As the 2024 Presidential election looms, the impact of social media on politics and civic discourse remains a hot-button issue. Following social media's political high-water mark with the 2020 US presidential election and the ensuing insurrection at the Capitol, we're watching with some trepidation to see how things shake out next year.
A recent report from the Pew Research Center indicates that social media continues to play an influential role in political dialogue, organizing, and protest. The report focuses on the evolution of the #BlackLivesMatter hashtag on Twitter, and using a mixed-methods approach, explores how the American public engages with political and social issues on social media. One finding: 46% of respondents have engaged in civic activities on social media in the past year.
The study also finds that roughly one-third of social media users (34%) say they've taken part in an online group that shares an interest in an issue or cause, while 26% say they've encouraged others to take action on social media in the past year. Other survey respondents have looked up info on protests or rallies happening in their area (14%), changed their profile picture to support a cause (14%), or used hashtags related to a political or social issue (12%) in the past year.
Focusing on the trajectory of the #BlackLivesMatter hashtag over the past decade, the report delves into the impact of social media in amplifying political messages and mobilizing supporters. With a dataset comprising over 44 million tweets containing the hashtag, the study illustrates how social media's influence has evolved over time.
One example emerges from November 2014, when the announcement of no indictment for Ferguson police officer Darren Wilson in the shooting death of Michael Brown resulted in a surge of 95,000 uses of the hashtag on Twitter. Fast-forward six years to the tragic killing of George Floyd by Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin: The hashtag was used over 160,000 times daily on average, reaching a peak of more than 1.2 million uses in a single day.
Black survey respondents in particular stand out in political social-media usage, with a majority (58%) saying they've participated in the past year. Additionally, the study found that Democrats and Democratic-leaning users are more likely than their Republican counterparts (53% vs. 41%) to have engaged politically on social media in any of those five ways.
Other notable contrasts emerge when examining the significance of social media across different racial and ethnic groups. Approximately half of Black, Hispanic, and Asian users affirm that social media plays an important role in connecting with like-minded individuals concerning political issues, while only about one-third of White users share this sentiment. And Black, Hispanic, and Asian users attribute greater importance to social media platforms than their White counterparts in facilitating engagement with causes they deeply care about and providing a platform to express their political perspectives.
The survey indicates that people of color in general, both social media users and non-users, generally hold a positive perception of social media's potential benefits in raising awareness about significant issues, with 81% of Black participants agreeing it plays an impactful role, followed by Hispanic (77%) and Asian (74%). White participants remain more skeptical, at 61%.
But amid differing perspectives on the positive aspects of social media usage, a unanimous consensus emerges when it comes to acknowledging the negative impact of social media on politics. Across all racial and ethnic groups, a significant majority—from 75% to 85%—say social media often diverts attention away from what they consider "truly important" issues.
While social media remains an important platform for political engagement, content creation, and information consumption, Americans seem to collectively harbor a sense of skepticism. This sentiment could stem from recent years of heightened political polarization, consequential elections, incidents such as the 2021 insurrection, and widespread protests.