News-Related Social Media Use, Political Knowledge, and Participation in the 2016 Election

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  • May 15, 2019
Creator
  • Roberson, John
    • Affiliation: College of Arts and Sciences, Department of Public Policy
Abstract
  • Social media’s role in the 2016 election was one of many aspects of that election which make it unique. Record numbers of Americans were active social media users in 2015-2016, and many used the platforms not only for entertainment, but to learn about the news. Social media were also used by candidates in novel ways and to unprecedented extents, and the quality of information distributed through social media came into question for multiple reasons. Previous studies have shown that news-related social media use leads to increases in political knowledge and likelihood of voting, but the unique circumstances surrounding the 2016 election make generalization of those findings to that election perilous. Therefore, this thesis used national survey data from the 2016 Cooperative Congressional Election Survey to investigate the relationships between news-related social media use, political knowledge, and participation specifically in the 2016 election. Exploratory factor analyses, logit regressions, and marginal effects were used. Analysis found that consuming social media news content did predict higher likelihood of voting in 2016, and it found that that effect was partially mediated by an increase in political knowledge. Additionally, evidence suggested that whether someone shared, commented on, or forwarded news-related content – in addition to consuming it – was found to moderate each of the aforementioned relationships, though that finding was not statistically significant. The relationships between social media use, knowledge, and voting also varied by state and by party. Further research should consider personality in analysis and use experimental, rather than observational, methods to the extent possible.
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Advisor
  • Lauen, Douglas
Degree
  • Bachelor of Arts
Academic concentration
  • Public Policy
Honors level
  • Honors
Degree granting institution
  • University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Graduation year
  • 2019
Language
  • English

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