Connecting blog, Twitter and Facebook use with gaps in knowledge and participation

Sung Woo-Yoo
Homero Gil-de-Zúñiga

Article Sidebar

PDF (841)
See on DADUN
Published: 2014-10-01
DOI: https://doi.org/10.15581/003.27.35978
Keywords:
Knowledge gap, participation, social media, Facebook, Twitter

How to Cite

Connecting blog, Twitter and Facebook use with gaps in knowledge and participation. (2014). Communication & Society, 27(4), 33-48. https://doi.org/10.15581/003.27.35978
1616

Abstract

Although they share a similar ‘social media’ tag, blogs, micro-blog sites like Twitter, and social networking sites (SNS) like Facebook are distinctive in their relationships with political engagement. This paper examined the impact of the use of the three media on the gaps in political knowledge and participation between the more and less educated people. In the results, Facebook use interacted positively with education in predicting civic and issue knowledge. The gap of offline participation was larger among heavy Twitter users than among light users. Overall, findings imply that social media amplify or reinforce inequality of political engagement.
Keywords:
Knowledge gap, participation, social media, Facebook, Twitter

Authors

Sung Woo-Yoo
University of Texas at Austin. 78712 Austin
Homero Gil-de-Zúñiga
University of Vienna.


Metrics

Search GoogleScholar




Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

Issue

Vol. 27 No. 4 (2014)

Section

Articles

RIGHTS TRANSFER

By submitting the article for evaluation and subsequent publication in Communicaton & Society, the AUTHOR grants exclusive economic and/or exploitation rights: reproduction, distribution, public communication, transformation/translation/creation of derivative works, and commercialisation to the University of Navarra through its Publications Service, for the maximum legal period in force -the author's lifetime and seventy years after his or her death or declaration of death-, in any country, and in any of the current and future publishing modalities, both in print and electronic versions.

In the event that the article is not accepted for publication, this transfer of rights lapses with the communication of the refusal to the AUTHOR.

The AUTHOR affirms that the article is unpublished, that it has not been sent simultaneously to another publication medium and that the rights have not been transferred exclusively previously. He is responsible to the University of Navarra through its Publications Service for the authorship and originality of his work, as well as for all pecuniary charges that may arise for the University of Navarra through its Publications Service, in favor of third parties due to actions, claims or conflicts arising from the breach of obligations by the AUTHOR.