Courtney Gunter 1

Political News in the News Feed:

Learning Politics from Social Media
Leticia Bode

Aim: to learn whether and to what extent learning political information occurs via the Social
Media networks of Facebook and Twitter.

Background
• Social Media: a venue in which people can share content with each other
o “citizens can increasingly provide political information and commentary to other
citizens, loosening the monopoly on such communication previously enjoyed by a
limited field of ‘professional communicators’” (p. 24-25)
***DISCUSSION QUESTION 1***
• Previous research (Bode, 2012b) has shown that exposure to political information does
happen within social media, similarly to more traditional mediums, but it is unclear whether
this exposure facilitates learning of the political information

Theory + Hypotheses
• Social ties play a major role in informing the public about politics, and social media sites are
specifically founded on the importance of social ties.
H1. those exposed to political information via social media will learn from it.
H2. users of social media will show higher levels of political knowledge than non-users,
as evidenced by scores on a battery of factual questions on current political events.
• People tend to spend time and energy on things that interest them, and novel information
tends to “stick” in our minds.
H3a. interest in the subject should increase recall of the information.
H3b. novelty should increase recall of the information.
H3c. trust should increase recall of the information.
• Political Interest: Those most interested in politics are more likely to seek out political
information (selective exposure), and are thus more likely to remember it.
H4a. those higher in political interest should be more likely to learn political information
to which they are exposed via social media, but
H4b. those lowest in political interest will exhibit the greatest gains in overall political
knowledge from exposure to political information via social media
• Media Consumption: Social media tends to promote “passive learning,” and it has the
potential to solve to issue of the “knowledge gap.”
knowledge gap: “Those most interested in politics consume more media and gain additional
political knowledge, whereas those less interested seek out less and fail to gain knowledge”
passive learning: “results in greater and more diverse learning gains than active learning,
because users are more accepting of the information to which they are exposed”
***DISCUSSION QUESTION 2***
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H5. Users lowest in media use should be most likely to experience gains in political
knowledge as a consequence of social media use
• Social Media Control: an environment of partial control
high-control media environments: users can control the information that they are exposed to
almost entirely à tends to lead to active learning (satellite TV, personalized websites)
low-control media environments: users have very little control over the information that they
are exposed to, and thus tend to be exposed to a wide variety of information (19050s TV,
broadcast commercials) à users tend to be more accepting of information in low-control
environments, where exposure is accidental and learning tends to be passive
***DISCUSSION QUESTION 3***

To test their hypotheses, the conducted two different studies. The first is an experiment. They
utilized an experiment because it allows to researchers to control more condition, and allows
research to isolate effects. Oppositely, the second study is an “observational study,” a survey.
This allows observations to happen in a natural setting. The authors used both methods with a
hope of holistically understanding how and when people learn politics from social media.

Study #1: Experimental Evidence

goal: focuses on the process of learning political information from social media exposure and
seeks to isolate the learning effect

Methods:
• Respondent demographics: 721 completed, 65.6% female, 76.1% White, mean age of 42,
57.3% hold at least a bachelor’s degree; 34.9% identify as moderate, 24.7% as liberal, and
40.3% as conservative; average political interests reported is 5.57 (between 1 and 10)
• Respondents were experimentally exposed to a simulated Facebook News Feed and asked to
browse it as they would their own News Feed
There are pictures of this News Feed on the last page of the article, but honestly, it’s a bit
blurry and you can’t see it well.
o Control Group: exposed to a nonpolitical story – flooding in Mississippi
o Treatment Group: exposed to a political story – a speech by President Obama
The Obama story was chosen for several reasons. First, although he’s not a
nonpolarizing figure, they thought people from all political ranges would
acknowledge the importance of a presidential speech. Also, as the president, he’s
acknowledged as a political elite, and so any speech he gives is inherently political.

Results:
• Recall: Table 1
Recall is the most basic test of learning. Simple recall is “the ability to retrieve information at
some point after” being exposed to it”
o “people at least have the potential to learn from information to which they are
exposed in the media” (p. 35)
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o Those exposed to the political story were much more likely to report viewing it –
“This suggests that political information may be more memorable and this more
likely to be retained” (p. 35)

• Recall of Details: Table 2

o Respondents were asked to provide any details they remembered from the story
o “although basic recall was greater among those exposed to the political story, fewer
people exposed to the political story were able to offer additional detail about the
story,” but those who did offer details were able to offer a great deal of detail (p. 35)
o “those who do pay attention to a political story may actually learn more than they
would from a nonpolitical story under the same circumstances” (p. 36)

• Factors Influencing Recall: Table 3

o Neither interest nor novelty of the story seems to increase recall of political
information, but trust does

Study #2: Survey Data

goal: emphasizes the outcome of learning in order to consider potential gains in political
knowledge

They thought that if “social media users demonstrate higher political knowledge than similarly
situated nonusers, we might conclude that significant political learning takes place” via social
media
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Methods:
• Matching: a population is divided into two groups based on a specific break variable – social
media use
• “To test the effects of online social media use on political knowledge, users and nonusers of
Facebook and Twitter are matched on a variety of factors that have been shown to predict
social media use” (p. 39)
o Factors: income, age, number of children, marital status, race, ethnicity, gender, and
education
• A series of 14 questions was posed to the 2 groups. Respondents were asked to identify:
a) all of the people from a list of 7 who had announced a candidacy for president of the
United States at the time of the data collection, and
b) all of the countries from a list of 7 that had been involved in the Arab Spring in the
spring of 2011

Results:
• There is no statistically significant effect of Facebook use on political knowledge.
• There is a small difference between the average political knowledge of users and nonusers of
Twitter.

Return to the Hypotheses

H1. those exposed to political information via social media will learn from it. [supported]
H2. users of social media will show higher levels of political knowledge than non-users, as
evidenced by scores on a battery of factual questions on current political events. [supported]
H3a. interest in the subject should increase recall of the information. [unsupported]
H3b. novelty should increase recall of the information. [unsupported]
H3c. trust should increase recall of the information. [supported]
H4a. those higher in political interest should be more likely to learn political information to
which they are exposed via social media, but [supported]
H4b. those lowest in political interest will exhibit the greatest gains in overall political
knowledge from exposure to political information via social media [unsupported]
H5. Users lowest in media use should be most likely to experience gains in political knowledge
as a consequence of social media use [unsupported]

Conclusions
• “We can definitely say that the opportunity for learning from political information to which
social media users are exposed to is a real one” (p. 42)
• In order to understand how American citizens form opinions, attitudes, and behaviors, it is
necessary to understand what political information is learned via social media.
• How political information is learned is more complicated than expected.
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• Ultimately, “social media may be a new social and cultural force to complicate our
understanding of the process of lifelong political learning” (p. 44-45)

Supplement Reading:
Young Citizens, Social Media, and the Dynamics of Political Learning in the U.S. Presidential
Primary Election
By Stephanie Edgerly, Kjerstin Thorson, and Chris Wells

Aim: to learn how the rise of digital and social media is affecting the ways young adults learn
about political events as they happen.

Method:
• A “rolling cross-section survey design:” a unique sample of American young adults were
surveyed every day for a period of 3 weeks (final sample: 1,151 young adults aged 18 to 35)
• Survey data were collected via an online questionnaire
• 3 categories of “surveillance knowledge”
o Nonprimary Current Events: involving public officials, government agencies, or
political issues
§ Set 1: Apple’s refusal to provide the FBI with the ability to access the San
Bernardino shooter’s iPhone
§ Set 2: President Obama’s plan to close the Guantanamo Bay military prison
§ Set 3: the NASA space landing
§ Set 4: an incident involving West Virginia lawmakers and the legalization of
unpasteurized milk
o Democratic Primary Knowledge
§ Set 1: Hillary Clinton’s victory in Nevada
§ Set 2: African American voters in the South Carolina primary
§ Set 3: the results of Super Tuesday
§ Set 4: Bernie Sanders’ victory in Michigan
o Republican Primary Knowledge
§ Set 1: Jeb Bush dropping out of the race
§ Set 2: the resignation of Ted Cruz’s communication director
§ Set 3: Ben Caron dropping out of the race
§ Set 4: reaction to Donald Trump’s border wall proposal

Results:
• Political interest is a factor of knowledge
• “Results suggest that social media volume, not self-reports of exposure, was key in providing
young adults with the opportunities to learn about politics during the 2016 U.S. primary
season” (p. 1042)
• “this study provides perhaps the first evidence that this distinct social stream of news is
uniquely impactful on political knowledge acquisition among young adults, at least in the
primary context” (p. 1056)
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Discussion Questions

1. How much political information do you see shared via social media? What is the main type
of content that you encounter, intentionally or unintentionally, via social media?

2. It has been suggested “that social media is one mechanism by which the knowledge gap
might be overcome—users are exposed to political information incidentally while doing
other things and are able to gain political knowledge as results (at least in the short term)” (p.
43). Do you think social media is a viable option for closing the knowledge gap? What are
some other alternatives?

3. There is some debate over whether social media is categorized as a low-control or high-
control (or partial control) media environment. What do you think it should be categorized
as?

4. Last week, we talked about high and low “need for cognition.” How do you think this need
for cognition relates to consuming political news via social media?

5. If social media presents an opportunity for learning political information, what are ways in
which we can capitalize on that opportunity?

6. Think back to the first presidential election that you remember learning about/engaging in.
What was it that fueled your interest and/or desire to learn? Where did you receive your
information?

7. Social media has become even more common since the 2016 election that the Edgerly,
Thorson, and Wells articles discusses. What role do you think social media will play in the
upcoming election?

8. As Christians, what do you think is our responsibility (if any) as it correlates to political
participation?
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Devotional

Laura Fabrycky – Key’s to Bonhoeffer’s Haus: Exploring the World and Wisdom of Dietrich
Bonhoeffer

Laura and her husband moved to Germany in 2016 and watched the American presidential
election in dismay.

In this book, she moves the reader through the rooms of Bonhoeffer’s house while telling stories
from her own family’s attempts to make sense of a land that was foreign to them.

She reminds us of a fuller definition of politics:

“civic housekeeping”
“the hard, often boring work of living a common life” and the practice of neighbor-love

The is the thought on want us to dwell on a bit today. The idea of politics of civic housekeeping.
To think of engaging in politics and political learning as an act of loving your neighbor.

It really takes the focus off of yourself. And raises questions.

How will this change the ways in which you talk about our political leaders? The things you post
on social media? The way you debate with friends and family?

Matthew 22:37-40 (on our syllabus!!)

These verses remind of the importance, the centrality, of loving both God and neighbor.

I also think that when we think about the idea of “loving our neighbor,” that is brings to mind
ideals of perfect blissfulness. I want to acknowledge that it’s okay for there to be disagreement

The church is a diverse body.

“many Christians seem uninterest in seriously engaging the questions at all. It should be extected
that believers would disagree on how to answer such questions (after all, we manage to disagree
on just about everything else); to simply ignore these matters, on the other hand, is indefensible”
(10)