society are also more likely than those who see fewer divisions to place some of the blame on social media, describing it as making people less accepting of differences.  

Results of an analysis of the 11-country poll did find that people who used smartphones and social media were more likely to regularly interact with people from diverse backgrounds – though the question did not ask about acceptance , just about interactions. The publics in these emerging economies were also somewhat divided when it came to their opinions on how social media has led to people being more or less accepting of those with different viewpoints.

Mixed views on whether social media has made people discuss politics civilly

Across the countries surveyed, a median of 46% say access to the internet and social media has made people less civil when they talk about politics. This is more than the 23% who say it has made them more civil – though a median of 26% see little impact either way.

In the U.S., the Netherlands and Australia, a majority sees the internet and social media making people less civil. Roughly seven-in-ten Americans say this. Singapore stands out as the only country where around half see these technologies increasing civility. All other countries surveyed are somewhat divided.

People with higher levels of education tend to see less civility thanks to social media relative to those with lower levels of education.

In most places surveyed, those who think social media has made people more divided politically, compared with those who say it has had no impact on divisions, are also more likely to say social media has made people less civil in how they talk about politics.

Across advanced economies, people generally recognize social media as useful for bringing the public’s and elected officials’ attention to certain issues, for changing people’s minds and for influencing policy choices. A median of 77% across the 19 countries surveyed say social media is an effective way to raise public awareness about sociopolitical issues. Those in the UK are particularly optimistic about social media as a way of bringing public attention to a topic, with about nine-in-ten holding this belief. People in France and Belgium are the least convinced about social media’s role in raising public awareness, but majorities in both countries still say it’s effective for highlighting certain issues among the public.

Many also consider social media effective for changing people’s minds on social or political issues (65% median). Confidence in social media’s effect on changing people’s minds is strongest in South Korea, Singapore and Malaysia. Germans, Belgians, Israelis and French adults are more skeptical, with no more than about half seeing social media as effective for changing people’s minds on sociopolitical issues.

Views on social media as a way to bring the attention of elected officials to certain issues are similar. A median of 64% consider social media effective for directing elected officials’ attention to issues, and this view is especially prevalent in South Korea, Singapore and Malaysia. People in Belgium, Hungary and France are less convinced.

Somewhat fewer consider social media effective for influencing policy decisions (61% median). Israelis are particularly doubtful of social media as a way for affecting policy change: A majority of Israelis say social media is an ineffective way of influencing policy decisions, and about half in France, Belgium, the Netherlands and Germany agree. About a fifth in Poland also did not provide an answer.

An additional question was asked in the U.S. about social media’s role in creating sustained social movements; roughly seven-in-ten Americans say social media is effective for this. Younger Americans, as well as those with more education or higher incomes, are more likely than others to hold this view. Social media users and those who say social media has been generally good for U.S. democracy are also more likely to believe social media is effective at creating sustained social movements.

Age plays a role in how people in many of the 19 nations surveyed view social media’s role in public discourse. Those ages 18 to 29 are especially likely to see social media as effective for raising public awareness. For example, in France, 70% of those ages 18 to 29 see social media as an effective way of raising public awareness. Only 48% of those 50 and older share this view, a difference of 22 percentage points.

Similarly, younger adults are also more likely to consider social media an effective way for changing people’s minds on issues. The difference is greatest in Poland and Germany, where younger adults are 24 points more likely than their older counterparts to see social media this way. There are fewer differences between younger and older adults when it comes to social media’s effectiveness for directing elected officials’ attention and influencing policy decisions. Younger adults are also generally more likely to be social media users and provide answers to these questions.

Education and income are other demographic characteristics related to people’s view of social media as a way to influence public discourse. In 11 countries, those with incomes higher than the median income are more likely than those with lower incomes to consider social media effective for raising public awareness about sociopolitical issues. Those with more education are similarly more likely to consider social media effective for elevating sociopolitical issues in the public consciousness in eight countries. People with lower levels of education and income are somewhat less likely than others to provide answers to questions about social media’s effectiveness for influencing policies, changing minds and bringing attention to issues.

Social media usage is also connected to how people evaluate these platforms as a way to affect public discourse and policy choices. In nearly all countries, social media users are more likely than those who are not on social media to say social media is effective for raising public awareness, and social media users are also more likely to consider social media useful for changing people’s minds in 11 of 19 countries. The differences are greatest in Israel in both cases. Israeli social media users are 47 points more likely than non-users to say social media is effective for raising awareness and 38 points more likely to consider it effective for changing people’s minds on sociopolitical issues. Different views between social media users and non-users are less common when it comes to social media as an effective way for bringing elected officials’ attention to issues or influencing policy decisions. Social media users are also more likely than non-users to answer these questions.

Among social media users, those who are more active are more likely to consider social media an effective avenue for shaping people’s views and attention. Those who post about political or social issues at least sometimes on social media have a greater chance of seeing social media as effective for raising awareness for sociopolitical issues than those who post rarely or never in 16 countries. For example, in Spain, 84% of social media users who post sometimes or often see social media as an effective way to bring awareness to issues, compared to 71% of users who never or rarely post. Similarly, social media users who post more frequently are more likely to see social media as effective for changing minds in 13 countries, for influencing policy decisions in 15 countries, and bringing elected officials’ attention to issues in 12 nations.

People’s views of social media as a way to spread awareness or affect change are additionally related to how they see democracy. The beliefs that social media is effective for influencing policy decisions and for bringing issues to the attention of elected officials or the public are especially common among people who also believe they have a say in politics. For example, in Germany, 60% of people who say people like them have at least a fair amount of influence on politics also say social media is effective for affecting policy choices. In comparison, 43% of Germans who do not think they have a say in politics also think social media can influence policy decisions.

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Study finds avoiding social media before an election has little to no effect on people's political views

I n the weeks before and after the 2020 presidential election, researchers ran a number of tests to try to understand how much Facebook and its corporate cousin, Instagram, may be contributing to the nation's political divide.

One of those experiments—led by Matthew Gentzkow and Hunt Allcott, economics professors at Stanford University—centered on more than 35,000 Facebook and Instagram users who were paid to stay off the platforms in the run-up to Election Day. There's a lot that researchers could glean from the social media hiatus, including whether people's political attitudes shifted and in what ways. If views changed dramatically, that would support the argument that Facebook and Instagram, and social media generally, are helping to drive Americans apart.

The results of that deactivation exercise—the largest ever involving social media users and the first to include Instagram—are in: Staying off Facebook and Instagram in the final stretch of the November vote had little or no effect on people's political views, their negative opinions of opposing parties, or beliefs around claims of election fraud.

But when it comes to Facebook's impact on what people believed about current events, the researchers reached two conclusions. Those who were off Facebook were worse at answering news quiz questions, but they were also less likely to fall for widely circulated misinformation, suggesting that the platform can be an important conduit for both real and false news.

These findings, published by the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences , are in line with the main takeaways of the other experiments into Facebook and Instagram's potential influence around the 2020 election, in which changing news feeds and limiting re-sharing of posts didn't reduce polarization or change beliefs about whether the voting process was tainted.

Those tests were detailed in four papers published in July 2023 in Science and Nature .

Taken together, the papers suggest that, when it comes to U.S. politics, Facebook and Instagram may not have as much ability to shape political attitudes during an election season as the popular narrative suggests.

And like the previous studies, the Gentzkow and Allcott-led study doesn't absolve Meta Platforms, which owns Facebook and Instagram, from the messy state of U.S. politics. For one thing, the results support the view that Facebook may create harm by distributing misinformation. Gentzkow says it's also possible that the platforms contributed to polarization in the past, even if people's use of them in the run-up to the election had limited impact.

"We are not ruling out the possibility that Facebook and Instagram contribute to polarization in other ways over time," says Gentzkow, who—along with Alcott—is a senior fellow at the Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research (SIEPR).

He also notes another finding suggesting that using Facebook in the weeks before the 2020 presidential election may have made people somewhat more likely to vote for Donald Trump and somewhat less likely to vote for Joe Biden. This could suggest that, for Facebook users who still were on the site, Trump's campaign was savvier at building support than Biden's team was.

"This effect was not quite statistically significant, so we need to take it with a grain of salt," Gentzkow says. "But if it's real, it's big enough that it could impact the outcome of a close election."

The study led by Gentzkow and Allcott—and the four that preceded it—are part of a massive research project that has been billed as the most comprehensive, evidence-based investigation yet into the role of social media in American democracy.

The project came together following critiques of Meta's role in the spread of fake news, Russian influence, and the Cambridge Analytica data breach. The collaboration between academics and Meta researchers involved a series of steps to protect the integrity of the research ; Meta, for example, agreed not to prohibit any findings from being published. In all, nearly 20 external social scientists from universities across the country are part of the project, with the external academic team being co-led by Professors Talia Stroud (University of Texas-Austin) and Joshua Tucker (New York University).

"Access to Meta's proprietary data has allowed us to jump over big barriers to research on extremely important issues involving social media and politics," says Gentzkow, who is also the Landau Professor of Technology and the Economy in the Stanford School of Humanities and Sciences.

Gentzkow and Allcott's study involved roughly 19,900 Facebook users and 15,600 Instagram users who agreed to stop using the platforms ahead of the 2020 election. About a quarter of them agreed to deactivate their accounts for six weeks before the November vote. The rest comprised a control group that logged off for just one week.

The study's analysis relies on a number of measures, among them participant surveys, state voting records, campaign donations, and Meta platform data. Some participants also allowed the researchers to track how they used other news and social media services when they were off Facebook or Instagram.

On top of the findings on polarization, knowledge, and Republican support, the authors conclude that Facebook and Instagram help people engage in the political process—mostly through posting about politics and signing petitions online (voter turnout didn't change).

Takeaways for 2024 and beyond

Gentzkow says that the study's finding that Facebook and Instagram didn't change people's political attitudes or beliefs in claims of electoral fraud in 2020 is especially interesting in light of his previous research with Allcott. In an earlier smaller-scale study of Facebook users who stayed off the platform for a month ahead of the 2018 midterms, the authors did find evidence that it contributes to polarization.

The distinction, Gentzkow says, could be that people are aware enough of political issues during a presidential election, so Facebook and Instagram have little or no effect on their beliefs or attitudes. But during other elections, when information about candidates or issues are not so front and center, social media may have more influence over what people think.

"Even though Facebook and Instagram did not contribute to polarization in the runup to the 2020 election, it's possible that they are helping to widen political divides in other contexts where people's views are less entrenched," Gentzkow says.

And though the study was limited to the six weeks leading up to the presidential vote, it's still a critical time in U.S. politics—hence the phenomenon known as the " October surprise ."

"Things happen in the home stretch of a presidential election that can change poll numbers," he says. "We've learned from this study that altering how much time people spend on Facebook and Instagram during that period isn't likely to make a huge difference."

More information: Gentzkow, Matthew, The effects of Facebook and Instagram on the 2020 election: A deactivation experiment, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (2024). DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2321584121 . doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2321584121

Provided by Stanford University