A4 Refereed article in a conference publication
How do Digital Divides Determine Social Media Users’ Aspirations to Influence Others?
Authors: Malinen Sanna, Koivula Aki, Koiranen Ilkka
Editors: Anatoliy Gruzd, Philip Mai, Raquel Recuero, Ángel Hernández-García, Chei Sian Lee, James Cook, Jaigris Hodson, Bree McEwan, Jill Hopke
Conference name: International Conference on Social Media and Society
Publishing place: New york
Publication year: 2020
Book title : SMSociety'20: International Conference on Social Media and Society
Journal name in source: ACM International Conference Proceeding Series
Series title: 11th International Conference on Social Media and Society
First page : 141
Last page: 147
ISBN: 978-1-4503-7688-4
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1145/3400806.3400823(external)
As the
social media landscape has become a significant space for civic and political
activity, it has created new opportunities for individuals to influence others’
opinions. Relying on survey data from Finland (N=3,724), this study focuses on motivation
to influence online and identifies social media users who wish to express their
opinions and persuade others. First, using factor analysis, we detect influential motivation to use social
media. Second, we analyze how socio-demographic background, digital skills and
interest in politics predict the probability of influential aspiration. Our
findings show digital divides in online participation and in people’s
intentions to influence others. Drawing on digital divide theory, we discuss
how different motivations to use social media lead to varied outcomes in terms
of benefits, producing digital divides.
