The Impact of Social Media on Political Engagement and Community Participation

Abstract

Social media has become an integral part of people's lives worldwide, providing various facilities for communication, socialization, and information retrieval. One potential impact of social media is its ability to enhance political engagement and community participation. Social media serves as a platform to deliver political information, raise political awareness, and motivate people to actively participate in the political process. The aim of this study is to examine the impact of social media on political engagement and community participation, utilizing qualitative research methods. The data collection technique employed in this research is a literature study. Subsequently, the collected data undergoes analysis in three stages: data reduction, data presentation, and conclusion drawing. The results demonstrate that social media has a significant impact on political engagement and public participation in Indonesia. This impact is manifested through the provision of broad and rapid access to political information, the creation of spaces for people to discuss and debate political issues, and the facilitation of expressing opinions and aspirations.