ABSTRACT
The expanding role of social media in the electoral process raises concerns about divisiveness, political polarization, and online information warfare. This chapter explores polarization through political identity (conservative or liberal) and examines its impact on critical elements of social media behavior among 18–45-year-old Facebook users. Specifically, the research examined whether an individual’s political identity impacted their level of Facebook dependency, perceptions of news credibility, and concerns about foreign interference in the Presidential elections. Results indicate that the degree of polarization of the political identity had a greater impact than the directionality. In general, those with more polar identities (very conservative or very liberal) showed similar patterns on the variables, and these differed from those with less polar views. Overall, the study found those with more polar political identities showed higher levels of Facebook addiction/dependency, less concern about news credibility, and a higher level of worry about possible foreign interference in the elections. These factors suggest the potential danger to democracies as information warfare can use and exaggerate these tendencies to create greater polarization.
