Socially, Mediated Democracy: Modeling the Effects of Social Media Use and Deliberative Behaviors on Voting

Abstract

Social media has become one of the most potent tools for political communication over the last decade. It has largely replaced or incorporated much of legacy media. This project looks at social media’s relationship with media consumption and deliberative democratic behaviors, looking to see if, in tandem, they create more democratic participation. Leaning heavily on older theories and research around legacy media’s effects on voting behavior, this project looks to see where we are today. Utilizing data from Pew Research Center collected just before the first primaries of the 2016 election, this study looks at both linear and mediated path interactions between social media and voting. Considering Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube, this project finds that each platform has a different relationship with reported voting behavior, largely tied to their antecedent’s relationship with prosocial behaviors.