Key points are not available for this paper at this time.
Encountering news on social media is common even for individuals not actively looking for it – a phenomenon referred to as incidental exposure to political news (IE). A growing body of research has explored how IE on social media relates to political knowledge and participation. Yet, little research has considered that the effects of IE may differ across platforms. This study examined platform-dependent effects (across Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube) of IE on political knowledge and participation using panel data collected during the 2020 U.S. election. We found that IE might not be entirely beneficial. While IE on Facebook and Twitter does not affect knowledge or participation, findings suggest that IE on YouTube can dampen political learning. However, at the same time, IE on YouTube leads to more political participation, especially for those with higher level of need for orientation. This raises important questions of the consequences of uninformed political participation.
Lee et al. (Tue,) studied this question.