Dimensionality of civic participation in a convergent media environment

With the digitalization of information, subsequently leading to a fragmentation of audiences (Benett & Iyengar, 2008) and a change in the prevailing media logic (Schulz, 2014), a convergent media environment has developed. Nowadays, social media offer a platform for converging streams of information, altering the media diet for a growing share of the population. In addition, social networks like Facebook or Twitter offer emerging ways of participation, mostly with less effort than traditional forms. Yet, the role social media play in the political media diet was not fully assed by prior research. Furthermore, a broadened approach is needed when measuring participatory behavior. Emerging forms of participation on social media platforms but also engagement among the public, not closely connected to the political system, are necessary to include, to see the full picture of civic participation. For this purpose, a nationwide study in Denmark was conducted (N=4460), measuring the political media exposure of the citizens with a smartphone-based media diary over the course of 15 days in February 2015. Civic participation was measured with 32 items, including activities within the ranges of online and offline, active and passive as well as traditional and unconventional forms of participation. Subsequently, the influence of exposure to political information on social media on these different types of participation was tested. Considering a change in citizenship (Bennett, 2008), especially among the young (Thorson, 2014), the concept of public orientation (Ekström, Olsson & Shehata, 2014) was used to detect underlying dimensions of participation, reflecting a trend towards a more individualized understanding of citizenship. Finally, using factor- and cluster analysis, a typology of participation in a convergent media environment was developed.