"People Can Get Really Harsh": Supporting Youth Engage With Contemporary Issues Through Social Media

• In Event: Politics, Partisanship, and Media in the Trump Era: Impacts on Teachers, Teaching, and Youth Engagement

Abstract

Objective
This study sought to understand when, where and how youth engage with civic issues on social media. A follow up analysis of Twitter was conducted to examine sources and types of political discourse that generate activity on three contemporary topics.

Perspectives and Theoretical Framework
Participatory democratic theories describe public discourse as a way to influence public opinion (Barber, 2003) and suggest social media increases options for youth to engage (Cohen & Kahne, 2012). Deliberative theories conceptualize public discourse as clarifying positions (Mill, 1991) and building tolerance for disagreement (Gutman & Thompson, 1996), with recent research raising concerns about misinformation (Journell, 2019), polarization (Sunstein, 2009), and incivility (Shea & Steadman, 2010) on social media. This study examines factors that influence engagement through social media for each purpose (public voice, information and clarification, and engagement across difference).

Methods & Data Sources
We draw on interviews with 15 undergraduates regarding their social media discourse practices followed by analysis of N=900 Twitter threads on 3 contemporary youth-relevant issues--DACA, COVID-19, and Plastic Pollution. Interviews were analyzed using a grounded theory approach, guided by the question, “What factors suppress or enable productive engagement with contemporary issues via social media?” Twitter posts were coded for 1) user type (news organizations, governmental organizations, famous users (>1 million followers), influencers (>10K followers) or everyday users and 2) post format (question, political opinion, link to information, mobilization for political action, or other) (Cohen’s k ranged from .735-.785).

Results
Interviews suggested participants viewed social media, and Twitter in particular, as an important source of news and political opinion, but were reluctant to express their own views due to perceptions of risk (escalation, futility, raised stakes due to public nature). Analysis of Twitter data reinforced this tendency, showing the majority of posts generating interaction (>20 comments) were created by influencers ( >10,000 followers, 58%) or famous figures (>1 million followers, 18%).
Exceptions suggest entry points for supporting youth civic expression. Participants with strong cultural and political identities engaged, even while noting risks. In contrast, participants still forming political opinions preferred to consider others’ perspectives and were selective about whom they would engage (people they knew or judged as open to discussion).
When discussing social media as an information source, participants noted the importance of checking sources, but also preferred media that was “short and sweet,” and acknowledged following links as time consuming. Twitter data revealed a high percentage of political or topical claims (64.5%) and only 1-in-5 (20.3%) linked to information sources, affirming challenges users face for evaluating information.
Finally, participants made distinctions between platforms (Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, etc.) and their uses (news, entertainment, family, etc.), suggesting that educational efforts should take platform differences into account.

Significance
This study demonstrates some unique characteristics and challenges of engagement with contemporary issues through social media and provides guidance for educators to teach for participation in this context.

Authors

• Ellen Middaugh, San Jose State University

• Mark K. Felton, San José State University

• Henry Fan