Political Advertising on Social Media in the 2012 Presidential Election

Abstract

This study explores the perceived effects of political ads that appeared on social media in the 2012 presidential campaign from a third-person effect perspective. Results of a survey using a probability sample of 496 college students indicated that the respondents tend to believe that political ads on social media have a greater influence on others than on themselves. However, the more desirable they viewed such ads, the more they admitted the ads to having influenced themselves. Finally, third-person perception of political ads on social media was found to be a positive predictor of engagement in promotional social media behavior after the influences of demographics, social media use, and political attitudes were taken into consideration.