Social Media and Voter Turnout: Evidence from Taiwan

• In Event: Social Media, Big Data Analysis, and Electoral Politics in Taiwan

Abstract

Social media has played a significant role in our daily lives and allowed people to keep in touch with and communicate with their friends. More importantly, social media has made the dissemination of information more quickly and easily. It is observed that more and more candidates have employed social media for political campaigns, whereas more and more people have relied on social media for political news and information. This study aims to examine the effect of social media on voter turnout. Because social media provides a platform for campaign mobilization, , we expect that people who use social media more frequently are more likely to be mobilized by candidates and turn out to vote. Using an original panel data set for the 2018 Taipei mayoral election in Taiwan, this study evaluates how five different types of social media – Facebook, LINE, YouTube, Instagram and PTT (the largest terminal-based bulletin board system (BBS) in Taiwan) – influence individual voter participation. As expected, we confirm that people with frequent use of Facebook and PTT are more likely to vote, whereas the use of YouTube decreases voter turnout. However, we find that LINE and Instagram have no influence on voter turnout. This study represents one of few efforts to assess the influence of social media on individual political behavior in Asia and provides evidence that social media matters for voter participation even after controlling for conventional factors related to voter turnout. Given the growing importance of social media people’s everyday lives, political parties and civic groups should think about how to make good use of social media to encourage people to vote.

Authors

• Chia-hung Tsai, National Chengchi University

• Ching-Hsing Wang, National Cheng Kung University