Learning Politics From Social Media: Interconnection of Social Media Use for Political News and Political Issue and Process Knowledge

Abstract

Drawing on a national survey of 1,157 South Korean adults, the present study finds that social media use for political news is positively associated with knowledge about political issues, but not with knowledge about political processes. Professional media use for political news is significantly associated with both political issue knowledge and political process knowledge. The impact of social media for news on political issue knowledge increases with the additive role of professional media news use. This study also finds that political talk strengthens the positive association between social media use for news and political issue knowledge.

Keywords:

• Political Issue Knowledge
• Political Process Knowledge
• Political Talk
• Professional News Media
• Social Media Use for News

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

1. In South Korea, civics courses are required in the middle school but are not mandatory in the high school or college. Thus, this study measured civic education by asking the number of civics courses taken in the high school and college.