Social Media Effects on Political Participation

Dear Colleagues,

Democracies require robust and uninhibited participation from the public. The ubiquity of new media technology and smartphones has transformed the way citizens can communicate with each other. Social media’s (SM) affordances (capabilities/abilities/ features) allow Social Network Sites (SNSs) to function either like a personal chat room (via direct messaging) or a public newsroom (with one-to-many transmission of information). Features such as forwarding, sharing, and using quote tweets (posts) to add personal opinions to tweets, whether or not one agrees with the content, have empowered citizens to voice their opinions publicly.

SNSs empower the public to directly interact with policymakers and potentially influence public policies. Changes in political participation are also reflected in the rise of social media users and citizen journalism. Interactive sites such as Change.org have facilitated public participation in appeals and suggestions to shape government responses to citizen concerns. However, extensive use of social media has also given rise to new debates, as well as revived some old debates, e.g., if everyone is talking, is anyone listening? Does more communication mean a better-functioning democracy? Does the use of SM lead to extreme polarization of voters? How does SM use affect voter turnout, the formation of new political groups, fundraising, and new alliances? Since the use of SM requires an investment in a device and the internet, does it exclude a large section of people who cannot afford it or engage in the primary language used on SM, i.e., English?

These and similar questions will be discussed from an international and interdisciplinary perspective within this Special Issue. By inviting scholars from different national and cultural backgrounds, this we hope to map/broaden the view on how SM has influenced political participation.

Submissions from all fields of communication studies and from related disciplines like sociology, cultural studies, ethics, economics, political science, law, etc., are welcome. Topics of interest may include, but are not limited to, the following:

• How does SM use influence citizen participation, both in the context of democratic and non-democratic countries?;
• Twitter to X: Political economy of social media;
• SM’s affordances as a boon and a bane for political participation;
• Anonymity on social media and its impact on political participation;
• Political polarization in the age of SM;
• Hate speech, canceling, doxxing, and other negative phenomena associated with political affiliation;
• Opposition research (collecting information on a political/ideological opponent to discredit/cancel them) in the age of social media;
• Citizen journalism and its relationship to legacy media;
• Ease of spreading disinformation on SM and trust in legacy media;
• Libel, disinformation, and anonymity on social media.

Dr. Charu Uppal
Prof. Dr. Vamsee Juluri
Prof. Dr. Ramesh Rao
Guest Editors

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• social media
• social network sites
• political participation
• citizen journalism
• legacy media and trust
• libel and disinformation
• citizen empowerment
• anonymity on SM