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Project

InFormMe: Influencers’ (Mis-)Information on Social Media and Adolescents’ Political Engagement

So-called social media influencers, defined as digital opinion leaders
who have a large network of followers on platforms like Instagram or
YouTube, are highly popular among adolescents. Although originally
known for lifestyle content and commercial advertising, they
increasingly weave political issues into their communication. This
political content may have a crucial impact on adolescents, as their
political identity is not yet fully developed and social media
influencers are perceived as role models. As such, their political
communication may be engaging for adolescents, but also puts them
at risk for misinformation if influencers spread false information or
conspiracy theories. However, existing research has neglected to
investigate (1) what kind of political (mis-)information by influencers
adolescents are exposed to and (2) whether this (mis-)information
increases political engagement or, on the contrary, fosters
disengagement depending on individual, developmental and social
influence factors. To fill these research gaps, this project proposes
an innovative research design, which combines a citizen science
study, in which adolescents are actively involved in the planning of
the research and interpretation of the findings, focus group
discussions and a quantitative longitudinal survey with adolescents,
their peers and their parents. Overall, this project guides future
research and has important implications for society at large.

Date:1 Jan 2022 →  Today
Keywords:Social media, political engagement, adolescence
Disciplines:Media research methodology, Media audience research, Digital media, Political communication