Abstract:
News use has been consistently and closely linked to an active citizenry. In the last decade, social media has rapidly emerged as a means for one to not just consume but reproduce and disseminate news-related content. This trend is particularly more prevalent among young adults. Accordingly, it is important to better understand what factors may influence different news-related activities on social media – or what this research refers to as social news use – and how this in turns affects citizen participation. The three research objectives of the present research are as follows: 1) to explore how media and individual factors affect millennials’ engagement in social news use, 2) to understand how civically or politically engaged millennials engage with social media as sources of news and information, and 3) to examine how social new use facilitates or inhibits citizen participation. To achieve the research objectives, a conceptual model was proposed on the basis of uses & gratifications theory, social presence theory, processes in self-presentation and information control, and the O-S-R-O-R model. In particular, the entire research is divided into two interrelated studies. In the first study, one-on-one survey data was collected in Singapore from eligible voters under the age of 36 years old and have had some prior experience with social news use. Hierarchical regression showed how each dimension of social news use was predicted by a varied pattern of motivations, information controls and social presence. Further, mediation analyses revealed that certain communicative and cognition factors (i.e. interpersonal discussion, efficacy, and news production) channel the effects of social news use on citizen participation. To complement the data collected in the first study, Study 2 relied on qualitative data derived from ii in-depth interviews with Singaporean millennial activists. The findings in this phase clarified some of the findings/relationships found in the earlier study (e.g. entertainment motivation and news participation) and elucidated current social news use practices beyond consumption. Moreover, the interview material also revealed some of the shortcomings of social news use, particularly with regards to citizen participation. Collectively, this research not only showed that social news use is a multi-dimensional activity driven by both individual and media factors, but also not all forms of news engagement are necessarily in equal in terms of deliberation and mobilizing effects. For researchers, the present research provides a theoretical framework advancing the understanding of the antecedents, characteristics, and outcomes of social news use. In addition, the project as a whole contributed to the current discourse on the effects of social news use by producing research out of a Western liberal-democratic context. For social media providers, practitioners in the media industry, and policy makers, the findings shed light on how to increase engagement on these platforms to suit their respective goals.