The Social Network : How Friends’ Online Behavior and Belongingness Needs Influence Political Activity
Bäck, Hanna LU
; Renström, Emma A.
LU
and Sivén, David
LU
(2021)
In Policy and Internet
13(2).
p.209-232
- Abstract
Are people more likely to become more politically active through social media when they observe that their friends are active? Previous research has shown that an individual's likelihood of engaging politically is influenced by observations of how friends act through social media, but relatively little is known about how such social influence through social media interacts with personality features. We argue that individuals with high belongingness needs will engage in political activity if they believe that this is expected from the social groups they belong to. To evaluate this hypothesis, a survey experiment was designed (n = 289) in Qualtrics. We had two experimental conditions (friends or extended network) in which we informed... (More)
Are people more likely to become more politically active through social media when they observe that their friends are active? Previous research has shown that an individual's likelihood of engaging politically is influenced by observations of how friends act through social media, but relatively little is known about how such social influence through social media interacts with personality features. We argue that individuals with high belongingness needs will engage in political activity if they believe that this is expected from the social groups they belong to. To evaluate this hypothesis, a survey experiment was designed (n = 289) in Qualtrics. We had two experimental conditions (friends or extended network) in which we informed participants that the most shared or “liked” online material among their friends or extended network on Facebook was a specific petition. In a control condition, they were informed that they were shown a random petition. To increase the credibility of the manipulation, we asked participants to log into a fictive app that supposedly downloaded their Facebook data. We show that individuals are more likely to engage politically if they observe that their friends have been politically active on Facebook, but only if they have high belongingness needs.
(Less)
- author
- Bäck, Hanna
LU
; Renström, Emma A.
LU
and Sivén, David
LU
- organization
- publishing date
- 2021-06-01
- type
- Contribution to journal
- publication status
- published
- subject
- keywords
- belongingness needs, experiments, Facebook, need to belong, political activity, social influence, social media
- in
- Policy and Internet
- volume
- 13
- issue
- 2
- pages
- 24 pages
- publisher
- Berkeley Electronic Press
- external identifiers
-
- scopus:85083977074
- ISSN
- 1944-2866
- DOI
- 10.1002/poi3.240
- language
- English
- LU publication?
- yes
- id
- fb403a53-ee0e-4daf-bf95-4ab338e47942
- date added to LUP
- 2020-05-28 13:08:55
- date last changed
- 2024-02-16 16:05:01
@article{fb403a53-ee0e-4daf-bf95-4ab338e47942,
abstract = {{<p>Are people more likely to become more politically active through social media when they observe that their friends are active? Previous research has shown that an individual's likelihood of engaging politically is influenced by observations of how friends act through social media, but relatively little is known about how such social influence through social media interacts with personality features. We argue that individuals with high belongingness needs will engage in political activity if they believe that this is expected from the social groups they belong to. To evaluate this hypothesis, a survey experiment was designed (n = 289) in Qualtrics. We had two experimental conditions (friends or extended network) in which we informed participants that the most shared or “liked” online material among their friends or extended network on Facebook was a specific petition. In a control condition, they were informed that they were shown a random petition. To increase the credibility of the manipulation, we asked participants to log into a fictive app that supposedly downloaded their Facebook data. We show that individuals are more likely to engage politically if they observe that their friends have been politically active on Facebook, but only if they have high belongingness needs.</p>}},
author = {{Bäck, Hanna and Renström, Emma A. and Sivén, David}},
issn = {{1944-2866}},
keywords = {{belongingness needs; experiments; Facebook; need to belong; political activity; social influence; social media}},
language = {{eng}},
month = {{06}},
number = {{2}},
pages = {{209--232}},
publisher = {{Berkeley Electronic Press}},
series = {{Policy and Internet}},
title = {{The Social Network : How Friends’ Online Behavior and Belongingness Needs Influence Political Activity}},
url = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/poi3.240}},
doi = {{10.1002/poi3.240}},
volume = {{13}},
year = {{2021}},
}