The role of social media news usage and platforms in civic and political engagement: Focusing on types of usage and platforms

Abstract

Social media have become important sources of news yet existing research has not paid much attention to types of social media news usage and platforms. This study examines how types of news usage on social media across different platforms are associated with online and offline civic and political engagement. In doing so, this study conducts a secondary analysis of survey data from a representative sample of South Korea (N = 5,010) collected by the Korea Press Foundation. This study found that types of social media news usage are differentially related to participatory behaviors. Specifically, informational use was not significantly or negatively related, whereas relational and expressive use were positively related to civic and political engagement behaviors. Moreover, different social media platforms played a role in shaping the types of social media news usage and participatory behaviors with online video platforms being most beneficial. Based on these findings, this study concludes that motivating people to share, react to or comment on news is key to deepening civic and political engagement. However, how platform-specific affordances or norms either facilitate or dampen the engagement process must be considered.