Social network sites and acquiring current affairs knowledge: The impact of Twitter and Facebook usage on learning about the news
Open accessAbstract
This study investigates how the use of Twitter and Facebook affects citizens’ knowledge acquisition, and whether this effect is conditional upon people’s political interest. Using a panel survey design with repeated measures of knowledge acquisition, this study is able to disentangle causality and to demonstrate that more frequent usage of Twitter positively affects the acquisition of current affairs knowledge. The opposite is found for Facebook: More frequent Facebook usage causes a decline in knowledge acquisition. This negative effect of Facebook usage occurred particularly for citizens with less political interest, thereby, amplifying the existing knowledge gap between politically interested and uninterested citizens.
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Politically interested individuals showed higher knowledge acquisition when engaging with Twitter, whereas the opposite effects emerged for engagement with Facebook.
“For example, politically interested individuals showed higher knowledge acquisition when engaging with Twitter, whereas the opposite effects emerged for engagement with Facebook113.”
From A systematic review of worldwide causal and correlational evidence on digital media and democracy (2022) · cites this paper as [113]
A range of articles found heterogeneity in effects for varying levels of political interest, political orientation and different characteristics of online content.
“In summary, a range of articles found heterogeneity in effects for varying levels of political interest67,113, political orientation63,69,70 and different characteristics of online content111.”
From A systematic review of worldwide causal and correlational evidence on digital media and democracy (2022) · cites this paper as [113]
Cites
The Nature and Origins of Mass Opinion
Zaller, J. R. (1992) · doi:10.1017/cbo9780511818691 · Cited by 7,785 · cited 2× · see citing works
“Although the early studies on the knowledge gap hypothesis used education to explain why different groups learned at a different rate from the media, political sophistication demonstrated to be a more influential determinant of how motivated and capable citizens are to learn from the media (Ettema & Kline, 1977; Luski…”
Hox, J., Moerbeek, M., & van de Schoot, R. (2010) · doi:10.4324/9780203852279 · Cited by 3,469 · see citing works
A tale of two sites: Twitter vs. Facebook and the personality predictors of social media usage
Hughes, D. J., Rowe, M., Batey, M., & Lee, A. (2012) · Computers in Human Behavior · doi:10.1016/j.chb.2011.11.001 · Cited by 1,011 · see citing works
Facebook as a toolkit: A uses and gratification approach to unbundling feature use
Smock, A. D., Ellison, N. B., Lampe, C., & Wohn, D. Y. (2011) · Computers in Human Behavior · doi:10.1016/j.chb.2011.07.011 · Cited by 948 · see citing works
Political News in the News Feed: Learning Politics from Social Media
Bode, L. (2016) · Mass Communication and Society · doi:10.1080/15205436.2015.1045149 · Cited by 545 · see citing works
Is Facebook Making Us Dumber? Exploring Social Media Use as a Predictor of Political Knowledge
Cacciatore, M. A., Yeo, S. K., Scheufele, D. A., Xenos, M. A., Brossard, D., & Corley, E. A. (2018) · Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly · doi:10.1177/1077699018770447 · Cited by 108 · see citing works
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A systematic review of worldwide causal and correlational evidence on digital media and democracy
Lorenz-Spreen, P., Oswald, L., Lewandowsky, S., & Hertwig, R. (2022) · Nature Human Behaviour · doi:10.1038/s41562-022-01460-1 · Cited by 348 · see citing works
- Authors
- Boukes, M.
- Affiliations
- University of Amsterdam (NL)
- Corresponding author
- Boukes, Mark
- ORCID
- Boukes, Mark
- Venue
- Journal of Information Technology & Politics
- Publisher
- Informa UK Limited
- Published
- 2019-01-02
- Volume
- 16
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 36-51
- ISSN
- 1933-1681 (ISSN-L)
- 1933-169X
- OpenAlex
- W2912757789
- Cited by
- 127
- References
- 6
- Citations by year
- 2026: 9 · 2025: 13 · 2024: 21 · 2023: 21 · 2022: 25 · 2021: 25 · 2020: 11 · 2019: 1 · 2018: 1
- FWCI
- 32.85
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- hybrid
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- Journal of Information Technology & Politics (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc-nd)
- UvA-DARE (University of Amsterdam) (submittedVersion, cc-by-nc-nd)
- Data Archiving and Networked Services (DANS) (submittedVersion, other-oa)
- Funders
- Nederlandse Organisatie voor Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek (016.145.369)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Communication › Social Media and Politics
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Media Influence and Politics
- Social Sciences › Communication › Media Studies and Communication
- Keywords
- social network sites, Twitter, Facebook, political interest, knowledge gaps, social media use
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