Does Twitter motivate involvement in politics? Tweeting, opinion leadership, and political engagement

This paper, in order to deepen our understanding of the role of opinion leadership on Twitter, the world’s largest microblogging service, has investigated the interrelationships between opinion leadership, Twitter use motivations, and political engagement. It finds that Twitter opinion leaders have higher motivations of information seeking, mobilization, and public expression than nonleaders. It has also been found that mobilization and public-expression motivations mediate the association between perceived opinion leadership and Twitter use frequency. Most importantly, this study finds that Twitter opinion leadership makes a significant contribution to individuals’ involvement in political processes, while Twitter use itself or media use motivation does not necessarily help individuals’ political engagement.

► Twitter opinion leaders tend to seek information, mobilize, and express opinions publicly.
► Twitter opinion leadership leads to increased political engagement.
► Media use motivations mediate the association of opinion leadership and Twitter use.