Politics in the Age of Social Media: The Relationship between Social Media Political

Exposure and Political Participation of Students in Selected College Institutions in

Batangas City

A Thesis Proposal Presented to the

College of Arts and Sciences Department of
University of Batangas

In partial Fulfillment
Of the Requirements for the Degree of
Bachelor of Science in Legal Management

Jane Therese C. Banaag

Emmanuel A. Calaluan
Miguel Alfonso G. Racelis
Sara May Joy V. Rondero

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 2023

CHAPTER 1

THE RESEARCH PROBLEM

Introduction

In the contemporary media ecology, social media and politics are growing increasingly

intertwined with each other. The digital platform is highly regarded as a critical source of

political information and a platform for the political participation of citizens, both of which are

necessary for a healthy and functioning democracy. Different social media platforms, such as

Facebook, YouTube, TikTok, Instagram, and Twitter, are used continually to disseminate or

access political information that encourages people to participate in political activities.

According to Kemp (2022), there are 4.62 billion social media users around the world

as of January 2022. This equates to 58.4 percent of the global population who spend an

average of 2 hours and 27 minutes per day on social media. At the local level, Kepios (2022)

found that there are 83.9 million Filipinos who are active users of social media, making the

Philippines the top country in the world in terms of social media utilization

Statista Research Department (2022) conducted a survey on how social media is

being utilized by internet users worldwide. Among others, 35.1% of respondents reported

using social media platforms to read news stories. With information acquisition at the core of

worldwide social media utilization, it is a no-brainer that social media platforms have been

used to circulate political information since their inception. Through the circulation of

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information, social media helps to increase political knowledge and ensures more

engagement in political activities from the people.

As established by Heiss et. al. (2020), the circulation of a wide array of information and

topics on social media comes in two modes, intentional and incidental modes of exposure.

The first one is the act of actively searching for information on social media, and the latter is

an accidental occurrence of coming across content on social media. Furthermore, Heiss et.

al. (2019) found that these modes of exposure drive the political motivation and engagement

of adolescents.

The unparalleled circulation of information on social media platforms has been

maximized by institutions and individuals in the Philippines for political purposes. In an

interview for The Manila Times, digital political strategist Reluao (2022) pondered on the

implications of the onset of the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic on the

political campaigns of the candidates for the recently concluded 2022 National Elections,

which saw them taking their advocacies and platforms to the digital spaces of social media in

lieu of the restrictions and limitations posed by the pandemic in the conduct of traditional

campaigns. Found to be an advantage of this digital setup is the ease of communicating

campaign messages from politicians to the masses. Succeeding in a social media-launched

political campaign is President-elect Ferdinand Marcos Jr., who managed to acquire over 31

million votes in his presidential bid, and whose massive network of supporters proved

immense echo chambers built through years-worth of information machinery online, having

the most well-coordinated network on Facebook (Macaraeg, 2022).

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 In the same vein, political content is disseminated by media outlets or personalities in

the form of news articles, video reports, and even bold commentaries to which a large portion

of Filipino social media users heavily respond in the form of reactions, shares, and comments

comes from the youth sector. This was made evident in the 2022 National Elections, where

Evangelista (2022) reported that Filipinos between the ages of 18-24 were found to be the

instigators of political conversations and civic debates on social media, as illustrated by data

spanning from April 12 to May 15, 2022, heavily used social networking sites such as

YouTube and Twitter. It is for this reason that Commission on Elections (COMELEC)

Commissioner, George Garcia, expressed in another interview by Elemia (2022) for a news

story in Benar News that the newly registered voters are the game changers in the elections.

Prevailing as the most dominant users of social media, the diverse composition of

netizens that make up the youth may interpret political information on social media differently,

depending on their interest in politics or the lack thereof. For most of the youth sector, their

right to information and freedom of expression come into play when engaging in social media

platforms. In the same report by Evangelista (2022), he cited a survey by the digital strategy

firm, FleishmanHillard, which explained that political campaigns that present clear advocacies

aligned with their principles and values are paid more attention by Generation Y and Z

Filipinos. This was reflected in the people’s campaign spearheaded by Marcos’ runner-up in

the presidential elections, Leni Robredo. Johnson & Head (2022) narrated that Robredo’s

young volunteers and supporters, collectively referring to themselves as ‘Kakampinks’ to

mirror the former presidentiable’s campaign color, were fueled by the hope of realigning the

brand of governance in the country back to the familial values and the rule of law which was

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perceived to have been lost during the Rodrigo Duterte regime. This led to Robredo’s onsite

sorties being flocked by hundreds of thousands of supporters, whose Makati leg was attended

by a record-breaking number of 400,000 supporters and volunteers (Lazaro, 2022).

Despite what seems to be an influx of political discussions in the social media verse,

as well as the instances where such influx translated to tangible, politically-motivated actions,

such political engagement among the youth cannot be accurately measured due to a limited

number of resources to support research findings. It has been observed that a huge chunk of

research studies and literature articles related to politics are mostly published during the

height of political campaigns and election seasons across various nations. Since elections

and political campaigns are not annual activities, the number of studies and literature

published annually is limited, furthering the discrepancies in the determination of political

participation among the youth, and ultimately, its relationship with social media exposure.

In determining the effects of social media use on the Filipino youth’s participation,

Bunquin (2020) found extensive use of social media among the youth and consequently, low

levels of political participation among the same age group. In her book “Community-Based

Rehabilitation: CBR Guidelines”, she enumerated the barriers to political participation which

include poverty, education, social isolation, personal factors, stigma and discrimination, lack

of disability-friendly processes, lack of role models, and legal barriers. Because most of these

are rampantly discussed in social media spaces, it has yet to be understood why these

barriers have yet to be overcome by Filipino youth.

More so, encouraging political participation among the youth in Batangas is imperative

as Colcol (2022) reported that the province has 1.72 million voters and is hence, the 7th most

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vote-rich province in the country. It is important to address and measure how students are

informed and influenced by social media on political matters. However, empowering social

media platforms to increase political participation would not be feasible if there is no clear

illustration of their relationship.

Using a more quantified sample size of college students in Batangas City, this paper

aimed to determine the relationship between social media political exposure and political

participation of students in selected college institutions in Batangas City and to propose

recommendations/program based on the findings. Furthermore, this study would serve

relevance in the Filipino youth’s selection and monitoring of people who implement and create

laws wherein social media platforms will play a significant role in delivering political

information.

Statement of the Problem

This study aimed to investigate the relationship between social media political exposure

and political participation of college students in Batangas City. Specifically, it sought to

answer the following questions:

1. What is the profile of the respondents in terms of:

1.1 Sex,

1.2 College institution, and

1.3 Social media sites used?

2. What is the extent of social media political exposure of the respondents in terms of:

2.1 Intentional exposure, and

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 2.2 Incidental exposure?

3. What is the extent of political participation of the respondents in terms of:

3.1 High-effort political participation, and

3.2 Low-effort political participation?

4. Is there a significant difference in the assessment of the respondents when grouped

according to their profile?

5. Is there a significant relationship between social media political exposure and political

participation of the respondents?

6. Based on the findings, what recommendations/program can be proposed to enhance the

political participation of students using social media?

Hypothesis

The study was premised on the following null hypotheses:

Ho1: There is no significant difference in the assessment of the respondents when grouped

according to sex.

Ho2: There is no significant difference in the assessment of the respondents when grouped

according to college institution.

Ho3: There is no significant difference in the assessment of the respondents when grouped

according to social media sites used.

Ho4: There is no significant relationship between intentional social media political exposure

and political participation of the respondents.

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Ho5: there is no significant relationship between incidental social media political exposure and

political participation of the respondents.

Conceptual Framework

The framework of the study was based on the Social Media Political Participation

Model (SMPPM) developed by Johannes Knoll, Jörg Matthes, and Raffael Heiss. SMPPM

specifies processes that need to be realized so that social media use affects political

participation. On the first hand, social media use will happen based on the influence of certain

intentions or characteristics that are existing within the user. Upon the use of social media,

exposure to political information can be intentional or incidental. Social media interactions

result in accidental or unintentional exposure to political information through messages

shared by their social network. This information will later have a level of information

processing that may get the user involved in both low and high-effort political participation.

Simply put, the framework involves three variables, user motivation, social media political

exposure, and political participation.

Profile of the respondents
 Sex
 College institution
 Social media sites used

Social Media Political Exposure Political Participation

 Intentional exposure  High-effort political participation
 Incidental exposure  Low-effort political participation

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 Figure 1. Conceptual Framework of the Study

In order to localize the research and explore the role of social media sites in political

participation, the existing framework was modified. The researchers used the profile of the

respondents such as sex, college institution, and social media sites used as the study’s

intervening variables. Social media political exposure based on intentional and incidental

exposure and political participation based on high-effort and low-effort participation remain

independent and dependent variables, respectively.

Scope, Delimitation and Limitation of the Study

This research paper covered the extent of social media political exposure and political

participation of students in selected college institutions in Batangas City in the academic year

2022-2023. It examined the significant difference in the students’ assessments when grouped

according to their profile as well as the relationship between the students’ social media

political exposure and political participation. Based on the findings, a set of proposed

recommendations/ program to enhance the political participation of students using social

media was developed.

The researchers used self-made questionnaires to collect the data needed for the

study. Through quota sampling, the researchers collected assessments from 300 students

enrolled in selected college institutions in Batangas City irrespective of campus, including

Batangas State University, Lyceum of the Philippines University-Batangas, and the University

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of Batangas. Students in other college institutions located in Batangas City were excluded

from the study.

The weakness of this research was the limited time and resources to disseminate and

collect responses from a larger sample. Moreover, public health restrictions due to the threat

of COVID-19 limited the researchers’ capacity to reach the respondents of the study.

Significance of the Study

The results gained from this study are deemed beneficial to the following:

To College Administrators. This study may provide them with knowledge about the

differences between their students’ social media political exposure and political participation.

It may also give them insights on topics or programs that can be used for school seminars

related to social media and politics.

To Student Organizations. This study may give them insights on how to reach out to

the students in college institutions in Batangas City. The result of the study will help student

organizations to maximize social media sites as a venue and means for projects related to

political participation of their members and non-members alike.

To Students. The result of the study may help the students to become aware of the

importance of their participation in politics. Furthermore, this study may motivate them to

maximize their social media utilization to be politically informed and engaged.

To Future Researchers. The result of the study may help future researchers to have a

guide for doing another research that may be related to this topic. It may provide them with
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valuable insight into the relationship between students’ social media political exposure and

political participation.

To the Researchers. This study is beneficial to the researchers as it gives them the

chance to seek and provide the answer to the research gap that they encountered. It may

also help them to have a clearer understanding of the topic of social media political exposure

and political participation.

Definition of Terms

To better understand this study, the following terms are defined conceptually and

operationally:

High-effort political participation. This refers to more time- and energy-consuming

political activities (Knoll et al., 2018). This term was used in the study to describe resource

demanding political activities such as participating in electoral processes and joining collective

action for political causes.

Incidental exposure. The term pertains to situations in which users stumble upon

political information (Nanz et al., 2020). This term was used in the study to describe the

circumstances that accidentally expose users to political content like viewing shared politically

related posts and advertisements.

Intentional exposure. This is a behavioral pattern in which users actively look for

political information (Nanz et al., 2020). This term was used in the study to describe activities

that expose users to political content like reading political news and watching videos with

political themes.

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 Low-effort political participation. This means political activities requiring a relatively

small amount of time and energy (Knoll et al., 2018). This term was used in the study to

describe not so demanding political activities such as engaging in a political discussion and

wearing clothing with political themes or symbols.

Political participation. This is any activity that forms, shapes, or involves the political

domain (McCarthy-Latimer, 2018). It was used in the study to describe the activities

undertaken by citizens, whether high or low effort, to express their political views and

influence how their country is governed.

Social media. The term refers to a collection of software-based digital technologies

usually presented as apps and websites that provide users with digital environments in which

they can send and receive digital content or information over some type of online social

network (Appel, et al., 2020). This term was used in the study to describe the social media

sites used by respondents like Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, Twitter, and YouTube.

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 CHAPTER 2

REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE AND STUDIES

This chapter presents the review of literature and studies, consisting mainly of the

summary of various sources such as books, articles and published materials that were

considered significant to conduct this study.

Related Literature

Social media sites and politics

In the thriving prevalence of dominating cyberculture, social media has grown outside

its intended purpose of being a platform for communication and network-building. This type of

media is widely being facilitated as an avenue where users share their ideas and thoughts on

various subject matters that range from entertaining content, personal experiences, and

global issues that mainly encompass politics.

Asserting this through their blog entry, Beveridge & Tran (2022) acknowledged the

close and direct relationship between social media and politics given the potential of social

media to be a platform ideal for communicating with constituents, spearheading campaigns,

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and raising awareness around advocacies and initiatives. They also emphasized the solid

foundation of social media sites such as Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Twitter, and YouTube

as information disseminating bodies that keep the public up to date on current events and

relevant topics on a deeper level.

While the aforementioned sites share similarities in their ability to connect social media

users around the world, they are equipped with different networking elements and content-

sharing methods (Kazmi, 2021) to support their respective functions, all of which serve

relevance to the dissemination of different political content.

Evidencing the capability of social media sites as an information disseminating body is

the story of how Facebook came to be. As narrated by Kerner (2021) in the TechTarget

encyclopedia, Facebook was initially conceptualized in February 2004 to provide an “online

book of faces” where Harvard University students are able to build connections and share

information, until it expanded to be accessible globally for anyone with internet access.

Indeed, Facebook has grown to become one of the most widely used websites since its

inception. To explain such, Rao (2020) listed different factors affecting the popularity of

Facebook, one of which is the site having a large potential to be a source of information,

where users can not only be connected but can also be informed of current events taking

place in different parts of the globe. Aside from this, Facebook also serves as a means for

opinion sharing on a certain topic which can eventually spark discussions involving different

Facebook users. With this, it can be said that Facebook serves multiple purposes, justifying

why it managed to acquire 2.85 billion monthly active users worldwide (Dean, 2022).

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 Showing the range of the social networking site’s capacity, Kerner (2021) also

enumerated the different features utilized by Facebook. Some of which include: Friends, a

search interface that allows users to find acquaintances using the site through suggested

potential connections primarily manifested through the number of mutual friends; Pages,

which are profiles acquired by businesses on Facebook to expand their reach and widen their

market size; Timeline, formerly called the Facebook wall, where activities such as status

updates, uploaded photos and videos, profile changes, and listings of a user’s Facebook

friends or followed pages are displayed; and News Feeds, where the latest news updates

shared by the people and groups followed by the user are shown.

Customizing the News Feeds feature, Facebook introduced its News Tab feature in

2019, a platform designated to disseminate news articles directly within the Facebook app to

a subset of people in the United States (Brown & Sarantakos, 2019). Additionally, relevant

national news is highlighted daily to appear first on the News Tab of American Facebook

users, aided by the key features of the News Tab which are Today’s Stories, Topic Sections,

and Your Subscriptions, to name a few. Through this update, Facebook does not only provide

its users with more control over the news stories they come across, but it also serves as an

avenue for users to be exposed to a great array of news interests, all while still staying on the

Facebook app. Despite the progressiveness of the News Tab update, controversies with

regard to the articles being displayed in the interface came about during the peak of George

Floyd Jr.'s death, the African-American killed by Minneapolis policemen who arrested Floyd

after being suspected to have used a counterfeit twenty-dollar bill. In a news report by Hagey

& Horwitz (2021) for the news outlet, Wall Street Journal, it was reported that Facebook

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employees protested for the removal from the application’s News Tab of a certain news article

by Breitbart, whose headlines, “Minneapolis Mayhem: Riots in Masks” and “BLM Protesters

Pummel Police Cars in 101,” was interpreted to antagonize the plight of the Black Americans

against the racially-motivated murder of Floyd. Furthermore, employees alleged that

Facebook was unjustly favoring right-wing publishers to avoid public blowback. Internal

documents from Facebook management show that the selection of the type of content that

appears on the News Tab is intricately evaluated to dodge bias allegations. In this light.

Hagey and Horwitz (2021) concluded that such undertakings imply how political

considerations make up the core of Facebook’s decision-making process. However,

Facebook responded that politics do not hold any relevance in the decisions they make as the

content they produce and the policies they implement are based on what will be convenient to

their users (Varma, 2021).

In the Philippines, Facebook is also considered as an influential platform for political

discussions, and ultimately, for the propagation of fake news, as proven by the aftermath of

the national elections in the country. In his book, “Facebook: The Inside Story,” Levy (2020)

emphasized that Facebook is equipped with the viral power its News Feed feature, where

both corrupted and credible news sites are given the same regard, despite unverified and

unethical news reports that the former may bring about— which supporters of then political

candidate and former President Rodrigo Duterte maximized through widespread

misinformation and black propaganda against the opponents of Duterte.

It is for the aforementioned reasons that Amurao (2022) recognized the semblance of

Facebook to a contemporary public sphere, one where relevant subject matter to a political

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community is tackled and argued on. However, Amurao (2022) also touched on the rampancy

of misinformation on the social networking site, exposing the ugly truth of Facebook’s system

where amid the diversity of perspectives being expressed through the platform, the algorithm

tends to display content implicated with similar views to the user.

While Facebook can be said to be saturated with political content, be it in its positive

and negative connotations, Instagram is emerging to become a new platform for political

content, granted the large usage of the social networking site worldwide. In a blog entry for

Business of Apps, Iqbal (2022) reported that there were two billion active users of Instagram

in the first quarter of 2021, such numbers including celebrities with a large amount of

following, and businesses with a global market scale. Instagram’s popularity can be attributed

to the site’s different features such as hashtags, discover page, and who to follow tabs which

makes users more visible to a larger audience of Instagram users around the world (Smythe,

2022).

The large amount of exposure that Instagram can bring to its users can be used by

politicians and government officials to disseminate political content. This was upheld in an

article for Vox where Stewart & Ghaffary (2020) discussed the shift of Instagram from being a

platform for sharing authentic reels of the users’ lives to a growing avenue where political

conversations are being facilitated. As proof, it was found that younger people using

Instagram are eager to learn about activism and allyship. They also cited instances in the

United States where activists and politicians utilize Instagram to reach out to constituents.

This includes the Instagram live session of Sen. Elizabeth Warren during the height of the

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2020 US elections campaign, as well as the national school walkout, protested through

Instagram by American activists to advocate against gun violence in the country.

There is also an influx of political posts on Instagram in the local setting, as implied in a

news report by Strangio (2022) for The Diplomat, where six million posts from both Instagram

and Facebook violated content guidelines for their display of disinformation and hate speech.

While this manifests problems for political conversations taking place on Instagram, it cannot

be denied that politics has found its place in the virtual spaces of Instagram.

Meanwhile, TikTok, an up-and-coming video-sharing social media site comes close to

Instagram, both in the aspects of usage and potential as a political platform. As the sixth most

popular social media site in 2022, with 1 billion monthly active users and 3 billion people who

have downloaded the app (Ruby, 2022). Cooper (2022) noted that the popularity of TikTok

can be attributed to the convenience of the short clips it is known to produce, especially

enticing TikTok users with minimal attention span.

As for the platform it provides for political content, TikTok is said to facilitate ideological

formation, political activism, and trolling. As reported by Herrman (2020) in a news article for

New York Times, the video-sharing site is seen as a good venue to launch political

campaigns, despite its parent company, ByteDance Ltd.’s reluctance to be political. Similar to

Facebook, TikTok became a crucial platform for the Black Lives Matter protests as videos of

police brutality towards people of color were uploaded to the application, amplifying the voices

of this marginalized group. Herman (2020) then concluded that as a platform for progressive

young politics, it is most likely perceived that Generation Z TikTok users will save the world.

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 The prominence of political themes in the international TikTok scene is no different in

the Philippines. In fact, the short-form video-sharing platform partnered with the Commission

on Elections (COMELEC) to spearhead accessible and credible news and information on

TikTok with regard to the 2022 National Elections. Voter registration will also be advocated

through COMELEC’s very own TikTok account. (TikTok Community, 2022).

In contrast to the novelty of TikTok as a political social media application, Twitter has

long established itself as an avenue of political discussions. With 396.5 million users across

the globe, Shepherd (2022) attested that despite being behind Facebook and Twitter in

number, Twitter has the luxury of 206 million daily active users who considers the platform as

one of the primary sources of information. Founded in 2006, the site still maintains its appeal

as a conversational, authentic, and candid platform where users can freely and conveniently

express their thoughts (Woolams, 2021).

Granted the ease of sharing personal sentiments, it is no question that political

conversations are a staple in every Twitter feed. Indiana University Bloomington (2018)

suggested that the Hashtag feature of Twitter aids in determining content type across an

array of topics and audiences, and ultimately reflects a diversity of views on a certain topic,

most especially politics. They also found that both left- and right-leaning users of the political

spectrum contribute a considerable amount of content to several of the most famous

hashtags related to politics. Furthermore, users who make use of information from Twitter

streams are more inclined to encounter individuals, information, and viewpoints that they may

oppose. In relation to this, Huszár, F. et. al. (2022) demonstrated how personalization

algorithms are used to choose and arrange the content on Twitter's home timeline. These

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algorithms may magnify certain messages while obscuring others by constantly giving some

material a higher score. The notion that certain political parties profit more than others

through algorithmic amplification is a topic of heated public and academic discussion.

Following the footsteps of TikTok, Twitter also collaborated with COMELEC during the

lead-up to the national elections with the objective of using the site’s policy. product, and

partnership front for the amplification of voters’ education advocacies and for the promotion of

a healthy and harmonious civic debate of election-centric conversations. This undertaking is

inspired by the premise that public conversations made on Twitter are imperative during an

election season, as it has been observed that people lean on Twitter for credible information

that they may present as supporting facts when they engage in political conversations

(Ampolpittayanant Salvador, 2022).

Contrasting the short clips that TikTok is known for, the video streaming platform,

YouTube is considered to be a staple social media site being utilized by Internet users

worldwide. Despite being launched more than a decade ago, YouTube is able to maintain a

great number of 2.1 billion active users (Shepherd, 2022). Citing a 2020 recent survey, Bump

(2021) reported that 94% of people said they stream explainer videos to learn about a wide

array of topics, most of which include product reviews. While many YouTube users might not

go to the YouTube platform just for product videos all the time, they probably still watch them

when they are relevant to their buyer's journey.

Besides business-inclined motives, politics is also a leading subject matter discussed

and patronized on YouTube. Beyond those ads, politics are popping up in all sorts of videos.

As narrated by Ingram (2020), the majority of skilled right-wing YouTube personalities, most

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of which have a large number of followings, are taking part in heated conversations about the

prominent US presidential candidates, Donald Trump and Joe Biden, manifesting how

political discourse is being integrated into the YouTube user base by content creators

themselves. Ingram (2020) also noted how political ads are strategically placed alongside

cooking shows, which are the genre of YouTube videos that gain a relatively high amount of

traction. While unlikely, campaigns that ask for donations are being run on the site.

Discussed are only five of the growing number of social media sites being utilized to

strengthen the political inclination of citizens across nations. It is expected that with the digital

revolution transpiring as the most transformative form of communication technology that

touches on politics and news, along with politicians turning to social media as a means of

communicating with the public, the political media ecology on a global scale will not cease to

evolve and transcend (Owen, 2018).

Intentional and Incidental Exposure

Indeed, what mostly dictates the political atmosphere in the aforementioned social

media sites is the kind of content appearing on users’ feeds and timelines. This gives rise to

the urgency of discussing intentional and incidental exposure on social media platforms.

In a journal article published by Nanz et. al. (2020), the intentional mode of exposure is

defined to be an intentional behavioral pattern where political information is actively sought by

users. Examples of this include activities such as browsing through political topics or following

pages disseminating political content. On the other hand, the incidental mode of exposure is

where users unintentionally and coincidentally come across a certain piece of political

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information. This can occur when political content appears on a user’s feed even when such

user searches for a different genre of content.

Nanz et. al. further cited Knoll et. al. (2018) who argued that the aforementioned

modes of exposure to social media content are caused by diverse user motivations and

participatory outcomes. In line with this, Beam et al. (2018) concluded that consumers of

political information need to be motivated to seek and engage with political information, skilled

to find and process political information, and have the opportunity structures to encounter

political information.

Unfortunately, fondness for politically-inclined clickbait headlines, pseudo-science,

conspiracy theories, and hyperpartisan content are consumed heavily by Internet users, both

through intentional and incidental modes (Ciampaglia & Menczer, 2018). It was mentioned

that there is a rapid spread of low-credibility content, which illustrates the vulnerability of

social media users and the algorithms behind social media platforms to manipulation. In a

nutshell, biases and misinformation are easily consumed intentionally and incidentally.

To address the distasteful rampancy of misinformation on social media, Rogers &

Niederer (2020) distinguished the distinctive types of fake news on social media according to

its intentionality. Disinformation and mal-information, which are qualified false, are

disseminated with a direct intent to harm and mislead their target audience; whereas

misinformation, despite being as false as the former, is unintentionally circulated, and

therefore exposure to such is incidental in nature.

Noting the positive importance of intentional exposure, Lynn (2020) argued that in most

content on social media sites, users are urged to be intentional with their utilization of social

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media. In this way, they can gradually curate their feeds and timelines, taking charge of the

kind of content they see instead of having algorithms flash random posts based on what’s

trending and heavily consumed by the rest of the social media user’s population.

Meanwhile, Fletcher (2017) highlighted the potential of social media to reintroduce

incidental exposure to news, for the simple reason that they assume some responsibility for

what is seen online. Furthermore, he found that consumers of news on social media platforms

news from sources and media outlets they do not interact with are those that often appear on

their feed, while there are also social media users who shared that most of the news stories

they see do not interest them. As an evaluation, Fletcher (2017) stressed the benefit fostered

by incidental exposure on social media, where users are exposed to different topics and news

angles.

Supporting this, Weeks et. al. (2017) expounded in a journal article entitled, “Incidental

Exposure, Selective Exposure, and Political Information Sharing: Integrating Online Exposure

Patterns and Expression on Social Media,” that social media gives users the opportunity to be

incidentally exposed to all sorts of news and political information published across different

social media networks that they did not voluntarily seek for. In this sense, incidental exposure

has an integral role in blocking the exit routes of political involvement through the conditioning

of less politically motivated individuals to take part in online political activities, starting small

with low-cost forms of online political engagement such as political information sharing. While

they have found that intentional exposure appears to be more effective than incidental

exposure in getting audiences to be engaged with a certain political content, Weeks et. al.

(2017) further expressed that incidental exposure to political content disagreeable to an

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individual does not pose any positive effect on the political participation of an individual as it is

mostly opted by users to remain passive on disagreeable information.

True enough, interest in politics, be it in its slightest and most eager means, will

ultimately drive an individual to respond to political information. Hence, it is most likely that

they will interact with news and other political content on social media when they proactively

search for it– a fact supported by other scholarly articles and literature. Boczkowski et. al.

(2017) aided in this as they stated that although there is an influx of news consumption of

social media, minimal findings and sources are found explaining the level of incidental

exposure to social media.

High and Low Effort Political Participation

Expected as the end result of exposure to political content on social media is political

participation. It is defined by Longley (2021) as a set of voluntary activities that the general

public undertakes with the aim of influencing public policy or by calling the attention of

government officials who create such policies. It consists of activities such as electoral voting,

political campaigns, advocacy donations, rallies or protests, and petitions to name a few.

Adding more depth to this definition, IGI Global (n.d..) referred to political participation as a

stage in the evolution of the relationship between the citizens and the government that can be

built through information technologies utilized in civic discussions, approval ratings, and

accountability mechanisms.

24
 While the concept of political participation appears collective and uniform at its core,

Weiss (2020) argued that it is not the same for every country, given the differences in

government structures and supreme laws, hence raising the question if political participation

differs in generational dependency. For the youth, political inclination is mostly nurtured in the

four corners of the academe. In a journal review, Willeck & Mendelberg (2022) claimed that

political engagement is an outcome of formal education, and that the latter is the universal

solvent of the former. They further cited Nie & Hillygus who reckoned that education is proven

to be the most dominant factor in calling people to action when it comes to political activities.

In addition, Willeck & Mendelberg (2022) also enumerated the following factors determining

the effect of education on a student’s level of political participation. This includes: (1) the

levels and types of education; (2) school population; (3) subgroups of the population; (4)

timing of political events; and (5) the type of political participation.

In this study, political participation is classified according to the weight of the set of

political activities undertaken by an individual: high- and low-effort political participation.

However, Logan (2017) presented the two types of political participation in a different light,

conventional and unconventional political participation. Conventional political participation is

constituted by activities such as exercising rights to suffrage, running for office, extending

donations for the campaign of political candidates, and drafting letters to government bodies.

On the other hand, unconventional participation consists of undertakings such as political

marches, boycotts, deviance to laws and public policy. While loosely interrelated to each

other, it can be illustrated that low-effort political participation can be likened to the likes of

conventional political participation, as performing such activities appears more convenient

25
and requires less effort given that it is widely accepted and tolerated. Meanwhile, high-effort

and unconventional political participation may be interpreted in the same light as the

controversial nature of unconventional political strategies will compel an individual to exert

more effort and interest in doing so.

Goudie et. al. (2018) also illustrated another classification of political participation and

enumerated examples of activities in which the respective type of political participation can be

manifested. One that is relatively similar to high-effort political participation is what the author

referred to as formal participation composed of activities in formal and electoral processes

and structures such as voting, joining a political party, participating in youth political wings,

filing for candidacy at an election, and taking part in the election administration. In contrast,

informal participation mostly includes volunteering for social causes, for example, planting

trees to advocate for environmental and ecological conservation.

With mere examples of activities representing political participation, it is relatively

difficult to grasp the essence of this concept. Aiding on this, Lindqvist (2019) distinguished

low- and high-effort political participation by correlating political participation with political

awareness and political interest. It was found that individuals with high efforts of political

awareness and political interest are generally more participative as compared to those who

demonstrated low levels of awareness and interest. With this, it can be said that political

participation has a direct relationship with political awareness and interest. Substantiating this

thought, Uhlaner (n.d.) wrote that along with an emerging new brand of political culture,

political awareness is heavily being studied and examined across different research

26
populations, locale, and paradigms to keep up with the threshold of the twenty-first century

whose digital spaces is changing the entirety of political conversations and civic discussions.

While this is heavily debated, proven well enough is Nobel Prize awardee, Paul

Krugman’s statement in an interview with Reese (2020) where he said that everything is

political— in the 21st century, for the very least. Through social media platforms, politics is no

longer a taboo but an inevitable subject in every conversation, carrying the potential of being

translated into meaningful action through political participation.

Related Studies

Local Studies

With the Philippines constantly ranking in the top spots of countries with the most

active internet users, there is no question that social media sites are consumed heavily by

Filipinos as a means of leisure and entertainment. However, in recent years, social media is

emerging to be a platform for political content in the Philippines.

Examining political campaigning on social media in a country where usage of this

platform is increasing rapidly, personal interviews conducted by Tapsell (2021) for their

research study showed how social media is growing as a platform for subverting mainstream

media discourse and official channels of communication in the Philippines.

Studies conducted locally also demonstrated varying results as to the correlation

between social media usage and the extent of political participation. The findings in the

research of David et. al. (2019) stipulated that there are higher levels of perceived political

knowledge among the respondents who relied lightly on social media as a news source than

27
those who heavily utilized social media to acquire news. It is also noteworthy to mention that

the study described high-effort political participation to involve following political officials and

institutions on their social media accounts. Similarly, Ibardeloza et. al. (2022) observed a

correlation between social media exposure and the level of radical movement of the study’s

respondents who are senior high school students from Tanauan City Integrated High School.

To fully determine the effect of social media usage on political participation. Thus, in

Dioso’s (2019) descriptive correlational study, the relationship between political awareness

and political participation of undergraduate and post-graduate students at Occidental Mindoro

State College. In determining the level of political awareness, the researcher used factors

such as knowledge of public policies, political leaders, political processes, political institutions,

and political issues. Meanwhile, participation in electoral processes, specifically voting, public

forums and discussions, and political marches determined political participation. Results

recognized the significant relationship between political awareness in the context of

knowledge of political leaders and political participation in the context of voting and public

form participation. Furthermore, it was also observed that there is a significant relationship

between awareness of political issues and participation in public forums and discussions.

Through these findings, it can be implied that social media holds relevance in translating

political awareness into political participation.

Foreign studies

Social media has long been defining leisure time for almost everyone around the world.

Thus, it is always being consumed and utilized, with tens and hundreds of social media sites

28
having millions of active users on a daily basis, most of the population belonging to the youth

sector.

In a survey conducted for Pew Research Center, Vogels et. al. (2022) found that

TikTok has surpassed Facebook as the top social media site for American teens, with 67% of

the survey respondents vouching for TikTok and only 32% preferring Facebook.

Accompanied by the results of their study entitled “Understanding Young Adults’ TikTok

Usage,'' Yang & Zilberg (2020) explained that the mood-boosting sense of escapism that the

respondents acquire from the usage of the short-form video streaming platform is the main

motive for users to be fond of TikTok. Subsidiary motives included the expression of hidden

self and socialization with friends.

Granted the statistics on the use of TikTok by the youth, Shaughnessy (2022) analyzed

the correlation between the skyrocketing growth of TikTok and youth voting behavior. Using

the method of process tracing, the results of the study demonstrated how the youth

developed a political identity with groupthink structures, active participation in opinion sharing

on political discussions facilitated on social media, and a motivation to vote during the 2020

US Elections caused by the causes and celebrities they supported. While it can be argued

that a free and fair election can be achieved by a nation with the help of TikTok, Shaughnessy

(2022) maintained that the growth of TikTok usage cannot be considered as an advantage

due to the biased echo chambers that occur within the short-form video streaming site.

However, on a wider scale, Facebook is still perceived to be the leading social media

platform in terms of usage. A survey conducted by Dixon (2022) illustrated that Facebook still

holds the title of the most popular social media site in the world, with more than 2.89 billion

29
active users in 2021. It was also observed in a survey by Shane-Simpson et. al. (2020) that

similar to the aforementioned results for TikTok usage, survey participants, who shared the

demographic of being college students, preferring Facebook had higher levels of bonding

social capital, or connections to people with some similar demographic characteristics, than

those who preferred Instagram. Indeed, connections made on Facebook are a determinant of

the visibility of political news shared on the site’s news feed. This served as a premise for

Thorson et. al. (2021) who computed for the algorithmic interest classification system on

Facebook through the coupling of survey results and interest categorization data from the

respondents’ Facebook accounts. They found that those who are algorithmically categorized

to have an interest in political news are on the face of attracting such content on their news

feeds, implying how the usage of Facebook to seek political information is dependent on the

users’ interest in such subject matter.

Going back to the survey by Shane-Simpson, et. al. (2020), it was revealed that

Facebook is not the most dominant social media site among the 663 college students

surveyed. Shane-Simpson et. al. (2020) further found Instagram to be the most popular social

media site among the respondents, and among the female demographic, as well. It was also

concluded that age, gender, affordances on the said social media sites, and privacy concerns

are the leading factors that influence social media preference.

It was also established by Shane-Simpson that the respondents of their study whose

preference for social media site is the micro-blogging site, Twitter. displayed high levels of

bonding social capital. One of the numerous demographics or circumstances that a group of

people using Twitter may share are the conditions and limitations posed by the Coronavirus

30
Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. It is for this reason that Mohammed & Ferraris (2021)

conducted a study explaining active Twitter usage during the pandemic. Using Partial Least

Square (PLS), it was discovered that the respondents’ active participation on Twitter can be

associated with subjective norms, which explains the high levels of subjectivity in the

conversations and debates on Twitter.

Comprehensively discussing the use of social media for politically motivated reasons,

Boukes (2019) made use of a panel survey design to come up with the conclusion that there

are high and positive levels of current affairs knowledge acquisition in the frequent utilization

of Twitter. This was, however, not reflected in the results on Facebook usage where a decline

in knowledge acquisition was observed among respondents with lower political interest; thus,

implying a gap between politically interested and uninterested citizens.

As for YouTube, Stocking et. al. (2020) discovered that 26% of American adults are

turning to the video-sharing website for news updates, although a small number of these

people consider YouTube as their primary news source. Explaining the relatively low

consumption of the website for information sourcing, findings from the research study

conducted by Klobas et. al. (2019) illustrated that most of the respondents find the use of

YouTube to be problematic as compared to those who agreed that using YouTube can be

functional. Furthermore, it was concluded that algorithm-generated content chaining is a more

dominant factor in compulsive YouTube use more than overt social interaction taking place on

the website.

31
 While the cited studies evidence different results on the vast usage of Facebook,

Twitter, and YouTube, it is a no-brainer that every social networking site can be used for the

purposes of information dissemination, especially for crucial topics such as politics.

With the potential of social media as a platform for political content already being

evidenced by the cited literature and studies, the relationship between the two variables of the

study can be further established through the evaluation of the extent of social media exposure

and political participation of a specific group of people, particularly among students in the

tertiary level.

In their study, Ahmad et. al. (2019) examined the impact of online political activities on

the political efficacy and political participation of Pakistani university students using an online

survey whose respondents are both male and female undergraduate and graduate students

at the University of Narowal, Pakistan. With the results finding a great number of the

respondents utilize social media for political awareness, Ahmad et. al. (2020) suggested that

there is a strong correlation between political activities on social media and political

participation manifested outside the platform’s sphere, as made evident by the youth sector

residing in rural areas of Pakistan who are active in both online and offline political activities.

The link between social media usage and political participation was upheld by Alam &

Yousuf (2021) with Southeast Asian youth as their research population and taken in the

context of voting behavior. With the aid of its variables which are voting behavior, political

participation, personalization politics, ease of social media use, and its perceived usefulness,

the results of the research study were met which showed that the political use of social media

32
positively affects the voting behavior of youth that transcends to their participation in other

politically-inclined activities.

In contrast, Matthes (2022) proved that social media use does not mobilize, but instead

distracts political engagement among young adults whom he perceived to only be consuming

social media for its entertainment-oriented functions. Using aggregate-level data from

countries such as the United States, Switzerland, Germany, and Japan, there was no

observed significant decrease in the voter turnout gap between the youth and adults in lieu of

high levels of social media usage by young adults. Supporting the results found by Matthes

(2022), the research study by Curry (2018) illustrated that social media use does not alleviate

the chances where an individual is likely to vote in relation to the 2016 US Presidential

Elections.

In the realm of international studies, such implications cannot be agreed with. In the

research study entitled “Do social media facilitate political learning? Social media use for

news, reasoning and political knowledge,” Park (2017) highlighted the importance of various

forms of social media utilized for news dissemination in predicting political knowledge. Based

on the results of a national survey, it was found that social media sites, especially Twitter,

positively predicted knowledge on political issues. The researcher then concluded that

political talk online can help reinforce the further use of social media in enriching knowledge

on political issues.

For a more comprehensive determination of the impact of social media on politics, it

must then be taken in the context of the extent of exposure to such platforms, particularly

33
intentional and incidental exposure. In addition, political participation shall also be categorized

as low-effort and high-effort levels for a fuller measurement of such in the following studies.

Employing the Social Media Political Participation Model, Heiss et. al. (2019)

established the theory that the user motivation of adolescents is connected to the intentional

and incidental modes of exposure to social media, where the intentional mode of exposure

was found to build a relationship between political content and self-expression motivations

and political engagement.

On the other hand, Nanz. et. al. (2020) tackled the antecedents of social media

intentional and incidental exposure modes and its effect on low- and high-effort political

participation. Results showed low-effort political participation to be the aftermath of the

intentional mode of social media exposure whereas there was no observed relationship

between incidental exposure to social media and both low- and high-effort political

participation. Such conclusion was upheld in both the primary survey data findings and

moderated moderation analyses in the study by Ahmed & Gil-Lopez (2022) who emphasized

the negative effect of incidental mode of social media exposure on politically disinterested

respondents.

Contrastingly, Kwon (2020) noted the motivating impacts of incidental modes of

exposure to political participation. Inferring the result that frequent Instagram usage has

positive associations with incidental exposure on Instagram, it was then concluded that this

opens opportunities for incidentally exposing Instagram users to different political news and

information.

34
Synthesis

The foregoing review of literature provided the researchers with information on the

different topics closely related to the present study. The fulfillment of this chapter will aid the

researcher in the inception of accorded methodologies and techniques to achieve the

objectives and to fill in the research gap present in this study. The consolidation of related

literature and studies relevant to the research study has also provided an overview of the

topic’s entirety, including its lapses that are subject to necessary improvements and in-depth

investigation.

Evident in the use of intentional and incidental exposure to social media for research

purposes are unmotivating effects of the incidental mode of exposure, which can also be

ascribed to the limited reviews and understanding of incidental news exposure and its

influence on the mobilization and reinforcement of political processes (Ahmed & Gil-Lopez,

2022). The related literature and reviews discussed in this chapter hold proof of the crucial

need to produce findings related to the incidental modes of exposure to social media to avoid

inconsistencies in the measurement of the correlation between social media exposure and

political participation.

With this, the researchers can address the research gap illustrated by the inconsistent

extent of political participation influenced by social media exposure also present and

unresolved in various literature materials, review articles, and research studies.

CHAPTER 3

35
 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

This chapter presents the research design, sampling techniques, sources of

information and means of obtaining them, and analysis of data gathered.

Research Design

This study utilized the descriptive-correlational method of research to assess and

determine the relationship of the extent of social media political exposure and political

participation of students in selected college institutions in Batangas City. According to Noah

(2021), the descriptive-correlational method of research describes the variables as well as the

relationships that occur naturally between them. Unlike in experimental research, the

researcher does not control or manipulate any of the variables, but only observes and

measures them.

Respondents of the Study

The respondents of the study consisted of 300 students enrolled in three colleges or

academic institutions located in Batangas City including Batangas State University, Lyceum of

the Philippines University-Batangas, and the University of Batangas. The student respondents

were suitable for this study because they belong to the generation that is known to be greatly

connected with social media and immersed with significant political events. Using quota

sampling, the researchers recruited 100 students in each college institution to become the

respondents of the study.

Data Gathering Instrument

36
 The study made use of a researcher-made questionnaire as its data-gathering

instrument. Using books, publications as well as the internet, the researchers drafted the

questionnaire. It was in a checklist form and divided into three parts. The first part was

designed to collect the profile of the respondents such as their sex, college institution, and the

social media sites they used. The second part assessed the extent of intentional and

incidental social media political exposure of students based on a series of indicators provided.

The third part, on the other hand, assessed the extent of high-effort and low-effort political

participation of students based on another set of provided indicators. A 4-point Likert scale

composing of 4 – To a great extent, 3 – To a moderate extent, 2 – To a least extent, and 1 –

No extent at all was used to describe respondents’ assessment of the indicators for both

social media political exposure and political participation. Mr. Christer A. Lopez and Atty.

Ronel V. Marcelo validated the questionnaire and certified that it was useful for the study.

The approved tool went to the Cronbach’s Alpha reliability test resulting in 0.93 or excellent

internal consistency.

Data Gathering Procedure

The researchers chose the topic according to the significance and availability of the

sources. Upon the approval and validation of the research adviser, the researchers gathered

related literature and studies. The researchers visited the university library and browsed

through books, theses, and internet to find information related to the topic

After finalizing the needed information to support the study, the researchers prepared a

self-constructed survey questionnaire for the validation and approval of the research adviser

37
and experts. Following the validation and approval, the survey questionnaire was distributed

to the study's chosen sample through Google Forms and printed copies. The link of the

Google Forms was sent to the social media of the recruited respondents. After receiving the

submitted google forms and retrieving the distributed printed survey questionnaire, the

researchers calculated and analyzed the data of the survey and interpreted them to show the

results that were needed for the accomplishment of this study.

Statistical Treatment of Data

To analyze and interpret the quantitative data gathered from the survey, the following

statistical tools and procedures were used by the researchers:

Frequency. It means the number of times a value or variable appears in the data. In

this study, frequency was used to determine the demographic profile of the respondents and

how many among the respondents use a particular social media platform.

Percentage Method. This method determines the relationships between magnitudes

as part of a whole. Data gathered are presented on tables called frequency tables. Frequency

and percentage distributions determine the ratio of the participant falling in every category.

Cronbach’s Alpha. It measures the internal consistency. The researchers used this

for internal validation, on whether the respondents understand the questions stated in the

survey questionnaire.

Weighted Mean. It is a descriptive statistic that is synonymous with average. It is the

summing up of all values and divided by the total number of responses. It is used to

38
determine the mean or average responses of the respondents in every sub-variable and

questions.

Analysis of Variance. It is commonly known as ANOVA. It measures the difference

between the means of two variables, wherein one variable is independent of another. It was

used in this study to determine the difference of the respondents’ assessment in social media

political exposure on political participation.

Pearson’s Correlation Coefficient. It describes how one variable moves in relation to

another. A positive correlation indicates that the two move in the same direction, with a +1.0

correlation when they move in tandem. A negative correlation coefficient tells you that they

instead move in opposite directions. A correlation of zero suggests no correlation at all. In this

study, this was used to correlate the variables provided in the survey questionnaire. This is to

determine whether the extent of social media exposure affects the political participation of the

respondents.

Regression Analysis. Almost similar to Pearson’s Correlation Coefficient, as it also

measures the relationship of two or more variables. It was used to measure the relationship of

incidental and intentional exposure, and high-effort and low-effort political participation.

Two-tailed Test. To test the null hypothesis and the statistical significance of the

study, a two-tailed test was used. It is a method that determines whether a sample is greater

than or less than a certain range of values.

39
Ethical Consideration

The researchers abided by the principles of ethics in doing this research. The data

gathered posed no great risk or harm to the respondents as the survey questionnaire mostly

collected their preference; the researchers treated the collected data as aggregates. The

researchers applied for its exemption for review of the College Research Ethics Committee.

Necessary forms corresponding to its exemption were accomplished by the researchers and

forwarded to the committee for approval. Despite the exemption from review, the researchers

still sought the consent of their respondents before involving them in the study. The informed

consent for each instrument included the purpose of the study, its social value, procedure to

which they will participate, risks involved, treatment and analysis of data, inclusion/exclusion

and the withdrawal criteria, time allotment and contact information of the researchers. Only

the information needed in the study was asked from the respondents. The researchers sent

progress reports to the research advisers to ensure the continuity of the data gathering

procedure and to resolve matters that have to be addressed.

40
 CHAPTER IV

PRESENTATION, ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION OF DATA

This chapter presents the data gathered from the questionnaire. This also presents the

interpretation and analysis of the data gathered from the respondents.

1. Profile of the respondents.

Table 1
Frequency Distribution of the Respondents in terms of Sex, College Institution, and
Social Media Sites Used
Sex Frequency Percentage
Female 180 60
Male 120 40
Total 300 100
College Institution Frequency Percentage
Batangas State University 100 33.33
Lyceum of the Philippines
100 33.33
University-Batangas
University of Batangas 100 33.33
Total 300 100
Social Media Sites Used Frequency Percentage
Facebook 288 96
YouTube 250 83.33
Instagram 248 82.66
TikTok 212 70.66
Twitter 207 69
*Data of social media sites used was gathered with multiple responses

Table 1 shows the profile of the respondents. In the total number of respondents, there

were more female than male respondents. The respondents consisted of 100 students from

41
each of the 3 selected college institutions located in Batangas City namely, Batangas State

University, Lyceum of the Philippines University-Batangas, and University of Batangas.

Moreover, the table shows that Facebook was the most used social media site by the

respondents. Consecutively, YouTube ranked second, Instagram came third, TikTok was

fourth and Twitter placed last. This finding is supported by a poll by Pulse Asia (2021) which

discovered that Facebook is the most popular social media platform in the Philippines,

indicating that nearly all of the nation's internet users have a Facebook account. In

connection, there are several reasons for Facebook’s dominance, according to Estares

(2019). One of them is the ease of access of Filipinos including those in the lowest

socioeconomic class to Facebook. In the Philippines, it is available for a low cost or

sometimes for free, allowing users to communicate, access information, and share content.

Age is another reason, as young adults have higher Facebook usage as they use it for

personal, academic, and social purposes.

2. Extent of social media political exposure of the respondents.

Intentional Exposure

Table 2 shows the respondents’ extent of intentional social media political exposure. It

measured the behavioral pattern in which users actively look for political information on social

media. As presented in the table, the study found that the respondents have a moderate

extent of social media political exposure via intentional mode. This finding coincides with the

study of Reuters Institute as cited by Chua (2021), which revealed that social media has

42
emerged as a major news source in the Philippines, with TikTok joining Facebook, YouTube,

and Twitter as a platform for Filipinos seeking news about politics, economy, and other topics.

Table 2
Mean Distribution of the Respondents’ Intentional Social Media Political Exposure
Weighte Standard
Verbal
Indicators d Deviation
Interpretation
Mean
Intentional Exposure 3.16 0.82 Moderate Extent
Use the search function of social media
sites to find information about topics 3.33 0.71 Moderate Extent
related to politics.
Read political news disseminated by
3.36 Moderate Extent
verified media groups on social media. 0.67
Watch news reports, interviews, debates,
and other video content with political 3.31 0.70 Moderate Extent
themes.
Use the chat function of social media sites
Moderate Extent
to inquire about issues related to politics. 2.81 0.93
Follow or subscribe to the social media
accounts or pages of politicians, and/or
Moderate Extent
other users with political themes in their 2.99 0.91
content.
Likert Scale: 1.00 – 1.49 No extent at all; 1.50 – 2.49 To a least extent; 2.50 – 3.49 = To a moderate extent; 3.50 – 4.00 = To a great extent

Also, it can be gleaned from the table that among the listed indicators, reading political

news garnered the highest mean while the use of the chat function for political inquiries

attained the lowest. These results go hand in hand as access to political information today is

readily available to virtually everyone with a social media account. According to Calderaro

(2018), social media have democratized access to information, overcoming the time

differences, geographical distances, and frequently hierarchical dynamics present in some

communities. In this sense, there will be no need to use the chat function for political inquiries

except for deeper conversations that entail personal views or opinions about the topic.

43
 Incidental Exposure

Table 3 shows the respondents’ extent of incidental social media political exposure. It

assessed the situations in which users stumble upon political information accidentally. The

table reveals that the respondents have a moderate extent of social media political exposure

via incidental mode. This result is in line with the recent research from the Ateneo School of

Government, which found that 79 percent of Filipinos frequently obtain news from incidental

or random news exposure on Facebook (Ordinario, 2022).

Table 3
Mean Distribution of the Respondents’ Incidental Social Media Political Exposure
Weighte Standard
Verbal
Indicators d Deviation
Interpretation
Mean
Incidental Exposure 3.04 0.81 Moderate Extent
View politics-related posts in my feed that
are shared by friends or linked users on 3.35 0.72 Moderate Extent
social media.
Watch social media sites’ suggested or
3.14 Moderate Extent
recommended clips related to politics. 0.73
View political topics or hashtags in the
dashboard or trending list of social media 2.99 0.85 Moderate Extent
sites.
Stumble upon political information
mentioned in non-political online groups or 2.84 0.83 Moderate Extent
group chats.
Watch political advertisements pushed by
2.88 Moderate Extent
social media sites. 0.83
Likert Scale: 1.00 – 1.49 No extent at all; 1.50 – 2.49 To a least extent; 2.50 – 3.49 = To a moderate extent; 3.50 – 4.00 = To a great extent

44
 In addition, it can be noted that shared politically related posts obtained the highest

mean among the listed indicators. Meanwhile, incidental exposure to political information from

non-political online groups or group chats attained the lowest without a major gap to other

indicators. This finding somewhat concurs with the notion that politics is everywhere.

According to Rom et al. (2022), whether or not an individual care about politics, politics has

an interest in the person. In a similar manner, even if social media users do not seek political

information, it will come through shared posts, unskippable advertisements, and/or unsolicited

messages.

3. Extent of political participation of the respondents.

High-effort Political Participation

Table 4
Mean Distribution of the Respondents’ Extent of High-effort Political Participation
Weighted Standard Verbal
Indicators
Mean Deviation Interpretation
Incidental Exposure 2.83 1.02 Moderate Extent
Participate in democratic processes like
3.54 0.82 Great Extent
voting in the elections.
Contribute time and/or resources to an
2.80 0.95 Moderate Extent
electoral campaign.
Participate in student government elections
2.65 1.06 Moderate Extent
or hold a local government position.
Communicate my concerns or advocacies
for change of rules to a public official or 2.62 0.91 Moderate Extent
body.
Join political meetings, gatherings and/or
2.53 0.99 Moderate Extent
other collective action for a political cause.
Likert Scale: 1.00 – 1.49 No extent at all; 1.50 – 2.49 To a least extent; 2.50 – 3.49 = To a moderate extent; 3.50 – 4.00 = To a great extent

45
 Table 4 shows the respondents’ extent of high-effort political participation. It measured

the degree of participation of the respondents in more time- and energy-consuming political

activities. It can be gleaned from the table that the respondents have a moderate extent of

high-effort political participation. This result is backed by the study by Cabo (2018), which

found that young people are engaged in political participation, not just in voting during

elections but also in other political activities that promote democracy and good governance.

Both of these previous and present findings tend to refute the notion that young people are

politically uninterested and apathetic, contrary to what is generally believed.

Also, it can be seen in the table that with a considerable margin in other high-effort

political participation, voting in the elections gained the highest mean among the listed

indicators. On the flip side, joining collective actions for a political cause had the lowest. This

low ranking can be ascribed to COVID-19 fears and state restrictions. During the campaign

period, different parts of the country were under a certain quarantine status which imposed

rules against mass gatherings as it may lead to mass transmission of the virus among the

populace. Another key reason is the bad reputation of activism in the country. In the study of

Nepomuceno et al. (2021), it was found that Filipino parents generally have a negative view of

activism because they think that there is an underground movement that breeds terrorists

among youngsters. As a result, they become frightened of their children joining rallies.

Similarly, Algo (2022), observed that there is a negative public perception towards activists as

they are seen as a nuisance, criticizing for the sake of criticizing, and possible risks to peace

and order given that they are frequently associated with the radical left.

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 Low-effort Political Participation

Table 5 presents the respondents’ extent of low-effort political participation.

Respondents’ participation in political activities requiring a relatively small amount of time and

energy was measured here. As shown in the table, the study found that the respondents have

a moderate extent of low-effort political participation. In line with this is the result of the

National Youth Survey conducted by YouthLedPH and Social Weather Stations as cited by

Tinampay (2021), which found that the majority of Filipino youth are engaged in politics on

social media. The survey also revealed that a considerable percentage of young people post

comments or opinions on specific political issues, react to and share political posts, and use

information online for political discussion with others.

Table 5
Mean Distribution of the Respondents’ Extent of Low-effort Political Participation
Weighted Standard Verbal
Indicators
Mean Deviation Interpretation
Low-effort Political Participation 2.82 0.81 Moderate Extent
Engage in political discussion with my
family, friends, classmates and/or 3.15 0.87 Moderate Extent
acquaintances.
React, share, or comment on politically
3.13 0.88 Moderate Extent
related photos, articles, or videos online.
Convince people to vote for a particular
political candidate or party-list in the 2.82 1.02 Moderate Extent
election.
Post status updates, stories, photos, or
videos expressing my political views on 2.66 1.02 Moderate Extent
social media.
Wear clothing, consume products and/or
2.33 1.05 Least Extent
use things with political themes or symbols.
Likert Scale: 1.00 – 1.49 No extent at all; 1.50 – 2.49 To a least extent; 2.50 – 3.49 = To a moderate extent; 3.50 – 4.00 = To a great extent

47
 It can be further gleaned in the table that engaging in political discussion gained the

highest mean while wearing, consuming, and/or using things with political themes or symbols

attained the lowest with a substantial gap among the indicators in the category of low-effort

political participation. This low engagement of the mentioned indicator among the

respondents can be attributed to the polarized views of Filipinos in politics, especially in the

recently concluded 2022 elections. According to Palatino (2022), the Philippine presidential

campaigns have counted on certain colors as part of their political branding with red and

green adopted by the Marcos-Duterte ticket and pink for Robredo and her supporters. The

use of political merchandise themed with these colors may have generated pushback from

the youth as it result in bad judgements and treatment from people with different political

views from theirs. This has been demonstrated in a YouTube video titled “Election Rant” by

VinCentiments (2022), which depicted a lady who was criticized for wearing t-shirts themed

with the mentioned political colors.

4. Significant difference in the assessment of the respondents when grouped

according to their profile.

Social Media Political Exposure and Political Participation on Sex

Table 6
Difference of the Respondents’ Assessment in Social Media Political Exposure and
Political Participation on Sex
2-Tailed test Decision Verbal
Standard
Mean (df=298, α = 0.05) on Ho Interpretation
n Deviation t
(M) Critical p-
(SD)
Value (CV) value
Male 120 2.88 0.58 -2.28 1.97 0.02

48
 Reject Significant
Female 180 3.02 0.47
Significance level is 95% (<.05)

Table 6 shows the difference of the respondents’ assessment in social media political

exposure and political participation on sex. The table shows that the 180 females who

assessed social media political exposure and political participation have a greater mean

compared to 120 males. It also shows that the computed p-value, which is equivalent to 0.02

is less than the alpha set of 0.05 corresponding to a statistically significant difference.

Therefore, the male and female respondents of the study have statistically significant

difference assessing their social media political exposure and political participation.

This finding is related to the study of Grasso & Smith (2022), which suggested that there is

indeed a significant difference in political participation between young women and men. It was

determined their study that young men are more engaged in institutional forms of participation

and media use for political information. Meanwhile, young women are more engaged in less

confrontational forms of participation in politics. However, in this study, it can be noted that

female respondents gained higher mean than males. It suggests that female respondents

have a higher extent of social media political exposure and political participation than their

male counterparts. This result is a welcome development as women's participation in politics

is a fundamental precondition for gender equality and genuine democracy.

Social Media Political Exposure and Political Participation on College Institution in

and Social Media Sites Used

Table 7
Difference of the Respondents’ Assessment in Social Media Political Exposure and
Political Participation on College Institution in and Social Media Sites Used
49
 Decision Verbal
Profile F p-values
on Ho Interpretation
College Failed to
0.09 0.91 Not Significant
Institution Reject

Social Media 0.45 0.77 Failed to

Not Significant
Sites Used Reject
Significance level is 95% (<.05)

Table 7 presents the difference in the respondents’ assessment of social media

political exposure and political participation in college institutions and social media sites used.

The table indicates that the computed p-values, which are 0.91 and 0.77, are more than the

alpha set of 0.05. This suggests that there was no significant difference in college institution

and social media sites used by the respondents in assessing social media political exposure

and political participation. Thus, this result failed to reject the hypothesis of the researchers

that there was no significant difference in the assessment of the respondents when grouped

according to college institution and social media sites used.

This result of the non-significance of college institutions can be attributed to the

avoidance of academic institutions to engage in partisan political activities. The Commission

on Higher Education in a statement gave a warning against engaging in electioneering and

partisan political activities in schools, especially in public universities (Panganiban-Perez,

2019). On the other hand, the result of social media sites used relates to the argument of

Bossetta (2018) that one particular social media platform was not necessarily better than

other platforms in delivering political content that induces users to participate in politics. Since

social media platforms have similar features, political content can be reappropriated across

multiple platforms.

50
5. Significant relationship between social media political exposure and political

participation of the respondents.

Intentional Exposure and Political Participation

Table 8
Relationship between Intentional Exposure and Political Participation
Political Decision Verbal
Pearson-r p-values
Participation on Ho Interpretation

High-effort 0.46 0.01 Reject Significant

0.46 0.01 Reject Significant

Low-effort
Significance level is 95% (<.05)
Table 8 presents the relationship between intentional exposure and political

participation. The table shows that the computed p-values, which are both 0.01, are less than

the alpha set of 0.05 corresponding to a highly significant result. This suggests that both high-

effort and low-effort political participation have a significant relationship with intentional social

media political exposure. Thus, this result rejected the proposed hypothesis of the

researchers that there is no significant relationship between intentional social media political

exposure and political participation.

In line with this result is the study of Ibardeloza et al. (2022) which suggested that there

is a significant relationship between young people’s social media exposure and their level of

involvement in political activities. This trend may have been affected by time as data from

both previous and present studies were gathered in an election year, a presidential one. In

connection, Pobre (2019) stated that presidential elections usually have higher voter turnout

than midterm elections as the former have more at stake, with voters having to also elect a

51
president and a vice president. With a major election, political spending and media coverage

generally rises, influencing behavior of the public to join high-effort political participation.

Incidental Exposure and Political Participation

Table 9
Relationship between Incidental Exposure and Political Participation
Political Decision Verbal
Pearson-r p-values
Participation on Ho Interpretation

High-effort 0.42 0.01 Reject Significant

0.54 0.01 Reject Significant

Low-effort
Significance level is 95% (<.05)

Table 9 presents the relationship between incidental exposure and political

participation. The table shows that the computed p-values, which are both 0.01, are less than

the alpha set of 0.05 corresponding to a highly significant result. This suggests that both high-

effort and low-effort political participation have a significant relationship with incidental

exposure. Thus, this result rejected the proposed hypothesis of the researchers that there is

no significant relationship between incidental social media political exposure and political

participation.

This result negated the study of Nanz et al. (2020) which also used the Social Media

Political Participation Model as its framework. It was found out that only intentional exposure

to political information on social media was associated with low-effort political participation. In

this study, however, it was found that both intentional and incidental exposure is related to

low-effort political participation. This reversal can be attributed to social dynamics caused by

the pandemic. Compared to before the coronavirus pandemic, social media usage increased
52
following the outbreak (Thygesen et al., 2021). In connection, according to the study of Sortist

as cited by Licsi (2022), Filipinos spend an average of four hours and fifteen minutes on

social media for news consumption, messaging, and entertainment every day. This shift

logically entailed a rise in the level of exposure to political information and participation in low-

effort political activities on social media, especially in the year leading to an election.

With the results above, it purports that social media can be used to inform and

influence young people’s level of political participation. Although the result found that in

general, political participation of students for both high-effort and low-effort is to a

considerable extent, there are specific political activities that can be further enhanced by both

intentional and incidental exposure to political information. For instance, infographics

educating and encouraging collective political actions and the use of things with political

themes can be posted on social media. Infographics can be an effective tool as it has the

ability to convey complicated information in a simple visual format. In this manner, social

media can help in maintaining a healthy and functioning democracy.

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 CHAPTER V

SUMMARY, FINDINGS, CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

This chapter presents the summary, findings, conclusions and recommendations of the

study based on the gathered data.

Summary

This study was aimed to investigate the relationship between social media political

exposure and political participation of college students in Batangas City. Specifically, it sought

to answer the following questions:

1. What is the profile of the respondents in terms of:

1.1 Sex,

1.2 College institution, and

1.3 Social media sites used?

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2. What is the extent of social media political exposure of the respondents in terms of:

2.1 Intentional exposure, and

2.2 Incidental exposure?

3. What is the extent of political participation of the respondents in terms of:

3.1 High-effort political participation, and

3.2 Low-effort political participation?

4. Is there a significant difference in the assessment of the respondents when grouped

according to their profile?

5. Is there a significant relationship between social media political exposure and political

participation of the respondents?

6. Based on the findings, what recommendations/program can be proposed to enhance the

political participation of students using social media?

This study focused on the extent of social media political exposure and political

participation of students in selected college institutions in Batangas City in the academic year

2022-2023. It examined the significant difference of the students’ assessments when grouped

according to their profile as well as the relationship between the students’ social media

political exposure and political participation. The researchers used self-made questionnaires

to collect the data needed for the study. Through quota sampling, the researchers collected

assessments from 300 students enrolled in Batangas State University, Lyceum of the

Philippines University-Batangas, and the University of Batangas. Statistical tools such as

frequency, percentage, weighted mean, ranking, Cronbach’s alpha, analysis of variance, two

55
tailed test, Pearson’s correlation coefficient, and regression analysis was employed in the

treatment of data.

Findings

After the data were gathered, analyzed, tabulated and statistically treated, the

researchers found the following:

1. Profile of the Respondents

1.1 Sex. Among the 300 respondents of the study, 120 or 40 percent were males while

180 or 60 percent were females.

1.2 College Institution. The total number of respondents consisted of 100 students or

33.33 percent from each of the 3 selected college institutions located in Batangas City

namely, Batangas State University, Lyceum of the Philippines University-Batangas,

and the University of Batangas.

1.3 Social Media Sites Used. Among the 300 respondents of the study, 288 or 96

percent used Facebook, 250 or 83.33 percent used YouTube, 248 or 82.66 percent

used Instagram, 212 or 70.66 percent used TikTok, and 207 or 69 percent used

Twitter.

2. Extent of Social Media Political Exposure of the Respondents

2.1 Intentional Exposure. The study revealed that the respondents have a moderate

extent of social media political exposure via intentional mode. Among the listed

indicators, reading political news obtained the highest mean while the use of the chat

function for political inquiries attained the lowest.

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 2.2 Incidental Exposure. It was found that the respondents have a moderate extent of

social media political exposure via incidental mode. Shared politically related posts

obtained the highest mean among the listed indicators while incidental exposure to

political information from non-political online groups or group chats attained the lowest.

3. Extent of Political Participation of the Respondents

3.1 High-Effort Political Participation. The research revealed that the respondents

have a moderate extent of high-effort political participation. With a considerable margin

in other high-effort political participation, voting in the elections gained the highest

mean among the listed indicators while joining collective actions for a political cause

attained the lowest.

3.2 Low-Effort Political Participation. Data from the study found that the

respondents have a moderate extent of low-effort political participation. Engaging in

political discussion gained the highest mean while wearing, consuming, and/or using

things with political themes or symbols attained the lowest with a substantial gap

among the indicators in the category of low-effort political participation.

4. Significant Difference in the Assessment of the Respondents When Grouped

According to their Profile

4.1 Sex. According to the computed data, the male and female respondents of the

study have a statistically significant difference in assessing their social media political

exposure and political participation.

4.2 College Institution. There was no significant difference in the assessment of the

respondents when grouped according to college institution based on the data.

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 4.3 Social Media Sites Used. It was found that there was no significant difference in

the assessment of the respondents when grouped according to social media sites

used.

5. Significant Relationship between Social Media Political Exposure and Political

Participation of the Respondents

5.1 Intentional Exposure and Political Participation. The computed p-values

showed that intentional social media political exposure has a significant relationship

with both high-effort and low-effort political participation.

5.2 Incidental Exposure and Political Participation. As revealed by the computed

p-values, incidental social media political exposure has a significant relationship with

both high-effort and low-effort political participation.

Conclusions

Based on the results of the study, the following conclusions were drawn by the

researchers:

1. As to the total number of respondents in the study, there were more females than males.

They consisted of 100 students from each of the 3 selected college institutions which

include Batangas State University, Lyceum of the Philippines University-Batangas, and the

University of Batangas. Facebook was the most used social media site by the respondents

followed by YouTube, Instagram, TikTok, and Twitter.

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2. The respondents have a moderate extent of social media political exposure in terms of

intentional and incidental exposure in general, but they exhibit a lower extent of exposure

to political information through the use of chat function and from non-political online

groups or group chats.

3. The respondents have a moderate extent of political participation in terms of high-effort

and low-effort political participation overall, but they manifest a lower extent of participation

in collective actions for a political cause and wearing clothing, consuming products, or

using things with political themes or symbols.

4. There was a significant difference in respondents’ assessment of their social media

political exposure and political participation in terms of sex. On the other hand, it was the

opposite in terms of college institution and social media sites used.

5. Both intentional and incidental social media exposure have a significant relationship with

high-effort and low-effort political participation.

6. An infographic enhancing students’ extent of participation in collective actions for a

political cause and wearing clothing, consuming products, or using things with political

themes or symbols was created to be posted on social media.

Recommendations

The following recommendations are hereby given:

1. The researchers recommend that the infographic made for this study be shared or posted

by the official social media accounts of student organizations or college institutions in

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 Batangas City, especially on Facebook to further enhance the extent of political

participation of the students.

2. The college institutions in Batangas City are encouraged to conduct seminars or webinars

about social media and political participation in order to enhance students’ understanding

of the topic, especially in the current political climate of the country.

3. Since one of the limitations of this study is the number of respondents, a similar study with

a larger sample size which includes other college institutions not covered in this study can

be done for further evaluation of the relationship between social media political exposure

and political participation.

4. The researchers further recommend that a follow-up study be conducted in a non-election

year and post-pandemic setting to determine their effects on social media political

exposure and political participation.

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