Mixed Media: Interactions of Social and Traditional Media in Political Decision Making

Abstract

A study was conducted to understand how social media and traditional news about political candidates might interact to influence potential voters' views. It was hypothesized that social media operates more on an affective level whereas traditional news operates more on a rational level. Subjects were exposed to Facebook posts and news articles about two candidates in a 2011 U.S. gubernatorial election. One group saw the social media material first and the news articles second. Another group saw the news articles first and the social media material second. Measures were taken of knowledge, affect, and influence on the voting decision. There were no differences in dependent measures after the first exposure, however on the second exposure subjects who saw news first and social media second became less hopeful about, more fearful of, and less likely to vote for one candidate while their liking of the other candidate increased. Social media had more of an impact on affect and likelihood of voting when read in the context of prior knowledge from news sources. Interviews revealed that important social media categories were Pictures, Community Discussion, Politician-Community Interaction, and Policy-Specific Information.