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Young people’s political (non-)participation in social media: Rather offline?

In the Swedish general election in 2018, social media is expected to play a major role for young people, since social media is their most important source for news and communication. This qualitative interview and focus group study analyses attitudes to political participation in social media of 110 Swedish young persons. Using an explorative perspective, this study offers empirical results, based on the attitudes of politically active as well as inactive participants, that partially contradict the existing body of research in the field. Results indicate that the participation divide, described in previous studies, is not as clear cut. It has been assumed that the politically confident young persons are more active in social media whereas the unconfident remain passive. However, our results indicate that such divides cut through the most confident and unconfident groups. Even some of the most active young people in the study state that they refrain from participating in social media. The study also shows that politically active individuals experience social pressure to participate in social media.