Preferred Reporting Items for A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis (Prisma): The Relationship between Social Media Use and Political Participation Behavior

Abstract

This systematic literature review describes the importance of social media for political participation. The widespread use of social media at the social level in China has promoted extensive academic research on this media. This study makes a systematic analysis of the existing research on the use of social media for political participation by Chinese youth (for college students). The goal of the current study is to evaluate and compare the existing research on political participation on social media. The first aspect of the study involved a search of the literature to determine the depth of study on social media and political participation. The second aspect of literature concentrated on categorizing works that discuss how social media has affected political engagement. How much of the research on social media has been devoted to studying political participation? How many of these research were conducted with Chinese college students as a focus? How many of these studies are conducted from China’s perspective? Understanding the true views of college students on political participation and observing their political participation behaviors can better open political communication channels between the government and youth groups, establish a demand response feedback mechanism between youth and the government, improve youth political literacy, promote youth political socialization, and promote the development of socialist democracy in China.