Paper Info
Title
Accidental exposure to politics on social media as online participation equalizer in Germany, Italy, and the United Kingdom.
Abstract
We assess whether and how accidental exposure to political information on social media contributes to citizens' online political participation in comparative perspective. Based on three online surveys of samples representative of German, Italian, and British Internet users in the aftermath of the 2014 European Parliament elections, we find that accidental exposure to political information on social media is positively and significantly correlated with online participation in all three countries, particularly so in Germany where overall levels of participation were lower. We also find that interest in politics moderates this relationship so that the correlation is stronger among the less interested than among the highly interested. These findings suggest that inadvertent encounters with political content on social media are likely to reduce the gap in online engagement between citizens with high and low interest in politics, potentially broadening the range of voices that make themselves heard.
Year
DOI
Venue
2016
10.1177/1461444815616223
NEW MEDIA & SOCIETY
Keywords
Field
DocType
Accidental exposure,comparative research,Germany,Internet and politics,Italy,online political participation,political information,social media,United Kingdom
Social science,Comparative research,Social media,Sociology,Accidental exposure,Online participation,Parliament,Politics,German,The Internet
Journal
Volume
Issue
ISSN
18
9
1461-4448
Citations 
PageRank 
References 
10
0.69
6
Authors
2
Name
Order
Citations
PageRank
Augusto Valeriani1261.89
Cristian Vaccari2152.32