Social Media, Young Citizens, and the Future of Democracy: Power, Participation, and Civic Engagement

Dear Colleagues,

The future of democracy depends significantly on the individual and collective power of young citizens to develop democratic self-awareness and the ability and interest to participate in the political process. Young citizens, as users, are at the forefront of the digital transformation, leveraging the power of social media and digital tools to access, share, and create information. Over the past few decades, ever-emerging variations of social media have opened a new frontier for information, public debate, and potential democratic participation. This development has provided a constantly interchanging realm of possibilities for media participation in democracy, giving young citizens access to various channels for information and encouragement to express their views and influence public policy.

However, these various opportunities come with substantial challenges in navigating a vast and complex media and information landscape. Young citizens are reliant on social media for news, information, and orientation in current societies. They struggle to stay aware of and manage the validity and consequences of multiple unqualified information sources, the potential for manipulation and misinformation, the noise of an ephemeral information stream, the way that commercial companies and others use their data, the monitoring of online activity, the potential negative repercussions of participating in online debate, and more. Furthermore, in the social media environment, qualifying information and exercising critical source evaluation are the responsibilities of the users instead of professional gatekeepers and editors.

This Special Issue seeks to explore the intersection of social media and youth political participation, emphasizing power, participation, and civic engagement regarding the opportunities and challenges of young citizens, their engagement with social media and democracy, and the implications of these trends for our current and future democratic systems. We define 'young people' as anyone between 15 and 24 years old, as per the United Nations' categorization of the group. Submissions that investigate older or younger groups are welcome if they include the dedicated target group or segments of this.

We invite submissions in the form of original research articles from various disciplinary backgrounds, including journalism, media studies, psychology, sociology, communication, political science, and education, and submissions with an interdisciplinary approach. Submissions should address the influence of digital media and technology on the political participation of youth in various contexts and societies.  

Possible topics may include, but are not limited to, the following:

• The role of social media in young citizens’ democratic engagement and participation;
• Young citizens, news, and social media;
• The impact of social media on the formation of political identities and beliefs;
• The potential of social media for youth civic education and engagement;
• The challenges and opportunities of social media for democratic deliberation;
• The role of social media in the emergence of new forms of activism and political movements;
• Social media and youth-led civic and political engagement;
• Social media and young citizens public opinion formation;
• Social media, young citizens, and transformations of democratic power dynamics;
• Young citizens’ struggle to be informed through social media in a fragmented public reality;
• Critical source evaluation of never-ending streams of information on, e.g., TikTok, Instagram, WhatsApp, YouTube;
• Social media and their role (or absence) in impacting young citizens’ interest in voting;
• Digital divides and participatory democracy.

We look forward to receiving your submissions.

References - examples

1. Amnå, E. & Ekman, J. 2014. Standby citizens: Diverse faces of political passivity. European Political Science Review, 6(2): 261–281. https://doi.org/10.1017/S175577391300009X.
2. Boulianne, S., and J. Ohme. 2021. “Pathways to Environmental Activism in Four Countries: Social media, Environmental Concern, and Political Efficacy.” Journal of Youth Studies, Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1080/13676261.2021.2011845.
3. Cammaerts, B. et al. 2014. The myth of youth apathy: Young Europeans’ critical attitudes toward democratic life. American Behavioral Scientist 58(5), 645–664. https://doi.org/10.1177/0002764213515992.
4. Couldry, N., Livingstone, S., & Markham, T. 2016. Media consumption and public engagement: Beyond the presumption of attention. Palgrave Macmillan.
5. Cotter, K., & Thorson, K. 2022. Judging Value in a Time of Information Cacophony: Young Adults, Social media, and the Messiness of do-it-Yourself Expertise. The International Journal of Press/Politics, 27(3), 629–647. https://doi.org/10.1177/19401612221082074.
6. Loader, B.D., Vromen, A. & Xenos, M. 2014. The networked young citizen: Social media, political participation and civic engagement. Information, Communication & Society 17(2), 143–150. https://doi.org/10.1080/1369118X.2013.871571.
7. Mascheroni, G. 2017. A Practice-Based Approach to Online Participation: Young People’s Participatory Habitus as a Source of Diverse Online Engagement. International Journal of Communication 11(2017), 4630–4651.
8. Ohme, J., Andersen, K., Albæk, E., & de Vreese, C. H. (2022). Anything Goes? Youth, News, and Democratic Engagement in the Roaring 2020s. The International Journal of Press/Politics, 27(3), 557–568. https://doi.org/10.1177/19401612221093008.

Dr. Gitte Bang Stald
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

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Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1000 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

• young citizens, social media and news, information, and democratic participation
• digital divides and participatory democracy
• transformations of democratic power dynamics
• new forms of activism and political movements
• information in fragmented publics
• the democratic role of AI
• critical source evaluation