Lee, S., Diehl, T., & Valenzuela, S. (2021).
Human Communication Research, 48(1), 57–87.
https://doi.org/10.1093/hcr/hqab014
Abstract
Despite early promise, scholarship has shown little empirical evidence of learning from the news on social media. At the same time, scholars have documented the problem of information ‘snacking’ and information quality on these platforms. These parallel trends in the literature challenge long-held assumptions about the pro-social effects of news consumption and political participation. We argue that reliance on social media for news does not contribute to people’s real level of political knowledge (objective knowledge), but instead only influences people’s impression of being informed (subjective knowledge). Subjective knowledge is just as important for driving political participation, a potentially troubling trend given the nature of news consumption on social media. We test this expectation with panel survey data from the 2018 U.S. midterm elections. Two path model specifications (fixed effects and autoregressive) support our theoretical model. Implications for the study of the ‘dark side’ of social media and democracy are discussed.
Here is a summary.
The "virtuous circle hypothesis" states that news consumption leads to political knowledge, which leads to political participation. This hypothesis has been supported by previous research, but the authors of this paper argue that it may not hold true in the context of social media.
The authors argue that social media news consumption is often characterized by "information snacking" and "echo chambers," which can limit the amount of factual knowledge that people gain. Additionally, they argue that people's subjective sense of being informed can be just as important as their objective knowledge for driving political participation.
To test their hypothesis, the authors conducted a study of panel survey data from the 2018 U.S. midterm elections. They found that social media news consumption was positively associated with subjective knowledge, but not with objective knowledge. They also found that subjective knowledge was positively associated with political participation, even after controlling for objective knowledge.
The authors' findings suggest that the virtuous circle hypothesis may not hold true in the context of social media. They argue that social media news consumption can lead to a false sense of being informed, which can have a negative impact on political participation.
Here are some of the key takeaways from the research:
- Social media news consumption may not lead to increased factual knowledge.
- Subjective knowledge can be just as important as objective knowledge for driving political participation.
- Social media news consumption can lead to a false sense of being informed.
The findings of this research have important implications for our understanding of the relationship between social media, news consumption, and political participation. They suggest that we need to be careful about how we use social media to consume news, and that we should be aware of the potential for social media to create a false sense of being informed.
