Washington, Oct. 18 (ANI): A case study of the controversial Budget Repair Bill in Wisconsin has explored whether young adults who use social media are more likely to engage in offline protests.
The article entitled "Killing the Bill Online?: Pathways to Young People's Protest Engagement via Social Media," which would be published in peer-reviewed journal, Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking, says that among adults who use social media such as Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, and blogs for political purposes, 42% are under the age of 30.
Timothy Macafee, University of Wisconsin-Madison, who authored the article, compared the relationship between information-seeking behaviors online versus expressive engagement online (defined as using social media as a "soapbox" to share personal views and political events and issues) and actual participation in political protests.
"Individuals use social media primarily for informational and expressive purposes," Macafee concluded.
While college students used social media to gain information related to the protests, not affecting their offline behavior; "expressive" political social media use encouraged offline protest participation, the study noted.
"Using social media for information gathering has quite different implications for real world behavior than does use of social media to express oneself (through blogs, tweets, etc.)," says Brenda K. Wiederhold, PhD, MBA, BCIA, Editor-in-Chief of Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking.
"As young people utilize social media for information gathering more than traditional means, such as television or newspapers, those wishing to influence opinion and individual behavior should pay heed," she added. (ANI)
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