Political News in the News Feed: Learning Politics from Social Media

Although literature about the relationship between social media and political behaviors has expanded in recent years, little is known about the roles of social media as a source of political information. To fill this gap, this article considers the question of whether and to what extent learning pol...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:	Mass communication & society Vol. 19; no. 1; pp. 24 - 48
Main Author:	Bode, Leticia
Format:	Journal Article
Language:	English
Published:	Philadelphia Routledge 02-01-2016 Taylor & Francis Ltd
Subjects:	Digital media Learning Mass media Mass media effects Media News media Politics Social networks
Online Access:	Get full text
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Summary:	Although literature about the relationship between social media and political behaviors has expanded in recent years, little is known about the roles of social media as a source of political information. To fill this gap, this article considers the question of whether and to what extent learning political information occurs via Facebook and Twitter. Theory suggests that social media may play a significant role in the learning of political information within the modern media environment. Making use of a combination of experimental and survey-based studies, the data suggest that the potential for users to learn political information from social media exists but is not always realized within the general population.
ISSN:	1520-5436 1532-7825
DOI:	10.1080/15205436.2015.1045149