Exploring UK Millennials’ Social Media Consumption Patterns and Participation in Elections, Activism, and “Slacktivism”

@article{Leyva2017ExploringUM,
  title={Exploring UK Millennials’ Social Media Consumption Patterns and Participation in Elections, Activism, and “Slacktivism”},
  author={Rodolfo Leyva},
  journal={Social Science Computer Review},
  year={2017},
  volume={35},
  pages={462 - 479}
}
  • R. Leyva
  • Published 1 August 2017
  • Psychology
  • Social Science Computer Review
This study explores how UK young adults’ exposure to social networking sites (SNSs) and attention to specific SNS content relate to their political practices. Data were collected from a diverse group of undergraduates during the 2015 General Election and Labour leadership campaign via a web survey designed with novel instruments (e.g., simulated Facebook and Twitter newsfeeds). Results indicate that regular use of varying SNSs and attention to certain political content—for example, newsfeeds… 
View on SAGE
23 Citations
Highly Influential Citations
2
Background Citations
11

Figures and Tables from this paper

23 Citations

Citation Type

Citation Type

Young People, Digital Media, and Engagement: A Meta-Analysis of Research
New technologies raise fears in public discourse. In terms of digital media use and youth, the advice has been to monitor and limit access to minimize the negative impacts. However, this advice would…
Using Online Social Networks to Acquire Political Information: the Politically Engaged Non-ideological Youth in Chile, 2017–2019
TLDR
Even the non-ideological youth is more politically engaged than the ideologically identified older age cohorts, and young people who do not identify on the ideological scale are as likely to use social networks to obtain political information as older people who identify onThe left–right scale.
YOUTH LIFESTYLES, DIGITAL ENGAGEMENT AND POLITICAL PARTICIPATION AS RESEARCH VARIABLES – ARE WE MEASURING IT RIGHT?
AbstractThis paper aims to highlight some of the issues arising in measuring youth lifestyles, digital engagement and political participation. These variables were part of a nationwide survey titled…
Revolution in the making? Social media effects across the globe
ABSTRACT Social networking sites are popular tools to engage citizens in political campaigns, social movements, and civic life. However, are the effects of social media on civic and political…
Spreadable Media, Citizens, and Participatory Culture : Uses and Effects of Political Internet Memes
Internet memes, or “artifacts of participatory digital culture” (Wiggins & Bowers, 2015, p. 6), are increasingly visible in political contexts around the world. Appearing in social movements,…
The Role of Psychological Proximity and Social Ties Influence in Promoting a Social Media Recycling Campaign
ABSTRACT As environmental threats intensify rapidly across the globe, understanding how to promote public engagement in pro-environmental actions to address these threats is imperative. Contributing…
Twenty Years of Digital Media Effects on Civic and Political Participation
More than 300 studies have been published on the relationship between digital media and engagement in civic and political life. With such a vast body of research, it is difficult to see the big…
EGOCENTRIC SLACKTIVISTS? Users reflecting on their participation in social media campaigns
Audience research often employs quantitative research methods, which conceptualize audiences by talking about them and their social media behaviour, rather than with them. In this way, audiences…
Pathways to environmental activism in four countries: social media, environmental concern, and political efficacy
In 2018-9, millions of youth participated in climate-related marches across the globe. This activism reflects youth’s distinctive form of political participation: cause-oriented, expressive, and…
Gateway Political Behaviors: The Frequency and Consequences of Low-Cost Political Engagement on Social Media
  • L. Bode
  • Sociology, Political Science
  • 2017
The purpose of this article is to determine to what extent engagement in easy political behaviors on social media occurs across the range of political interest, what predicts such engagement, and…
...
1
2
3
...

References

SHOWING 1-10 OF 53 REFERENCES
Processes of Political Socialization : A Communication Mediation Approach to Youth Civic Engagement
By analyzing data from a national panel survey of adolescents (ages 12-17) and their parents conducted around the 2008 general election, this study explores the varied roles communication plays in…
Digitally Savvy Citizenship: The Role of Internet Skills and Engagement in Young Adults' Political Participation around the 2008 Presidential Election
Popular narratives assume that digital media play a central role mobilizing voters and especially young adults. Based on unique survey data of a diverse group or young adults from Spring, 2009, we…
Social Media Use for News and Individuals' Social Capital, Civic Engagement and Political Participation
TLDR
Results show that after controlling for demographic variables, traditional media use offline and online, political constructs (knowledge and efficacy), and frequency and size of political discussion networks, seeking information via social network sites is a positive and significant predictor of people's social capital and civic and political participatory behaviors, online and offline.
Stimulating citizenship or expanding entertainment? The effect of Facebook on adolescent participation
TLDR
It is found that Facebook use is positively related to civic and entertainment-oriented, but not to online or offline political, participation, while prior levels of civic participation have a stronger effect on Facebook use than Facebook use has on civic participation.
Social media and mobilization to offline demonstrations: Transcending participatory divides?
TLDR
The results show that the type of participant mobilized via the social media is characterized by lower socioeconomic status and younger age than those mobilized via other channels, and connections to information structures through social media exert a strong and independent effect on mobilization.
The great equalizer? Patterns of social media use and youth political engagement in three advanced democracies
Recent developments suggest a strong relationship between social media use and political engagement and raise questions about the potential for social media to help stem or even reverse patterns of…
The Civic and Political Significance of Online Participatory Cultures among Youth Transitioning to Adulthood
ABSTRACT Much scholarship has examined how accessing news and other civic and politically oriented online activities can influence offline civic and political behaviors. Much less is known about the…
It's Complicated: Facebook Users' Political Participation in the 2008 Election
TLDR
Results from a survey of undergraduate students at a large public university in the Midwestern United States conducted in the month prior to the election found that students tend to engage in lightweight political participation both on Facebook and in other venues, and two OLS regressions found that political activity on Facebook is a significant predictor of other forms of political participation.
Facebook is no " Great equalizer " : A big data approach to gender differences in civic engagement across
  • Sociology
  • 2015
Facebook is expected to facilitate more equal participation in civic engagement across genders and countries. With the use of a big data tool (Wisdom), we explored gender disparities in various…
Age and the effects of news media attention and social media use on political interest and participation: Do social media function as leveller?
This article investigates how media use differs across age groups- and whether this matters for people’s inclination to participate politically. More specifically, the study investigates the impact…
...
1
2
3
4
5
...