Social networking sites have become a source of daily consumption for Internet users. As more people begin to embrace these sites as extended news outlets, Lee explores social media as a primary avenue for gathering news and political information and for formulating perceptions.
In the study Who Says What About Whom: Young Voters' Impression Formation of Political Candidates on Social Networking Sites, published in the latest issue of Mass Communications and Society, Lee looked at how young voters' impressions of political candidates were formed by other people's Facebook posts.
Using photos of both young and older candidates, Lee measured the impact of Facebook user comments on young voters. While some suggest that young Internet users are more influenced by other young people online, Lee discovered that, at least when it comes to politics, young voters seem to trust older users' evaluations more. And they are most impacted by older commenters' evaluations when the candidates are young.
The takeaway, according to the study, is that there are many factors that influence political impressions in social media, including the type of comment, the age of the commenter and the age of the candidate. The study could point the way towards more sophisticated uses of social media for political parties.
Read more at: http://phys.org/news/2014-09-impact-social-media.html#jCp