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Educated by peers. Political effects of Facebook as an information resource among young people

Citizenship
Internet
Social Media
Education
Márton Bene
Centre for Social Sciences
Márton Bene
Centre for Social Sciences

Abstract

The study examines the role and impact of Facebook as a central political information resource among university students. Over the last few years Facebook has become one of the most important information sources about politics for young people. However, Facebook as information tool differs in many respects from other professional medium. One of the most important differences that political contents are created, filtered and distributed on Facebook by peers communicating about politics as opposed to professional journalists. The study hypothesizes that the growing role of Facebook as political information resource means the returning of the two-step flow of information model: political views and experiences of the less interested majority are largely shaped by the communication of the fewer political interested peers. Owing to Facebook, peers are becoming central actors of political and citizen education. Based on a survey among university students in Hungary the study justifies that Facebook is the primary political information resource for university students and the most successful medium in reaching the politically less interested students. Underscoring political impact of Facebook the findings show that being informed from Facebook has a significantly negative effect on the satisfaction with function of democracy controlling party affiliation, sense of subjective uncertainty and political interest. Also, the results indicates that only a political interested minority of university students post or share political contents on Facebook, but political posting is significantly shaped by the dissatisfaction with function of democracy. Based on these findings it can be assumed that the negative democracy evaluation of students being informed about politics by Facebook results from the fact that on this platform information and opinions are mostly provided by their discontented peers. The results offer an indirect evidence for the thesis that in accordance with the two-step flow model of communication the political views of young people being informed by Facebook are largely shaped by their peers communicating about politics.