‘I Read It On Facebook. So It Must Be True!’: The Effect of Facebook Use on Partisan Perceptual Bias and Political Knowledge

Political knowledge is one of the most important determinants of the political behavior of citizens and their ability to participate in the democratic system. The amount of political knowledge that citizens possess, and the process of political learning has been changed by the rise and use of Facebook. It has affected users’ Motivation, Opportunity, and Ability to learn about politics. Previous research on the effect of Facebook on political knowledge has yielded divergent results, suggesting there might be another aspect influencing the relationship between the two. This thesis argues that Facebook use affects users’ political knowledge through the influence it has on their partisan perceptual biases. Using data from the ANES 2020 Social Media Survey, this thesis shows that partisan bias is strongly present and affects the knowledge level of people. In general, increased Facebook use tends increase knowledge about party congruent information, while decreasing knowledge about party...Show morePolitical knowledge is one of the most important determinants of the political behavior of citizens and their ability to participate in the democratic system. The amount of political knowledge that citizens possess, and the process of political learning has been changed by the rise and use of Facebook. It has affected users’ Motivation, Opportunity, and Ability to learn about politics. Previous research on the effect of Facebook on political knowledge has yielded divergent results, suggesting there might be another aspect influencing the relationship between the two. This thesis argues that Facebook use affects users’ political knowledge through the influence it has on their partisan perceptual biases. Using data from the ANES 2020 Social Media Survey, this thesis shows that partisan bias is strongly present and affects the knowledge level of people. In general, increased Facebook use tends increase knowledge about party congruent information, while decreasing knowledge about party incongruent information. But more importantly, results show that this effect varies for different questions and issues, suggesting that further and more detailed research is needed to isolate the effects of Facebook use on partisan biases and political knowledge.Show less

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‘I Read It On Facebook. So It Must Be True!’: The Effect of Facebook Use on Partisan Perceptual Bias and Political Knowledge