US Presidential Election On Social Network Sites

Social Network Sites Facebook like Twitter and MySpace carry such tremendous weight and influence over the electorate that both Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump use social media to their advantages.The current study,under the framework of the Uses and Gratifications Theory,investigates what motivates users to become fans of the 2016 US presidential candidates,visit their profiles and try to engage with them on SNSs.Especially,it seeks to explore the possible connection between the factored motivations and the users’ political attitudes.Most importantly,this research ventures into the political realm exists on these sites by shedding lights on the possible predictors of campaign participation both online and offline.The study is conducted using a survey with more than 220 American respondents involved.A principal component factor analysis with varimax rotation is first conducted to identify the dimensions of gratifications users attempts to seek through interacting with candidates on SNSs.Afterwards,a canonical correlation is performed to examine the relationship between these motivations or gratifications and the political attitudes,measured by three elements—political efficacy,political cynicism,and campaign interest.Lastly,multiple hierarchical regression analyses are conducted to investigate to what extent will the motivations predict online campaign involvement and real-life participation.To conclude,this study finds out that among the four factored motivations,the motive of interaction is the mostly pursued.Users tend to consider the SNS as a realm to exchange ideas and discuss issues with like-minded peers and are comfortable staying in the virtual peer community where their political views are reinforced.Social media also facilitate the forming of the echo chamber effect prevalent in the cyber space.The study reveals that the political attitudes,political self-efficacy in particular,associate more strongly with instrumental motives than habitual needs like entertainment or killing time.It’s worth noting that among the four motives,only political involvement need significantly predicts both online and offline campaign participation while the social utility motivation is predictive of online engagement only.It seems that the Internet and the SNSs better serve those original activists who are politically interested and knowledgeable and most of all desire to donate,volunteer and vote.Befriending candidates simply to gratify the need of getting information or establishing connections with like-minded peers on SNSs is less likely to boost political mobilization.Candidates and political activists have a lot more to do to enhance the direct communication with users in whatever way possible.While the uses and gratifications approach has been applied regularly to traditional media,research explaining why people use social media networks politically and the influence it may have on the real-world campaign participation is scarce at best.This thesis provides a comprehensive overview of the uses and gratifications theory as well as its applicability in the recent 2016 election on social network.The findings of the study also offer implications for strategic campaigning and political mobilization.