Incidental News Exposure on Social Media: A Campaign Communication Mediation Approach

This study, derived from campaign communication mediation models, examines how incidental news exposure on social media affects political participation. Analysis of two-wave panel data collected before the 2016 US presidential election shows that incidental news exposure on social media is associate...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Masahiro Yamamoto, Alyssa C. Morey
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: SAGE Publishing 2019-05-01
Series:Social Media + Society
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1177/2056305119843619
Description
Summary:This study, derived from campaign communication mediation models, examines how incidental news exposure on social media affects political participation. Analysis of two-wave panel data collected before the 2016 US presidential election shows that incidental news exposure on social media is associated with increases in offline and online political participation (1) through online political information seeking and (2) through online political information seeking and online political expression in serial. Interestingly, results show that incidental news exposure on social media also has a direct negative relationship with offline and online political participation. Implications for the political utility of social media are discussed.
ISSN:2056-3051