Network characteristics matter in politics on Facebook: evidence from a US national survey
Abstract
Purpose
Facebook has been identified as a primary source of political information by a majority (63 percent) of its users. The purpose of this paper is to examine the relationship between Facebook use and political participation, and investigate the mediating effects of the characteristics of one’s Facebook network (i.e. network size, proportion of strong ties, and discussion network heterogeneity).
Design/methodology/approach
This study relies on a representative survey of American adults (n=1,032) conducted during the 2012 primary election campaigns from May 3 to May 10. The sample was randomly selected from a representative online panel maintained by a professional research organization. Given this study’s focus on the influence of Facebook use and network characteristics, an online panel is suitable for testing the hypotheses.
Findings
The results show positive associations between Facebook use and both off- and online political participation. Further, the positive association between Facebook use and political participation is mediated by discussion network heterogeneity and the proportion of strong ties in one’s Facebook network, but not the network size.
Originality/value
This study sheds light on the roles played by network characteristics of Facebook. The composition of a user’s Facebook network is closely related with what kind of information she encounters and how likely she is to participate in politics. Hence, network characteristics (e.g. Facebook discussion network heterogeneity) arise as important for gaining a nuanced understanding of the relationship between general use of the medium and its political outcomes.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
This work was supported by Incheon National University (International Cooperative) Research Grant in 2015.
Citation
Lu, Y., Lee, J.K. and Kim, E. (2018), "Network characteristics matter in politics on Facebook: evidence from a US national survey", Online Information Review, Vol. 42 No. 3, pp. 372-386. https://doi.org/10.1108/OIR-09-2016-0262
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2018, Emerald Publishing Limited