Toward a novel framework of understanding the relationship between social media use and political knowledge: a systematic literature review

While recent quantitative research finds little evidence that citizens learn about politics from social media, it is unclear whether studies adequately capture platform complexity and often fragmented understandings of political knowledge. Following PRISMA guidelines, we systematically reviewed 78 papers that assess the quantitative association between social media use and political knowledge. Our critical assessment of how such studies conceptualize and operationalize social media use and political knowledge revealed a dual mismatch. First, social media use is often measured via general frequency, overlooking specific content (beyond “news”), actors (e.g., influencers), platforms (beyond Facebook/Twitter), and exposure modes (e.g., incidental). Second, knowledge measures remain conservative, focusing on institutional facts while neglecting issue-specific and noninstitutional topics. We propose a novel 3-dimensional framework and methodological pathways to address key limitations in the dominant normative tradition of studying the relationship between social media and political learning.