SocialMediaandCitizenEngagementinAsia:AComparativeSurvey

CeDEMAsia2016Daegu,SouthKorea,December8th,2016

Introduction• Needtounderstandthepa.ernsofpoli2calengagementinthedigitalera•  Focuson(Confucian)Asia•  Similarsurveys:WorldValuesSurvey,AsiaBarometer•  Examiningtheroleofcultureandpoli2calins2tu2ons

•  Topics•  Typesofuseandengagement•  Exposuretodisagreement/selec2veavoidance•  Racismandhatespeech•  Knowledgegaps•  Videogamingandengagement

Method• Compara2vesurvey•  Commongroupsofques2onsacrosssocie2es•  +country/topicspecificques2ons•  50+ques2ongroups

•  Onlinepanels,2015-2017•  Vendor:YouGov,HK/SGoffice•  Approx.costpercountryUS$10,000-15,000•  FirstsurveyconductedinSingaporeinSept2015

Countries/territories

• China(tobecompleted)• HongKong•  Japan•  Singapore•  SouthKorea•  Taiwan

CitizenEngagementinConfucianAsia

• China,HongKong,Singapore,SouthKorea,andTaiwansharemanycultural,linguis2c,andhistoricaltraits•  S2ll,theyhavevastlydifferentpoli2calsystems,rangingfromauthoritariantoliberal-democra2c,whichshapestheimpactofsocialmediauseonpoli2callife• Highlywiredsocie2es–risingimportanceofsocialmediainsocialandpoli2callife•  Increasingpoli2calpolariza2on

Projectleaders•  MuneoKaigo,UniversityofTsukuba•  TetsuroKobayashi,CityUniversityofHongKong•  NojinKwan,UniversityofMichigan•  TammyLin,Na2onalChengchiUniversity•  NataliePang,NanyangTechnologicalUniversity•  MarkoSkoric,CityUniversityofHongKong•  BauhuaZhou,FudanUniversity

PoliticalExpressionandExposuretoDisagreementonSocialMedia:WhataretheImplications?

MarkoM.Skoric&QinfengZhuDepartmentofMediaandCommunica2onCityUniversityofHongKong,HongKongS.A.R.,China

•  Socialmediapromoteexpansionofhumansocialnetworks•  Facebookasanetworkcenteredaroundan“ego”•  Only4-5degreesofsepara2onamongallFBusers•  Dunbar’snumber(150)vs.#Facebookfriends(200-300)•  Thegainispredominantlyinthedomainofweakandlatent2es

•  WhatsApp,Line,KakaoTalk&WeChattakepeoplebacktotheir“psychologicalneighborhoods”

SocialMediaandHumanNetworks

•  Expansionofhumansocialnetworksbringsmoreinforma2onsources• Greateraccesstopublicaffairsinforma2on•  InformaDonàExpressionàTalkàParDcipaDon?•  Moreinforma2onàgreaterneedforfact-checking,cura2on,andfiltering

•  Intelligentagents/socialalgorithmorhuman/manual

SocialMedia&PoliticalInformation

SocialMediaUseandEngagement(Pearson’srcorrelations)

Skoric,M.M.,Zhu,Q.,Goh,D.,&Pang,N.(2016).Socialmedia&ci2zenengagement:Ameta-analy2creview.NewMedia&Society.

0

0.05

0.1

0.15

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0.25

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0.35

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0.45

Informa2onaluse

Expressiveuse Rela2onaluse Iden2tyuse Entertainmentuse

•  Poli2calexpressiononsocialmediaisoneofthepossiblepathstoinadvertentexposuretopoli2caldifferences(Brundidge,2010)•  Poli2calexpressiononsocialmediaisopenmeantforaspecificaudience(Papacharissi,2012)•  Therefore,itcouldleadtodisagreementwhenthemessage(s)reachtheunintendedaudiences

•  Socialnetworksitesusehasadirecteffectonexposuretocross-cuqngperspec2ves(Kim,2011)•  Impressionmo2va2onscanmakeindividualsmorerecep2vetowardscross-cuqngviews(Winter,Metzger,&Flanagin,2016)

PoliticalExpressiononSocialMediaandExposuretoDisagreement

•  Homogeneousenvironmentsareidealforencouragingpoli2calpar2cipa2on(i.e.vo2ng)byreinforcingopinionsandpromo2ngrecogni2onofcommonproblems•  Exposuretopoli2caldifferencedepressesvo2ngbecauseofincreasedsocialcostsandpoli2calambivalence(Mutz,2002)

•  Exposuretocountervailingviewshasanega2veimpactonthelikelihoodofvo2ngbutencouragesotherformsofpar2cipa2on•  e.g.,voluntaryac2vi2esandfutureinvolvementineitherpoli2calac2vismorpartypoli2cs(Paqe&Johnston,2009)

•  Exposuretocross-cuqngonlinenetworksmayyielddifferentimpact,dependingontheformsofpar2cipa2on•  Par2san-relatedac2vi2esvs.community-relatedengagement

ExposuretoPoliticalDisagreementandCitizenEngagement

ExposuretoIdeologicallyDiverseInformationandOpinionsonFacebook(USusers;Bakshyetal.,2015)

Unfriending&UnfollowinginIsrael

John,N.&DvirGvirsman,S.(2015)Idon'tlikeyouanymore:Poli>calunfriendingonFacebook.JournalofCommunica>on.

PoliticalParticipationandSelectiveAvoidanceinSingaporeandHongKong

SelectiveAvoidanceandProtestAttendance(HongKongOccupyCentral2014;studentsurvey)

Yes NoDidn’ta.end

9.5% 90.5%

Lowa.endance

8.5% 91.5%

Higha.endance

17.7%* 82.3% Yes NoDidn’ta.end

5.6% 94.4%

Lowa.endance

5.1% 94.9%

Higha.endance

18.2%* 81.8%

UnfriendingonFacebook

HidingFacebookposts

SelectiveAvoidanceandPoliticalParticipationduringtheElections(Singapore2015)

Duringtherecentelec2on,haveyoueverunfriendedorunfollowedsomeoneonSNS(Facebook,Twi.er,Instagram)?

Yes No

10.3% 89.7%

Rallya.endanceYes 15.7% 84.3%

No 8.3% 91.7%

Boughtcampaignproducts

Yes 31.5% 68.5%

No 8.6% 91.4%

Topreasons:① Publishedoffensive

posts② PublishedcontentI

disagreedwith③ Postedtoomuch④ Publishedpoststhat

couldoffendmyfriends

Currentstudy,HongKong2016

ResearchQuestions① Isexposuretodisagreementlinkedwiththe

greaterlikelihoodofunfollowingandunfriending?

② Ispersuasiononsocialmedialinkedwiththegreaterlikelihoodofunfollowingandunfriending?

③ Isimpressionmanagementonsocialmedialinkedwiththegreaterlikelihoodofunfollowingandunfriending?

Method• OnlinesurveyconductedinFeb2016• HongKongResidents18-65•  1500respondents•  97%socialnetworksiteusers

Results•  Peoplewhoreportedtohaveunfriendedorunfollowedsomeoneencounteredmoredisagreementonsocialmedia(M1=3.38,M2=2.83,t(df)=-3.96(1289),p<.001)

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Unfriended/unfollowed Others

Results2•  Peoplewhoreportedtohaveunfriendedorunfollowedalsohadmoreconversa2onwithothersholdingsimilarviews(M1=3.69,M2=3.01,t(df)=-4.68(1289),p<.001).

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Unfriended/unfollowed Others

Results3•  PeoplewhoreportedtohaveunfriendedorunfollowedsomeonearemorelikelytouseSNSsforimpressionmanagement(presen2ngandcensoringoneselfonFacebookinordertogainsocialapproval)(M1=4.39M2=3.97,t(df)=-3.77(1289),p<.001).

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Unfriended/unfollowed Others

Results4•  Peoplewhoreportedtohaveunfriendedorunfollowedsomeonearealsomorelikelytousesocialmediatopersuadeorinfluenceothers(M1=3.85,M2=3.21,t(df)=-4.71(1289),p<.001).

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Unfriended/unfollowed Others

Discussion

•  Expressive,informa2onandrela2onalusesofsocialmediaarethemostsignificantpredictorsofpoli2calandcivicac2on•  Expressionanddiscussionmayleadtodisagreement•  Mayleadtoselec2veavoidance(unfriendingandunfollowing)

•  Selec2veavoidancealsolinkedwithincreasedpoli2calpar2cipa2on•  Direc2onofcausality?

Discussion—continued• Differentstrategiesfordifferentaudiences?•  Peoplemaycaremoreaboutgainingafavorableimpressionfromsimilarothersthanfromdissimilarothers•  Impressionmanagementmorerelevantforin-groupbuildingandsenseofbelonging

•  But,peoplearealsomorelikelytobedrivenbypersuasionmo2va2onswheninterac2ngwithdisagreeingothers•  Unfollowing/unfriendingasaconsequenceoffailedpersuasiona.empts?

•  Exposuretodiverseviewsanddisagreementisgoodfordemocracyandengagementwithcommunity•  But,par2sanengagementandprotestpar2cipa2onneedopinionreinforcement,notconflictorambiguity•  “Fakenews”duringtheUSelec2ons

•  Somecontextsrequiremorehomophilicenvironments•  Socialmediapla�ormsmayincreasethelikelihoodofexposuretopoli2caldifferenceanddisagreement•  But,theyalsoenableeasyfilteringandremovalofcontent(andpeople)whenneeded

•  Howdoweensurethatci2zensareexposedtodiverseviews?•  Pressuringsocialmediacompanies?•  Providingmoreofflinepublicspacesforci2zeninterac2on?

Conclusion

Thankyou!