Facebook and political engagement: A study of online political group membership and offline political engagement

In what ways do online groups help to foster political engagement among citizens? We employ a multi-method design incorporating content analysis of online political group pages and original survey research of university undergraduates (n = 455) to assess the relationship between online political group membership and political engagement—measured through political knowledge and political participation surrounding the 2008 election. We find that participation in online political groups is strongly correlated with offline political participation, as a potential function of engaging members online. However, we fail to confirm that there is a corresponding positive relationship between participation in online political groups and political knowledge, likely due to low quality online group discussion.

► We examine the effect of online political groups on political participation and knowledge.
► We use Facebook’s group platform as our unit of study.
► The study uses a survey and content analysis to prove the hypothesis.
► Membership in Facebook groups increases political participation.
► Membership in Facebook groups has no effect on political knowledge.