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Browsing Alone: The Differential Impact of Internet Platforms on Political Participation

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  13 August 2013

KEN'ICHI IKEDA ,
SEAN RICHEY  and
HOLLY TERESI
KEN'ICHI IKEDA
Affiliation:
Professor in the Department of Media Studies at Doshisha University in [email protected]
SEAN RICHEY
Affiliation:
Associate Professor in the Department of Political Science at Georgia State [email protected]
HOLLY TERESI
Affiliation:
Former Research Director of the New Organizing [email protected]
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Abstract

We research the political impact of how users access the Internet. Recent research suggests that Internet usage may promote political participation. Internet usage is proposed to be beneficial because it increases activity in diverse politicized social networks and through greater access to information. Even though Internet usage may begin as a non-political activity, we outline several reasons to believe that it may spark later political participation. This impact, however, is likely to be non-existent in new forms of Internet browsing such as through mobile phones, where users do less full-scale browsing. The more difficult browsing interface of mobile phones reduces activity in chat rooms and in-depth browsing of online sources of information which promote participation. To test these ideas, we use nationally representative survey data from Japan, a country which has more pronounced usage of mobile phone browsing. Using a Seemingly Unrelated Regression Model, we also show that the chief determinants of using PC's over mobile phones for Internet browsing are age and education. We then show that PC-based Internet activity correlates with increased political participation, but mobile phone usage correlates with less participation.

Type
Research Article
Information
Japanese Journal of Political Science , Volume 14 , Issue 3 , September 2013 , pp. 305 - 319
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2013 

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