Titel
The way we use social media matters: A panel study on passive versus active political social media use and affective polarization
Autor*in
Jörg Matthes
Autor*in
Andreas Nanz
Autor*in
Ruta Kaskeleviciute
... show all
Abstract
When looking at the origins of affective polarization, political communication scholars have frequently pointed to social media. In this article, we theorize that the relationship between social media use and affective polarization depends on the ways in which social media are used. Based on two-wave panel data collected during a national election campaign, our findings suggest that only active political uses of social media (i.e., sharing, posting, or commenting) foster affective polarization; in contrast, passive uses (i.e., informing oneself) do not. Looking at reciprocal relationships, we found that affective polarization did not significantly predict active or passive political social media use over time. Overall, our findings support the argument that social media are neither unconditionally detrimental nor beneficial for society and democracy.
Stichwort
affective polarizationsocial media usepanel survey
Objekt-Typ
Sprache
Englisch [eng]
Persistent identifier
https://phaidra.univie.ac.at/o:1749240
Erschienen in
Titel
International Journal of Communication (IJoC)
Band
17
ISSN
1932-8036
Erscheinungsdatum
2022
Seitenanfang
5223
Seitenende
5245
Erscheinungsdatum
2022
Zugänglichkeit
Rechteangabe
© 2023 (Matthes, Nanz, Kaskeleviciute, Reiter, Freiling, Neureiter, Stubenvoll, Sherrah, Juricek, Munzir, and Noronha)

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