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How Privacy Concerns and Social Media Platform Use Affect Online Political Participation in Germany
[conference paper]
This document is a part of the following document:
Proceedings of the Weizenbaum Conference 2019 "Challenges of Digital Inequality - Digital Education, Digital Work, Digital Life"
Abstract
Digital inequalities research has investigated who engages in online political participation, finding gaps along socioeconomic variables such as gender and education. Recent research has also highlighted how online platforms may facilitate political participation. Especially for multi-purpose platfo... view more
Digital inequalities research has investigated who engages in online political participation, finding gaps along socioeconomic variables such as gender and education. Recent research has also highlighted how online platforms may facilitate political participation. Especially for multi-purpose platforms such as Facebook, where users are supposed to use their real names, issues of adequate self-presentation arise. The diversity of multiple audiences engenders privacy concerns, particularly when controversial political issues are discussed. We add to existing research on digital inequalities by focusing on privacy concerns as a critical construct. Using a survey of German Internet users, we test the effect of privacy concerns on online political participation. Unexpectedly, privacy concerns increase political participation. As privacy concerns are spread evenly throughout the population, they contribute little to the socioeconomic stratification of online political participation. Social media use, however, exerts a strong positive effect on political participation, and differs significantly among socioeconomic groups.... view less
Keywords
data protection; social media; utilization; social network; socioeconomic factors; Federal Republic of Germany; privacy; political participation; digital divide; digital media; inequality
Classification
Political Process, Elections, Political Sociology, Political Culture
Interactive, electronic Media
Free Keywords
Weizenbaum-Institut; Weizenbaum Institute
Collection Title
Proceedings of the Weizenbaum Conference 2019 "Challenges of Digital Inequality - Digital Education, Digital Work, Digital Life"
Conference
2. Weizenbaum Conference. Berlin, 2019
Document language
English
Publication Year
2019
City
Berlin
Page/Pages
9 p.
Status
Primary Publication; peer reviewed