TY - JOUR

T1 - Political predispositions, not popularity

T2 - people’s propensity to interact with political context on Facebook

AU - Pedersen, Rasmus T.

AU - Anspach, Nicolas M.

AU - Hansen, Kasper M.

AU - Arceneaux, Kevin

N1 - Publisher Copyright: © 2021 Elections, Public Opinion & Parties.

PY - 2024

Y1 - 2024

N2 - Social media users are not just potential consumers of political content they are also potential producers and distributors. In this paper, we test whether political predispositions or the popularity of posts best explains users’ engagement with political content on Facebook. Using a large-scale survey deployed in Denmark, we utilize a 2 × 2 × 3 survey experiment that manipulates the partisan sponsor of a political message, the number of likes attributed to that message, and the nature of the comments attached to that post. Our findings indicate that individuals are most likely to like, comment, and share political content that aligns with their political predispositions, as the choice to like, share and comment political content on Facebook is largely unaffected by likes and comments from other users. Though we recognize the dangers of obstinacy in democratic discourse, we are somewhat assured by these findings, as it shows that those who engage with political content do not follow a blind herd mentality.

AB - Social media users are not just potential consumers of political content they are also potential producers and distributors. In this paper, we test whether political predispositions or the popularity of posts best explains users’ engagement with political content on Facebook. Using a large-scale survey deployed in Denmark, we utilize a 2 × 2 × 3 survey experiment that manipulates the partisan sponsor of a political message, the number of likes attributed to that message, and the nature of the comments attached to that post. Our findings indicate that individuals are most likely to like, comment, and share political content that aligns with their political predispositions, as the choice to like, share and comment political content on Facebook is largely unaffected by likes and comments from other users. Though we recognize the dangers of obstinacy in democratic discourse, we are somewhat assured by these findings, as it shows that those who engage with political content do not follow a blind herd mentality.

KW - experiments

KW - political attitudes

KW - Political news

KW - social media

U2 - 10.1080/17457289.2021.1952209

DO - 10.1080/17457289.2021.1952209

M3 - Journal article

AN - SCOPUS:85110876599

VL - 34

SP - 1

EP - 17

JO - Journal of Elections, Public Opinion, and Parties

JF - Journal of Elections, Public Opinion, and Parties

SN - 1745-7289

IS - 1

ER -