Examining the Roles of Political Social Network and Internal Efficacy on Social Media News Engagement: A Comparative Study of Six Asian Countries

The use of social media has risen exponentially in Asia in the past decade, but there have been few comparative studies examining social media news engagement in the region. We use online survey data to examine the relationships among political social networks, internal political efficacy, and social media news engagement in six countries (Taiwan, Japan, Korea, Hong Kong, Malaysia, and Singapore). Findings across the samples showed that individuals in political social networks comprising cross-cutting and like-minded political views engage in social media news more, and internal political efficacy accentuated the relationships between cross-cutting/like-minded political social networks and engagement. Implications for the findings are discussed in relation to current debates on the potential for social media news engagement to engender a more deliberative democracy; or lead to greater ideological segregation and echo chambers in social media spaces.