Selective Exposure and Political Polarization of Public Opinion on the Presidential Impeachment in South Korea : Facebook vs. KakaoTalk

Abstract

Many previous studies have proven that social media is more likely to promote selective exposure in the acquisition of political information and to escalate political polarization than is older media. However, this study argues that the impact of social media on selective exposure and political polarization occurs differently according to the characteristics of their platforms. To prove this argument, we firstly compared old and social media in terms of their impact on selective exposure. Secondly, we compared the two different types of social media, Facebook and KakaoTalk, to examine their influences on selective exposure and the political polarization of public opinion during the presidential impeachment in South Korea. As a result, we observed that people using social media were more selective in choosing news sources than those using television. We also found that users of KakaoTalk were more selective in acquiring political information on the presidential impeachment than were Facebook users, and the same consequences appeared in political polarization. Therefore, we determined that the political and social influence of social media varies according to its platform characteristics.