Some of these things are not like the others: Examining motivations and political predispositions among political Facebook activity

  • Authors:

  • Timothy Macafee

  • Affiliations:

  • -

  • Venue:
  • Computers in Human Behavior
  • Year:
  • 2013

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Abstract

Political engagement via social media has evolved, and web sites including Facebook continue to be a place for individuals, especially young ones, to engage politically. Because politics on social media is diverse, it makes sense that the reasons for participating in it vary. In addition, because current events information and political news is accessible via social media, the role of attention to traditional news sources in this type of political engagement is debatable. The study takes up the opportunity to address these questions by examining young people's attention to television, print, and online news, their engagement with four Facebook political activities, and their psychological motivations for using the website politically just prior to the 2012 U.S. Presidential election. The results suggest that the primary motivations for using Facebook politically are not universal, and indeed vary by activity. They revolve around connecting with others socially, sharing information with others, and presenting oneself to others. In addition, attention to offline and online news largely do not matter. The study moves research forward by describing the variety of psychological predispositions some Facebook users bring to their political engagement with the web site, and how these predispositions vary across different Facebook political behavior.