The Effects of Social Media towards Teenagers’ Political Views During General Election (GE-15) Campaign in Malaysia

Social media that is accessible online is a form of communication. Teenagers frequently use social media in both their artistic and social lives. With social media tools, politicians and their supporters can immediately communicate. Social media is being used in political action around the world. Political hatred may swiftly develop on social media because false and misleading information shapes public opinion, which is harmful to society in many ways. This study aimed to identify the most frequent function of social media usage during the GE-15 campaign among teenagers and to investigate the most frequent effects of social media usage towards teenagers’ political views during the GE-15 campaign. This study also sought to identify the level of political involvement among teenagers during the GE-15 campaign. The questionnaire for this study comprises 12 items. Samples involved in this quantitative study were university students who are studying in private and government universities in Malaysia and voted during GE-15 recently. According to the data collected, the most frequent function of social media usage during the GE-15 campaign among teenagers is social media use as a communication platform for them to engage with politicians and the most frequent effects of social media usage towards teenagers’ political views during GE-15 campaign is teenagers can make comparison between political parties based on their observation via social media posts by politicians. This study also highlighted findings whereby teenagers had a high level of political involvement in social media during the GE-15 campaign.