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Social Media and Political Involvement among UNC Students
Kelley E. SousaNazneen K. AhmedCourtney L. VanDyneWill A. CrumLauren A. Houston

Introduction
Overall Intention Through our research project, we intend to shed some light on how young voters are engaging in politics and to determine how influential a role social media plays in elections. Demographic of young votersAnalyze their use of new media and how it correlates to their involvement in politics

Literature Review
Demographics of surveyed students engaged in politics:Young womenCollege educationWhere students get political news:Internet & social media sitesWhat generally influences students to become politically involved:Sense of civic responsibilitySocial issues

Methodology
Online SurveyPopulation UNC-Chapel Hill UndergradsSampling Technique Convenience SamplingQuestionsPolitical InvolvementSocial Media UsageVoting Ethos

General Research Questions

RQ1
How much political information do UNC-Chapel Hill undergraduates receive through social media?

RQ2
How do students use social media to engage in political discussion?FacebookA place for friendsNOT a place for political discussion and news2/3 of respondents do not list their political affiliation4/5 of respondents rarely or never engage in political discussion on Facebook

RQ2

RQ2
TwitterStudents follow the news but are less inclined to follow politicians. of Twitter users follow at least 1 news sourceLess than of the respondents follow a single politician

RQ2

RQ3
To what extent does the political information that students receive through social media influence their support of political candidates and participation in elections?

RQ3
Twitter is a place for news, but not necessarily for political rhetoric.

of the respondents rarely/never tweet on trending political topics

An overwhelming majority of students do NOT use these platforms to be politically vocal.

Chart1

0.750.130.12

Disagree

Neutral

Agree

Tweet on Trending Political Topics

Sheet1

DisagreeNeutralAgree

75%13%12%

To resize chart data range, drag lower right corner of range.

RQ3
2008 VotingOut of 36 respondents who voted in 2008, 24 voted for a politician who they did NOT follow on any social media

Conclusions
Although Millennials use social media to receive news, they do not necessarily use these mediums to actively participate in conjunction with political figures themselves.

Conclusions
What does this mean?Young adults are more likely to follow news sources such as CNN, Fox News, or ABC rather than following politicians themselves. Its the media, not the figures.

Recommendations (for those scheming politician types)
1. Being on social platforms can possibly be an effective campaign component, but it is not key to success

Recommendations
2. Millennials dont want their social platforms (especially Facebook) made into a political battlefield so dont try

Recommendations
3. Like any ideal voter, (most) Millenials dont vote because of gimmicks or ploys they vote on issues. The real key to appealing to young voters is identifying with their beliefs on current issues and expressing that clearly (on any/all platforms).

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FacebookA place for friendsNOT a place for political discussion and news2/3 of respondents do not list their political affiliation4/5 of respondents rarely or never engage in political discussion on Facebook
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