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Internet and Social Media for Political Participation among Youth: Does Education Matter?

Recent trends in the usage of social media and Internet for political participation indicated that there is a growing need for deep understanding of different aspects of this phenomenon. Digital divide in the area of usage of Internet and social media for political participation is not investigated to the full extent. Questions arise in relation of the impact of different levels of economic development (at the country level) and different levels of education (at the personal level) to the digital divide of internet and social media political participation. Goal of the paper is to investigate differences among young Internet users with low, medium or high educational level in European countries regarding Internet usage for political purposes. Results indicate that education overall is important for increasing the political participation in European countries. Future research should be oriented to investigation of specific courses aiming to foster the knowledge of Internet and social media for political participation, especially for less educated youth.

Political participation, social media, education, youth, Europe, Eurostat, cluster analysis, data mining.

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