Social Media and Political Participation Among British Youth

Abstract

Scholars have long debated on youth political disengagement; its causesand its solutions. Recent research (Gibson and Cantijoch 2013; Loader etal. 2014; Xenos et al. 2014) has suggested that social media has becomea space where new forms of participation have been established. Theseforms of participation are distinct and disassociated from traditionalparticipatory acts and institutions, proving to be more favourable amongyoung people. While current research has addressed social media’sinfluence in facilitating new forms of participation, what has yet to beestablished is whether participating in these forms encourages youngpeople to participate in traditional manners, such as voting. The aim ofthis study, therefore, was to explore whether political experiences onsocial media has encouraged young people to participate in traditionalmanners. This study presents the findings of a thematic analysis of eightsemi-structured interviews, conducted with university students. Theresults of the study show that having a prior interest in and knowledge ofpolitics is the key determinant in whether young people partake intraditional participatory acts. This research highlights that social mediacannot encourage further participation for those who feel disconnectedand uninterested in politics and political issues, and that negative featuresof social media, such as the ‘fear of aggression’, pose as seriousboundaries for young people when wanting to participate.