Online behavior and political knowledge

Current research on political knowledge focuses to a large extent on differences between Internet users and non-users. As Internet use is shown to constantly increase, more complex questions arise related to the impact of Internet on citizens’ political involvement. This thesis takes a deeper look at how differences in online content (facts vs. facts and analysis) and interaction levels (passive reading vs. reading and commenting) affects factual and self-perceived political knowledge, issue certainty and desire to engage in politics offline. The results of this study suggest that increased online interaction in the form of being able to post comments leads to lower levels of self-perceived knowledge, but also to lower levels of political participation intention. Offline political discussions and past political behavior are also significant indicators of political participation intention.