Media and Democracy: The Influence of X on Student Democratic Participation
Abstract
The development of information and communication technology has brought about major changes in the way people participate in the democratic process, one of which is through social media such as X. The use of X among students is increasingly growing to discuss, share political information, and participate in democratic campaigns. This study aims to determine the extent to which the use of X influences students' democratic participation. The method used in this study is a literature review that discusses theories related to social media and democracy, as well as distributing questionnaires to active students who use X. The results of the study show that X has a (significant/insignificant) influence on student participation in democratic activities, such as political discussions, social campaigns, and general elections. These findings indicate that X is not only a platform for communication but also an important tool in building political awareness and increasing democratic participation. The benefits of this study are expected to contribute to the development of political communication theory and provide insight into policies on the use of social media in supporting democracy, especially among the younger generation.
References
Pew Research Center. 2020. Differences in How Democrats and Republicans Behave on Twitter. Pew Research Center.
Xiao, Zhiping. 2023. Detecting political biases of named entities and hashtags on Twitter.
EPJ Data Sci. 12, 20. https://doi.org/10.1140/epjds/s13688-023-00386-6
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