Date of Award

Spring 5-2019

Degree Type

Honors College Thesis

Department

Political Science, International Development, and International Affairs

First Advisor

Marek Steedman

Advisor Department

Political Science, International Development, and International Affairs

Abstract

Social media has taken the world and compressed it into a single button for all to access. As tactics and protocol has already changed, social media has reached its invisible hand into modern U.S. politics and has altered the landscape of political action. Through surveys, article analysis, and social media observation, this study examined how social media has changed modern civic engagement, if social media can even be considered civic ‘engagement’, and how it has separated itself from ‘traditional’ civic engagement. Through previous literature and a conducted survey, the finding of this study suggest that social media not only positively affects civic engagement and those politically engaging, but also creates opportunities for community that result in meaningful physical political action. As social media will continue to grow in American political culture, it is important to understand social media’s future in politics and to learn how to effectively use social media for causes, agendas, candidates, and other political purposes.

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