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The increasing popularity of social network sites (SNSs) in election campaigns provides a unique climate for scholarly inquiry. The study reported here builds upon Zhang, Johnson, Seltzer, and Bichard and investigates the impact of different types of SNS use on voters’ attitudes and behavior during the 2012 U.S. presidential campaign. Sites such as Facebook, Google Plus, Twitter, and YouTube are included to offer a robust assessment of distinct relationships. A national online panel of Internet users was utilized to examine reliance on SNSs and the multiple consequences on political attitudes and behavior such as political participation, political interest, selective exposure, selective avoidance, and strength of party affiliation. The findings are evaluated for theoretical and practical implications on democratic governance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Social networking is a phenomenon of interest to many scholars. While most of the recent research on social networking sites has focused on user characteristics, very few studies have examined their roles in engaging people in the democratic process. This paper relies on a telephone survey of Southwest residents to examine the extent to which reliance on social networking sites such as Facebook, MySpace and YouTube has engaged citizens in civic and political activities. More specifically, this study looks at the extent to which social networking sites influence political attitudes and democratic participation after controlling for demographic variables and the role of interpersonal political discussion in stimulating citizen participation. The findings indicate that reliance on social networking sites is significantly related to increased civic participation, but not political participation. Interpersonal discussion fosters both civic participation and political activity. Implications of the results for democratic governance will be discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Previous studies of advocacy groups’ Web sites suggest that the use of dialogic strategies could lead to greater dialogic communication. This study examined whether dialogic strategies utilized by environmental advocacy groups via their social networking profiles lead to greater dialogic engagement between organizations and visitors. This study offers the first examination of the relationship between the creation of an online space for dialogue and actual dialogic engagement by identifying and measuring six dialogic outcomes. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]