Social Media Campaign Fails to Transform Attitudes, Only Attracts Like-Minded Activists

Political Behavior @PSR&M 2 R files 3 datasets Dataverse

This study investigates whether social media campaigns can recruit new activists or transform public attitudes. Using a randomized field experiment in Bulgaria via Facebook and email newsletter,

Data & Methods

Collaborated with an environmental campaign.
Compared outcomes across different intervention groups (Facebook vs. Email).

Key Findings

Campaigns effectively recruit individuals already predisposed to activism or highly educated.
Characteristics and prior engagement predict participation more than the campaign itself alters opinions or knowledge.
No substantial evidence suggests campaigns significantly change broader public perspectives on civic society's effectiveness, environmental issues, or self-reported behavior.

The study concludes that common social media campaigns primarily serve an organizational function by selecting specific individuals rather than achieving widespread transformative effects.

Article card for article: Does Social Media Promote Civic Activism? A Field Experiment with a Civic Campaign

Does Social Media Promote Civic Activism? A Field Experiment with a Civic Campaign was authored by Florian Foos, Lyubomir Kostadinov, Nikolay Marinov and Frank Schimmelfennig. It was published by Cambridge in PSR&M in 2021.