The use of social media for political support in Malaysia. Journal of Nusantara Studies. (In Press) (2018)
Abstract
The emergence of new media as a result of the development of the Internet has made the media a
democratic agent of information. In conjunction with the transition of current political culture, society
is now more comfortable using social media as a source of political information acquisition. This study
was conducted to identify the impact of social media use on politics in Malaysia as well as to analyze
the level of social media use in determining the people's pattern of support for political parties and
political candidates in Malaysia. This study was conducted using a quantitative approach which is
survey. Questionnaire was used as the research instrument. A total of 993 respondents consisting of
male (46.2%) and female (53.8%) were randomly sampled from peninsular Malaysia to participate in
the study. The findings reveal that nearly two-thirds of respondents used newspapers (65.5%), followed
by social media (63.5%) and television (59.5%) to search and read current political information in
Malaysia. The findings also show that respondents agreed that social media play a role and has the
advantage of channeling political information (min = 3.57) compared to conventional media. The
respondents somehow agreed with political participation through social media. Respondents also
agreed that social media have helped to enhance the image of candidates and political parties (min =
3.17) by displaying activities of candidates serving the people (min = 3.25). This suggests that today's
society is very much concerned with what is shown on social media involving current political situation.
Therefore, monitoring of political information shared on social media should be done to ensure that
information is free from seditious elements that can diverge unity.
| Item Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Keywords: | Use of Social Media, Political support, Political party, Political participation, Malaysia |
| Taxonomy: | By Subject > Administrative Science & Policy Studies > Administrative Science |
| Local Content Hub: | Subjects > Administrative Science & Policy Studies |
| Depositing User: | Mohd Fadhli Samsudin |
| Date Deposited: | 01 Aug 2021 14:16 |
| Last Modified: | 01 Aug 2021 14:16 |
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