Did Social Media Really Matter? College Students' Use of Online Media and Political Decision Making in the 2008 Election

Abstract

Abstract This study examined college students' use of online media for political purposes in the 2008 election. Social media attention, online expression, and traditional Internet attention were assessed in relation to political self-efficacy and situational political involvement. Data from a Web survey of college students showed significant positive relationships between attention to traditional Internet sources and political self-efficacy and situational political involvement. Attention to social media was not significantly related to political self-efficacy or involvement. Online expression was significantly related to situational political involvement but not political self-efficacy. Implications are discussed for political use of online media for young adults. Notes 1For example, YouTube, which was invented in Citation2005 and did not exist during the 2004 presidential election campaign (YouTube.com, Citation2010), is a video-sharing Web site that both the 2008 major party presidential candidates used to disseminate campaign video. 2Political information efficacy is a type of political efficacy that concerns specifically the "voter's confidence in his or her own political knowledge and its sufficiency to engage in the political process" (Kaid, McKinney, & Tedesco, Citation2007, p. 1096). Although it is a specific type of efficacy focused on information, it fits under the conceptual definition used in this study: an individual's belief that through their efforts they can impact political processes (Tan, Citation1980). 3Using a 7-point Likert-type scale with no attention and a lot of attention as anchors, respondents were asked, "For information about the election, how much attention have you been paying to each of the following?": (1) "Personal blogs," (2) "Video-sharing websites (YouTube)," (3) "Microblogs," (4) "Social networking Web sites (e.g., Facebook or MySpace)," (5) "Online forums and discussion boards." (6) "Government Web sites (e.g., local, state, or national)," (7) "Candidate's Web sites," (8) "Network TV news Web sites (e.g., CNN.com, ABCnews.com, or MSNBC.com)," (9) Print media news Web sites (e.g., New York Times or US News and World Report Web sites)," and (10) "News pages of Internet service providers (e.g., Google News or Yahoo! News)." Using a 7-point Likert-type scale with none and a lot as anchors, respondents were also asked, "In regard to the election, how much have you engaged in each of the following?": (11) "Writing blog posts on political issues," (12) "Creating and posting online audio, video, animation, photos or computer artwork to express political views," (13) "Sharing political news, video clips, or others' blog posts online," (14) "Participating in online political discussions (e.g., Discussion boards and chat rooms), and (15) "Exchanging opinions about politics via e-mail, social networking Web sites, microblogging (such as Twitter) or instant messenger." Note. Bold text indicates significent factor loadings. Note. N = 407. a Category sums to greater than 100% because respondents of mixed ethnic background were able to select multiple criteria for ethnicity. b 1 = Very Conservative, 5 = Very Liberal. Note. Cell entries are final standardized regression coefficients. *p < .05. **p < .01. ***p < .001. Additional informationNotes on contributorsMatthew James Kushin Matthew James Kushin (Ph.D., Washington State University, 2010) is Assistant Professor in the Department of Communication at Utah Valley University. His research interests include political campaigns, online media, and social media. Masahiro Yamamoto Masahiro Yamamoto is a Doctoral Candidate in The Edward R. Murrow College of Communication at Washington State University. His research interests include online media, mass media and social organization, and public health.