Social Media and Political Involvement among UNC Students

Social Media and Political Involvement among UNC Students Kelley E. Sousa Nazneen K. Ahmed Courtney L. VanDyne Will A. Crum Lauren A. Houston

Introduction Overall Intention • Through our research project, we intend to shed some light on how young voters are engaging in politics and to determine how influential a role social media plays in elections. • Demographic of young voters • Analyze their use of new media and how it correlates to their involvement in politics

Literature Review • Demographics of surveyed students engaged in politics: • Young women • College education • Where students get political news: • Internet & social media sites • What generally influences students to become politically involved: • Sense of civic responsibility • Social issues

Methodology • Online Survey • Population • UNC-Chapel Hill Undergrads • Sampling Technique • Convenience Sampling • Questions • Political Involvement • Social Media Usage • Voting Ethos

General Research Questions

RQ1 • How much political information do UNC-Chapel Hill undergraduates receive through social media?

RQ2 How do students use social media to engage in political discussion? • Facebook • A place for friends • NOT a place for political discussion and news • 2/3 of respondents do not list their political affiliation • 4/5 of respondents rarely or never engage in political discussion on Facebook

RQ2

RQ2 • Twitter • Students follow the news but are less inclined to follow politicians. • ⅘ of Twitter users follow at least 1 news source • Less than ½ of the respondents follow a single politician

RQ2

RQ3 • To what extent does the political information that students receive through social media influence their support of political candidates and participation in elections?

RQ3 • Twitter is a place for news, but not necessarily for political rhetoric. • ¾ of the respondents rarely/never tweet on trending political topics • An overwhelming majority of students do NOT use these platforms to be politically vocal.

RQ3 • 2008 Voting • Out of 36 respondents who voted in 2008, 24 voted for a politician who they did NOT follow on any social media

Conclusions • Although Millennials use social media to receive news, they do not necessarily use these mediums to actively participate in conjunction with political figures themselves.

Conclusions What does this mean? • Young adults are more likely to follow news sources such as CNN, Fox News, or ABC rather than following politicians themselves. • It’s the media, not the figures.

Recommendations (for those scheming politician types) 1. Being on social platforms can possibly be an effective campaign component, but it is not key to success

Recommendations 2. Millennials don’t want their social platforms (especially Facebook) made into a political battlefield – so don’t try

Recommendations 3. Like any ideal voter, (most) Millenials don’t vote because of gimmicks or ploys – they vote on issues. The real key to appealing to young voters is identifying with their beliefs on current issues and expressing that clearly (on any/all platforms).

Social Media and Political Involvement among UNC Students