Abstract

We investigate the impact of recent government initiatives to increase political participation by young adults via the use of social media technologies and the involvement on social networks. In particular, we conduct an exploratory usability study with different experimental conditions to investigate whether individuals who seek engagement with the government are able to successfully search and locate appropriate touching points, and how that process involves new media technologies. Our investigative study shows how search is impeded by individual and institutional factors, and that social networks are still underappreciated by users when cues are delivered out of their most common usage contexts.

• Paper [PDF], © ACM.