Purpose

Given the profound impact of social media on civic activism, as demonstrated by the #BlackLivesMatter and #MeToo movements, the current study aimed to examine the factors that influence the public to engage in civic activism on social media platforms.

Design/methodology/approach

This study used the responses from 4,316 social media users who participated in the 2018 American Trends Survey (Wave 35) conducted by Pew Research Center. The dataset was analyzed using hierarchical regression.

Findings

The results suggest that respondents who were younger, female, White and liberal were more likely to participate in activism-related behaviors, such as using hashtags, changing profile pictures and participating in groups with shared interests in political and social issues. Respondents' engagement in online civic activism increased particularly when they had a strong motive for expressing and sharing their opinions. In contrast, external online political efficacy – the belief that social media influences policymaking and decision makers – was not significantly associated with activism engagement on social media.

Originality/value

This study identified key demographic characteristics of social media users who participate in online civic activism. In addition, the findings extend previous lines of inquiry by examining and assessing the impact of external online political efficacy and opinion expression motive. We conclude that individuals engage in civic activism on social media mainly because they find it important to express views on political and social issues and to find others who share these views, as opposed to thinking that social media can be used to exert influence on policy decisions.

中文翻译：

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是什么使人们在社交媒体上参与公民活动？

目的

鉴于#BlackLivesMatter和#MeToo运动证明了社交媒体对公民行动主义的深远影响，本研究旨在研究影响公众在社交媒体平台上参与公民行动主义的因素。

设计/方法/方法

这项研究使用了来自皮尤研究中心（Pew Research Center）进行的2018年美国趋势调查（Wave 35）的4,316个社交媒体用户的回应。使用分层回归分析数据集。

发现

结果表明，年龄较小，女性，白人和自由主义者的受访者更有可能参与与激进主义相关的行为，例如使用标签，更改个人资料图片以及参与对政治和社会问题有共同兴趣的群体。受访者对网上公民行动的参与度有所提高，尤其是当他们有强烈的表达和分享意见的动机时。相比之下，外部在线政治效力（即社交媒体会影响决策和决策者的信念）与社交媒体上的行动主义参与并没有显着相关。

创意/价值

这项研究确定了参与在线公民行动的社交媒体用户的主要人口统计学特征。此外，研究结果通过检查和评估外部在线政治效力和意见表达动机的影响，扩展了先前的研究范围。我们得出的结论是，个人在社交媒体上进行公民行动，主要是因为他们认为表达对政治和社会问题的观点并找到其他观点的人很重要，而不是认为社交媒体可用于对政策决策施加影响。