A new window to the world? Associations between political social media content, political knowledge and participation on social media

Abstract

Social media have substantially changed the opportunities for political engagement, both in how citizens become informed and learn about politics, as well as in their political participation. On the one hand, citizens can encounter a large diversity of political content on these platforms, both in terms of format and topic. On the other hand, social media are increasingly used by citizens to express their views and mobilize others in highly personalized ways. While social media seem to hold unique opportunities for political learning and participation, it remains unclear how these processes might be linked to each other. Therefore, following communication mediation theory, we explore whether and how political knowledge about current affairs might mediate the association between exposure to political content on social media and participation on these same platforms. Data from a cross-sectional study in Flanders, Belgium (n = 2,520), reveal a complex participatory cycle. While citizens do seem to learn from social media political content, those who are more knowledgeable engage less in social media political participation. While unexpected, these findings highlight the importance of considering the unique social media affordances when researching political socialization and participation.