Social Media has exploded, no doubt, but Pew Research gives us a great idea of just how much it’s become a part of our daily lives. According to its newly released study called Social Media and Political Engagement, 60 percent of adults uses social media, and of that, 66 percent use it to express political ideology in some way.
That explains why this blogger gets the occasional testy Twitter tweet from some couch potato conservative (defined as a person who has no concrete reason for being conservative other than what they hear on Fox News and / or racism, sexism, or homophobia) who has just 20 followers. These types get on Twitter, make a profile that has some garbage like “I’m a proud conservative all day long,” and then looks for people they think aren’t conservative – and certainly not couch potato conservative – to pick social media fights with.
Folks, avoid these people like the plague! They don’t do a thing for your Twitter follower base, and if you have more followers than they do, it just brings them up – forget it. And if they get too testy, just block them.
But I digress.
The Pew Survey also reports that…
– 38% of those who use social networking sites (SNS) or Twitter use those social media to “like” or promote material related to politics or social issues that others have posted. Liberal Democrats who use social media are particularly likely to use the ‘like’ button—52% of them have done so and 42% of conservative Republicans have also done so.
– 35% of social media users have used the tools to encourage people to vote. Democrats who are social media users are more likely to have used social media to encourage voting—42% have done that compared with 36% of Republican social-media users and 31% of independents.
– 34% of social media users have used the tools to post their own thoughts or comments on political and social issues. Liberal Democrats who use social media (42%) and conservative Republicans (41%) are especially likely to use social media this way.
– 33% of social media users have used the tools to repost content related to political or social issues that was originally posted by someone else. Republican social media users are more likely to do this on social media—39% have used social media to repost content, compared with 34% of social media using Democrats and 31% of independents.
– 31% of social media users have used the tools to encourage other people to take action on a political or social issue that is important to them. Some 36% of social-media-using Democrats have done this as have 34% of Republicans. This compares to 29% of independents who are social media users.
Stay tuned.