New Perspectives to Political Participation among Youth: The Impact of Facebook Usage

Abstract

Youth political participation is indeed an engaging area of academic research that is increasingly evolving. However, some recent studies suggest that traditional form of political participation especially among youth has been declining in developed and developing countries which may likely create uncertain future for democracy. For instance, in many countries youth are not stimulated by the traditional media such as Radio, Television and Newspaper. Conversely, other findings illustrate the sudden and unprecedented increase in youth engagement in political activities through the use of Facebook. Youth now have access to political information and interact directly with political candidates. Nevertheless, researchers have not clearly examined why youth political participation suddenly changed and what it's the driving force is. In posing these questions, scholars have suggested that certain features of Facebook such as usage pattern, diversity network of Facebook friends and interactivity with political figures should be examined. The paper therefore concludes that there exists a positive linkage between Facebook usage and youth political participation.

Association of online political participation with social media usage, perceived information quality, political interest and political knowledge among Malaysian youth: Structural equation model analysis

“…As discussed, social media provides to the youth, accessibility and low-cost method to politically participate in digital online applications (Steinberg, 2015). More importantly, a substantial number of youth have exploited Facebook for OPP because it helps in raising awareness about political issues, and also assists in solving or changing national or local problems (Abdu et al, 2016;Babac & Podobnik, 2018;Sveningsson, 2014). Scholars posit that there is positive and strong relationship between political participation and SMU (see for example, Valenzuela et al, 2019;Yamamoto et al, 2015).…”

“…The popularity of social media has generated series of discussions regarding the potentiality of the site to increase youth participation in politics (Zuniga et al, 2017). Some studies (e.g, Caron et al, 2017;Effing et al, 2011;Elhadidi, 2019) indicate that reliance on Facebook, YouTube and Twitter increases civic participation, while Facebook usage increases political participation (Abdu et al, 2016;Elhadidi, 2019). However, some scholars have pointed out that, Facebook features such as diversity in the Facebook friend networking, usage patterns and interaction with the public figures should be further investigated (Abdu et al, 2016).…”

“…Some studies (e.g, Caron et al, 2017;Effing et al, 2011;Elhadidi, 2019) indicate that reliance on Facebook, YouTube and Twitter increases civic participation, while Facebook usage increases political participation (Abdu et al, 2016;Elhadidi, 2019). However, some scholars have pointed out that, Facebook features such as diversity in the Facebook friend networking, usage patterns and interaction with the public figures should be further investigated (Abdu et al, 2016). Thus far, researchers have concentrated on the roles of Facebook as a medium that can facilitate OPP among youth (Abdu et al, 2016;Conroy et al, 2012;Masiha et al, 2018;Vissers & Stolle, 2014).…”

“…However, some scholars have pointed out that, Facebook features such as diversity in the Facebook friend networking, usage patterns and interaction with the public figures should be further investigated (Abdu et al, 2016). Thus far, researchers have concentrated on the roles of Facebook as a medium that can facilitate OPP among youth (Abdu et al, 2016;Conroy et al, 2012;Masiha et al, 2018;Vissers & Stolle, 2014). Studies suggest that Facebook usage is often used as a space for engaging different forms of political participations particularly among the youth that are already frustrated in traditional political spaces (Batorski & Grzywinska, 2018).…”

“…Similarly, the social media information quality such as accuracy, speed, timeliness and thoroughness of information may be a significant factor that contributes towards the utilization of Facebook by youth, especially in fulfilling their social and political needs (Ksiazek et al, 2016). However, this suggests further that, quality of information is an important determinant and positively correlated to OPP (Abdu et al, 2016). Also, previous research has also reported that, factors related to OPP can be influenced by Facebook information quality such as intention to participate in offline activities of politics (like involving in community and civic services) and individual interactivity (Abdu et al, 2017;Ahmad et al, 2019;Houston et al, 2015) as youth political involvement is often regarded as a significant element to a healthy democracy (Cammaerts et al, 2016;Gaby, 2017).…”