2012-10-18-皮尤-Social_Media_and_Political_Engagement_13页_793kb

Social media is becoming increasingly central to American political and civic engagement. Findings from a 2012 Pew Research Center survey indicate that 66% of American adults who use social networking sites (like Facebook) or Twitter have engaged in at least one political activity through these platforms, including posting thoughts, encouraging others to vote, reposting content, and following officials.

Key activities and their prevalence among social media users:

• approximately 38% have used social media to "like" or promote political content shared by others.
• approximately 35% have used tools to encourage people to vote.
• approximately 34% have posted their own thoughts or comments on political issues.
• approximately 33% have reposted political or social content originally posted by others.
• approximately 31% have encouraged others to take political action.
• approximately 28% have posted links to political stories or articles.
• approximately 21% belong to political or social groups on social networking sites.
• approximately 20% follow elected officials or candidates.

Factors influencing social media engagement for political purposes include:

• Partisanship/Ideology: Liberal Democrats and conservative Republicans were found to be particularly active in some activities, often more so than moderates.
• Age: Younger users (particularly ages 18-29) were more likely than older users (50+) to post thoughts, link to political content, repost, encourage action, and link to political stories. College educated users were also generally more active.
• Demographics: Higher education levels and being White or Hispanic (compared to Black social media users) also influenced activity patterns, but findings regarding group belonging were less segregated by ideology.
• Education: College graduates showed higher engagement rates for activities like reposting.

In summary, social media is a significant tool for political participation across various demographic segments, with specific variations based on partisan alignment, age, and educational attainment.
*pewinternet.org