Exploring Web 2.0 political engagement: Is new technology reducing the biases of political participation?

This article explores the relationship between political participation taking place on online social networking websites, defined as “cyber participation,” and turnout in the 2008 U.S. Presidential Election and the 2010 U.S. Midterm Election. The paper presents two studies, the first using data from the 2008 Pew Internet & American Life Project survey and the second using data from the 2010 Pew Internet & American Life Project. Each study is conducted in two parts. The first part identifies who is utilizing social networking websites as political participation tools. The second then examines the association between these forms of cyber participation and turnout in order to demonstrate that cyber participation has a positive effect on turnout. Findings suggest, 1) younger individuals are more likely to utilize cyber participation, 2) traditional predictors of participation are not correlated with cyber participation, and 3) people who engage in cyber participation are more likely to turnout to vote.