THE IMPACT OF SOCIAL MEDIA ON YOUTH POLITICAL PARTICIPATION AND VOTER TURNOUT

Abstract

The emergence of social media has essentially changed how political discourse and civic participation works, especially among the younger generation. This scholarly article analyzes the dual influence of the social media on the youth in voting, more precisely on the turnout in elections. As the digital platforms are hailed as reducing the costs of accessing information and the influence of political awareness, the ability of the platform to transform online interaction into real political response and outcomes, including political voting, is debatable. The present study is based on a quantitative survey design, which will be used to conduct research on the correlation between social media usage patterns with the pattern of political knowledge acquisition and the reported voter behavior among a sample of university students. The correlation analysis shows that there is a strong positive relationship between political awareness and use of social media. Nevertheless, the results show that there is a low and, in most cases, negative connection between intensive social media use and real voter turnout. The study finds out that even though social media is a central platform of discursive political participation and opinion making among the youth, it is an addition to and not a replacement of the conventional political mobilization platforms in influencing electoral participation. The propensity of the platform to create discontinuous, homophonous networks and exposure to fake news can unintentionally create a cynical attitude to politics or a feeling of passive involvement, which will eventually reduce turnout.