Social Media is Slowly Changing the Demographics of Political Engagement
Traditionally, political participation has always been highly correlated with income and education. According to a new report (PDF), this is still holds true for those who participate in political activities online. According to the Pew Internet & American Life Project, online users with a higher income are still far more likely to participate in political activities online than those with lower incomes. At the same time, though, the Pew study also sees some hints that new forms of civic engagement through social media services could soon change this pattern.
According to this report, 31% of all users on social networking sites engage in some activity "with a civic or political focus." Pew defines this category very broadly, though, and includes relatively simple activities like 'friending' a political candidate as an "activity with political focus." In total, about 10% of all internet users have used social networks for this kind of political activity.
A far more interesting statistic is that 15% of all Internet users have left comments on websites about political or social issues, or posted images or written blog posts related to politics or social issues. What is even more interesting, though not surprising, is that young adults between 18 and 29 are far more likely to use social networks as a venue for political and civic engagement than older users. These younger users who engage in political activity online are also far more likely to participate in politics offline.
Social Media Might Level the Playing Field
Social media is mostly the domain of younger Internet users and while young adults (18-24) are, as a group, less interested in political activities online, they are far more likely than any other group to use blogs and social networking sites to engage in political discussions. About 34% of young adults make political use of social networking sites and 34% post political material on the Internet.
Users under 35 represent 72% of those users who make political use of social networks. In addition, the income and education gap for those who engage in political activities on social networks is far less pronounced when compared to those who use other forums.
Will These Trends Continue?
What will be interesting to watch, the Pew study points out, is how these younger users will use these existing networks as they get older. It will also be interesting to see if these developments will mean that socio-economic status will become less of an indicator of civic engagement, or if these new technologies will create new barriers of entry for those with a lower income and education level.
Given that the US just experienced a highly contested election cycle and is in the middle of a heated debate about health care right now, we have to wonder, though, if these numbers will continue to hold true over the next few years or if they were just a blip on the radar.
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thank you for showing the charts. read the brief AP write up a few minutes ago and was somewhat confused and underwhelmed. this post provides a more fulsome context.
Good article but why do writers and websites keep spreading a totally incorrect myth around the demographics of social media just like video games?
Quote from the article - 'Social media is mostly the domain of younger Internet users and while young adults (18-24) are...'
Facebook and Twitter is now dominated by the 25-44 year old age group with a heavy skew on the 35-44 year old group. MySpace is dominated by 12-24 year olds and LinkedIn is dominated by 26-35 year olds.
The statistics, all publicly available speak for themselves.
Todays young adults (18-24) are the first wave of voter groups that was brought up with social media and social network communities as a every day commodity. As we at relenet social networks have also experienced what is stated by Martin Walsh, more and more older age groups are actively using social media and social network communities. In the future therefore any politician running for an office will inevitably have to offer a social network community or some form of social media interaction online.
Lower income and education level will play a less important role in the future as social networks allow everybody to contribute from wherever they are. The only factor preventing this is simple lack of interest. But as this disinterest is also caused partly through the feeling people have that they can't contribute and can't be heard this factor will lessen during the next years. With social media every voice can be made heard.
@Martin
With social network communities beginning to being dominated by older age groups the predicted trend will show itself even sooner.
Thanks for covering this study, it’s really encouraging to see this level of civic involvement. Nonprofit and advocacy organizations have enormous potential to leverage the power of social media to generate awareness and interest and, more importantly, to engage new supporters, volunteers and donors. I always talk about this with the nonprofits I advise, but it’s great to have an organization like Pew weigh in on the subject. I’ve posted more thoughts on this at http://lajump.cloudprofile.com.
Information technology could be improvised for this purpose so swiftly is a sign of the times. It reveals in Iran what the Obama campaign revealed in the United States. You cannot stop people any longer. You cannot control them any longer. They can bypass your established media; they can broadcast to one another; they can organize as never before.
It bears noting that our very concept of democracy is at its heart a grass roots, social movement, "by the people, for the people". To my mind it then naturally follows that social media would become a tool for political expression by the people.
Senator Bernie Sanders is already beginning to tap into this with his own site, sandersunfiltered.com. Social media integration is paramount to his site, and visitors are encouraged to submit their own political views (as video). This is but one example of a growing movement as people increasingly use social media in the pursuit of "the cause".
As the younger demographic ages, they will be comfortable with the medium in ways that us older folks will never be. Just as Clinton was comfortable with television in ways that his elders could never be, so will our children be with the internet and social media. We (the older set) still have to think about the technologies we are using. To the kids (sic) it will be second nature, allowing them to expand on, and use the medium to better effect than their parents.
Cheers, Marc
That's the cause of progress of sociality.
If this is interesting to you, then check out www.freedomspeaks.com - we've aggregated the largest elected official database in the US, and have opened it up with our APIs. It's time to wake up the neighborhood! C'mon!