Norwegian
Ungdommens politiske bruk av sosiale medier
This report analyzes the extent to which social media constitute a channel and arena for youths’ political information and engagement. Based on a Web-survey among 5000 persons who use social media at least twice a week (so called social media users) where young users are over-sampled in order to obtain 1000 young respondents, the political and civic use of social media is analyzed with a specific focus on Facebook,Twitter, and Blogs.
Youths (16 to 26 years old) are big users of social media and especially of Facebook. Facebook and other social networking platforms are important arena for the exercise of citizenship through political mobilization and participation in political actions and debates. Yet, political participation through social media is reserved the few. About half young social media users are politically inactive online, whereas about 10 percent are very active. The level of political engagement through social media increases with the level of political interest.
Online political engagement does not crowd-out offline political engagement. Youths who are politically active online are also politically active offline. The youths who display high levels of online political activity are the same who display high levels of political interest.
Social media and particularly Facebook appear to constitute an important channel for youths’ political mobilization, for the coordination of political actions and demonstrations, and for political participation, especially for those who are already politically interested and engaged.