Platforms for Politics: A Comparison of Six Social Media Platforms

• In Event: The Political Effects of Social Media

Abstract

Facebook was the most popular social media platform for a decade. Increasingly, though, people are turning away from Facebook or are supplementing their social media repertories with other platforms. Studies on social media use highlight the need to contextualize findings by platform specificities or affordances. Each platform differs in “digital architectures: the technical protocols that enable, constrain, and shape user behavior in a virtual space” (Bossetta, 2018, p. 473). These features shape how a platform is used and what types of users are attracted to a platform. This paper examines how platform affordances attract different types of users as well as enable and constrain political expression on different social media platforms.

This paper uses survey data gathered in four countries (USA, Canada, UK, France) in 2019 and 2021 (n=12,000). The sample is based on an online panel with quotas used to ensure representation of the population in each country (sex, age). Respondents had to be at least 18 years old to participate.

We find that posting political information is more common on Twitter, Reddit, and Snapchat compared to Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp. Exposure to political content on the specific platform dramatically increases the likelihood of political expression on the platform. However, the connection between exposure to political information and political expression is much stronger for Snapchat, WhatsApp, and Reddit, compared to the other platforms. We explain this pattern in terms of the types of users attracted to these platforms as well as the digital affordances that enable users to see and share information. We also examine differences in political expression on six social media platforms based on country, gender, age, ideology, digital skills, and political interest.

By comparing multiple platforms in multiple countries, our study offers insights into the distinct user bases of these platforms as well as the affordances that enable the sharing of political content on these six social media platforms. We find that Facebook is distinctive in comparison to other platforms. While exposure to political information on this platform is high, posting political information to this platform is low. Furthermore, the likelihood of turning political exposure into political expression is lower compared to other platforms. This uniqueness could be explained by the user base of this platform as well as its technical protocols that may reduce meaningful engagement with political content. The findings suggest that Facebook cannot be used as the prototypical social media platform; Facebook patterns and effects are distinctive to this platform. As people diversity their social media repertoires, the distinct affordances of a platform can help explain who uses a particular platform and how.

Authors

• Shelley Boulianne, MacEwan University

• Christian Pieter Hoffmann, University of Leipzig