Journal Screenshot

International Journal of Academic Research in Business and Social Sciences

Open Access Journal

ISSN: 2222-6990

Exploring the Link between Facebook Intensity and Online Political Participation: A Study on Malaysian Youth

Jen Sern Tham, Kay Chern Wong

http://dx.doi.org/10.6007/IJARBSS/v13-i6/17273

Open access

With these technological advancements, our lifestyles are significantly affected by the advent of the Internet. The emergence of social media makes our life easier by saving time and cost. Besides that, social media enables a new form of political participation. Although the level of political involvement among the youth is relatively low in Malaysia due to several factors, social media provides a unique platform for the youth to express their views and participate in politics. Thus, this study has been conducted to examine the relationship between Facebook Intensity and online political participation. The factors that contribute to the level of online political participation will also be studied. This study has been conducted using a quantitative research method by designing a questionnaire. The target population of this study is the local undergraduate students from the Faculty of Modern Languages and Communication, Universiti Putra Malaysia. A simple random sampling technique was used, and 150 respondents were involved in this study. The collected data were analysed using Statistical Package for the Social Science (SPSS). Based on the results, there is a significant positive relationship between Facebook Intensity and online political participation. At the same time, there are no relationships between interactivity with political figures, political interest and online political participation among the youth. Facebook Intensity is the main contributor to encouraging the youth to participate in politics online in this study.

Abdu, S. D., Mohamad, B., & Muda, S. (2016). New perspectives to political participation among youth: The impact of Facebook usage. The European Proceedings of Social & Behavioural Sciences,14, 1-883.
Abdu, S. D., Mohamad, B., & Muda, S. (2017). Youth online political participation: The role of Facebook use, interactivity, quality information and political interest. SHS Web of Conferences, 33, 80.
Bimber, B. (2003). Information and American democracy: Technology in the evolution of political power. Cambridge University Press.
Binns, A. (2018). Cambridge Analytica scandal: Facebook’s user engagement and trust decline. Retrieved from http://theconversation.com/cambridge-analytica-scandal-facebooks-user-engagem ent-and-trust-decline-93814
Chan, M.-Y., Rafik-Galea, S., & Yap, N.-T. (2014). Hidden participation in the public sphere: Understanding Malaysian University students' public discourse practices in cyberspace. First Monday, 19(5). https://doi.org/10.5210/fm.v19i5.4829
Chang, B. H., Lee, S. E., & Kim, B. S. (2006). Exploring factors affecting the adoption and continuance of online games among college students in South Korea: Integrating uses and gratification and diffusion of innovative approaches. New Media & Society, 8(2), 295–319.
Crang, M., Crosbie, T., & Graham, S. (2007). Technology, Time–Space, and the Remediation of Neighbourhood Life. Environment and Planning A: Economy and Space, 39(10), 2405–2422. https://doi.org/10.1068/a38353
Davies, M. B., & Hughes, N. (2014). Doing a successful research project: Using qualitative or quantitative methods. Macmillan International Higher Education.
Carpini, D. M. X. (2000). Gen.com: Youth, civic engagement, and the new information environment. Political Communication, 17(4), 341–349.
Evans, J. D. (1996). Straightforward statistics for the behavioural sciences. Thomson Brooks/Cole Publishing
Feezell, J. T., Conroy, M., & Guerrero, M. (2009). Facebook is... fostering political engagement: A study of online social networking groups and offline participation. Paper presented at APSA 2009 Toronto Meeting Paper.
George, C. (2006). Contentious journalism and the Internet: Towards democratic discourse in Malaysia and Singapore. Singapore University Press.
Gibson, R. K., Lusoli, W., & Ward, S. (2005). Online participation in the UK: Testing a ‘Contextualised’ model of Internet effects. The British Journal of Politics and International Relations, 7(4), 561–583.
Gooch, L. (2012). Malaysian students seek full political rights. The New York Times. Retrieved from https://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/23/world/asia/malaysian-students-seek-full-political-rights.html
Henn, M., & Foard, N. (2012). Young people, political participation and trust in Britain. Parliamentary Affairs, 65(1), 47–67.
Holt, K., Shehata, A., Stramback, J., & Ljungberg, E. (2013). Age and the effects of news media attention and social media use on political interest and participation: Do social media function as leveller?. European Journal of Communication, 28(1), 19-34.
Katz, E., Blumler, J. G., & Gurevitch, M. (1974). Uses and gratifications research. Public Opinion Quarterly, 37(4), 509–523. https://doi.org/10.1086/268109
Keeter, S., Zukin, C., Andolina, M., & Jenkins, K. (2002). The civic and political health of the nation: A generational portrait. Centre for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement (CIRCLE). Retrieved from
https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED498892.pdf.
Kim, Y., & Chen, H. T. (2016). Social media and online political participation: The mediating role of exposure to cross-cutting and like-minded perspectives. Telematics and Informatics, 33(2), 320-330.
Kimberlee, R. H. (2002). Why don't British young people vote in general elections? Journal of Youth Studies, 5(1), 85–98.
Ko, H., Cho, C. H., & Roberts, M. S. (2005). Internet uses and gratifications: A structural equation model of interactive advertising. Journal of Advertising, 34(2), 57–70.
Kruikemeier, S., Van Noort, G., Vliegenthart, R., & De Vreese, C. H. (2013). Getting closer: The effects of personalised and interactive online political communication. European Journal of Communication, 28(1), 53-66.
Lahabou, M., & Wok, S. (2011). Relationship between Facebook usage and youth political participation: a Sub-Saharan African context. Paper presented at the International Conference on Media and Communication (MENTION 2011), 11-12 October 2011, Equatorial Hotel, Bangi.
LaRose, R., Lai, Y. J., Lange, R., Love, B., & Wu, Y. (2005). Sharing or piracy? An exploration of downloading behaviour. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, 11(1), 1–21.
Guan, L. H. (2008). Malaysia in 2007: Abdullah Administration under Siege. Southeast Asian Affairs, pp. 187–206.
Lee, S., & Cho, M. (2011). Social media use in a mobile broadband environment: Examination of determinants of Twitter and Facebook use. International Journal of Mobile Marketing, 6(2), 71-87.
Leong, L. M., Azhar, N. A., Hazri, H., & Mulakala, A. (2012). The youth factor: 2012 survey of Malaysian youth opinion. The Asia Foundation. Retrieved from https://asiafoundation.org/resources/pdfs/2012NationalYouthSurvey.pdf.
Mayfield, A. (2008). What is social media? Retrieved from https://www.icrossing.com/uk/sites/default/files_uk/insight_pdf_files/What%20is
%20Social%20Media_iCrossing_ebook.pdf.
Mesch, G. S., & Coleman, S. (2007). New media and new voters: young people, the Internet and the 2005 UK election campaign. In Young citizens in the digital age: Political engagement, young people and new media, (pp. 35–47).
Naing, L., Winn, T., & Rusli, B. N. (2006). Practical issues in calculating the sample size for prevalence studies. Archives of orofacial Sciences, 1, 9-14.
Nisbet, M. C., & Scheufele, D. A. (2004). Political talk as a catalyst for online citizenship. Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly, 81(4), 877-896.
Qualman, E. (2010). Socialnomics: How social media transforms the way we live and do business. EBSCO Publishing Incorporate.
Quan-Haase, A., & Young, A. L. (2010). Uses and gratifications of social media: A comparison of Facebook and instant messaging. Bulletin of Science, Technology & Society, 30(5), 350-361.
Raacke, J., & Bonds-Raacke, J. (2008). MySpace and Facebook: Applying the uses and gratifications theory to exploring friend-networking sites. Cyberpsychology & Behavior, 11(2), 169-174.
Riaz, S. (2010). Effects of new media technologies on political communication. Journal of Political Studies, 17(2), 161.
Sani, M. A. M., & Zengeni, K. T. (2010). Democratisation in Malaysia: The impact of social media in the 2008 general election. Paper presented at 18th Biennial Conference of the Asian Studies Association of Australia in Adelaide (pp. 1-16).
Saunders, M., Lewis, P., & Thornhill, A. (2009). Research methods for business students. Pearson Education Limited.
Segalowitz, S. J., Santesso, D. L., Murphy, T. I., Homan, D., Chantziantoniou, D. K., & Khan, S. (2010). Retest reliability of medial frontal negativities during performance monitoring. Psychophysiology, 47(2), 260–270.
Sweney, M. (2018). Is Facebook for old people? Over-55s flock in as the Young Leave. The Guardian. Retrieved from https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2018/feb/12/is-facebook-for-old-people
-over-55s-flock-in-as-the-young-leave
Tang, G., & Lee, F. L. (2013). Facebook use and political participation: The impact of exposure to shared political information, connections with public political actors, and network structural heterogeneity. Social Science Computer Review, 31(6), 763-773.
UNDP. (2012). The sustainable future we want. Annual Report 2011-2012. Retrieved from
https://www.undp.org/content/undp/en/home/librarypage/corporate/annual-report- 2011-2012--the-sustainable-future-we-want.html.
Van Teijlingen, E., & Huntley, V. (2001). The importance of pilot studies, social research update (35), Winter 2001. Retrieved from http://sru.soc.surrey.ac.uk/SRU35.PDF.
Van Wyngarden, K. E. (2012). New participation, new perspectives? Young adults' political engagement using Facebook (Doctoral dissertation). Retrieved from https://mountainscholar.org/bitstream/handle/10217/67321/VanWyngarden_colos tate_0053N_10909.pdf?sequence=1.pdf.%20pp.1-158.
Vitak, J., Zube, P., Smock, A., Carr, C. T., Ellison, N., & Lampe, C. (2011). It's complicated: Facebook users' political participation in the 2008 election. CyberPsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking, 14(3), 107-114.
Verba, S., Schlozman, K. L., & Brady, H. E. (1995). Voice and equality: Civic voluntarism in American politics. Harvard University Press.
Waller, L. G. (2013). Enhancing political participation in Jamaica: The use of Facebook to “cure” the problem of political talk among the Jamaican youth. SAGE Open, 1 -9. https://doi.org/10.1177/2158244013486656.
Weir, I. (2016). Spearman’s correlation. Statstutor, Mathematics Education Centre Loughborough University. Retrieved from
http://www.statutory.ac.uk/resources/uploaded/spearmans. pdf.
Whiteley, P. (2005). Citizenship education longitudinal study: Second literature review. Citizenship Education: the political science perspective (Research Report). National Foundation for Educational Research.
Willnat, L., Joann, W. W., Tamam, E., & Aw, A. (2013). Online media and political participation: The case of Malaysia. Mass Communication and Society, 16(4), 557-585. doi:10.1080/15205436.2012.734891.
Wok, S., & Mohamed, S. (2017). Internet and social media in Malaysia: Development, challenges and potentials. In Beatriz P. A. The evolution of media communication. Retrieved from https://www.intechopen.com/download/pdf/55225.
Yamamoto, M., & Kushin, M. J. (2014). More harm than good? Online media use and political disaffection among college students in the 2008 election. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, 19(3), 430-445.
Yamane, T. (1973). Statistics: An introductory analysis. Harper & Row.
Zainon, N., Hashim, R., & Zulkifli, N. (2017). Political Voice of Young Malaysians: Online Political Participation among University Students. International Journal of Academic Research in Business and Social Sciences, 7(8), 649-651.
Zikmund, W. G. (2003). Business research methods (7th Edition). Thomson/ South-Western.

In-Text Citation: (Tham & Wong, 2023)
To Cite this Article: Tham, J. S., & Wong, K. C. (2023). Exploring the Link between Facebook Intensity and Online Political Participation: A Study on Malaysian Youth. International Journal of Academic Research in Business and Social Sciences, 13(6), 1274 – 1292.