Facebook effect: Research shows comments about candidates have impact on potential voters

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2015-09/uod-fer092415.php

Public Release: 24-Sep-2015
Facebook effect: Research shows comments about candidates have impact on potential voters
University of Delaware

When Facebook users see favorable comments on the social media site about a political candidate, those opinions positively influence their own views of the politician, while unfavorable comments have a negative effect, according to a new paper by University of Delaware researchers.

That influence occurred even though the research participants weren't Facebook friends or even acquaintances of the commenters. In fact, the commenters -- like the candidate himself -- didn't even exist.

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Calling the study a first step in researching the effect of social media interactivity in political campaigns, Brewer said that it may have been easier to influence viewers looking at the "blank slate" of a fictitious candidate rather than at a real candidate with whom they may already be familiar. He also noted that the survey group was asked to look at the Facebook page, while in real campaigns, citizens decide for themselves whether to check out a candidate on social media.

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tags: influence