People are more engaged on Facebook as they get older, especially in politics: evidence from users in 46 countries
A growing body of literature has noted an age pattern in the sharing of false news in social media, with older people sharing more often misinformation than younger users. In this article we supplement this literature by documenting two distinct but complementary phenomena: Facebook users share more...
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| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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HOPE
2022-09-01
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| Series: | Journal of Quantitative Description: Digital Media |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://journalqd.org/article/view/3317 |
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| _version_ | 1849404548440915968 |
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| author | Marcio Moretto Pablo Ortellado Gabriel Kessler Gabriel Vommaro Juan Carlos Rodriguez-Raga Juan Pablo Luna Eduarth Heinen Laura Fernanda Cely Sergio Toro |
| author_facet | Marcio Moretto Pablo Ortellado Gabriel Kessler Gabriel Vommaro Juan Carlos Rodriguez-Raga Juan Pablo Luna Eduarth Heinen Laura Fernanda Cely Sergio Toro |
| author_sort | Marcio Moretto |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | A growing body of literature has noted an age pattern in the sharing of false news in social media, with older people sharing more often misinformation than younger users. In this article we supplement this literature by documenting two distinct but complementary phenomena: Facebook users share more content as they get older regardless of whether it is political; and that this increment in sharing activity as age increases is more intense with political and partisan URLs. Based on the Facebook Privacy-Protected Full URLs Data Set, a vast Facebook database with demographic information of those who saw and shared links on Facebook in 46 countries, we investigate the impact of age on link-sharing activity. We found that in 43 countries, the average age of people who shared links was considerably higher than the age of those who saw the links. In a more detailed study, with Facebook users in South America, we find that the average age increases consecutively in the sharing of non-political content, in the sharing of political content, in the sharing of partisan sites and in the sharing of right-leaning partisan sites.
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| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-5a57eec7ff8d4a32a4c0a422a08a3f6f |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 2673-8813 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2022-09-01 |
| publisher | HOPE |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Journal of Quantitative Description: Digital Media |
| spelling | doaj-art-5a57eec7ff8d4a32a4c0a422a08a3f6f2025-08-20T03:36:58ZengHOPEJournal of Quantitative Description: Digital Media2673-88132022-09-01210.51685/jqd.2022.018People are more engaged on Facebook as they get older, especially in politics: evidence from users in 46 countriesMarcio Moretto0Pablo Ortellado1Gabriel Kessler2Gabriel Vommaro3Juan Carlos Rodriguez-Raga4Juan Pablo Luna5Eduarth Heinen6Laura Fernanda Cely7Sergio Toro8Universidade de São Paulo, BrazilUniversidade de Sao PauloUniversidad Nacional de San Martín, ArgentinaUniversidad Nacional de San Martín, ArgentinaUniversidad de los Andes, ColombiaUniversidad Católica de Chile, ChileUniversidade de São Paulo, BrazilUniversidad de los Andes, ColombiaUniversidad de Concepción, ChileA growing body of literature has noted an age pattern in the sharing of false news in social media, with older people sharing more often misinformation than younger users. In this article we supplement this literature by documenting two distinct but complementary phenomena: Facebook users share more content as they get older regardless of whether it is political; and that this increment in sharing activity as age increases is more intense with political and partisan URLs. Based on the Facebook Privacy-Protected Full URLs Data Set, a vast Facebook database with demographic information of those who saw and shared links on Facebook in 46 countries, we investigate the impact of age on link-sharing activity. We found that in 43 countries, the average age of people who shared links was considerably higher than the age of those who saw the links. In a more detailed study, with Facebook users in South America, we find that the average age increases consecutively in the sharing of non-political content, in the sharing of political content, in the sharing of partisan sites and in the sharing of right-leaning partisan sites. https://journalqd.org/article/view/3317older adultssocial mediaFacebook |
| spellingShingle | Marcio Moretto Pablo Ortellado Gabriel Kessler Gabriel Vommaro Juan Carlos Rodriguez-Raga Juan Pablo Luna Eduarth Heinen Laura Fernanda Cely Sergio Toro People are more engaged on Facebook as they get older, especially in politics: evidence from users in 46 countries Journal of Quantitative Description: Digital Media older adults social media |
| title | People are more engaged on Facebook as they get older, especially in politics: evidence from users in 46 countries |
| title_full | People are more engaged on Facebook as they get older, especially in politics: evidence from users in 46 countries |
| title_fullStr | People are more engaged on Facebook as they get older, especially in politics: evidence from users in 46 countries |
| title_full_unstemmed | People are more engaged on Facebook as they get older, especially in politics: evidence from users in 46 countries |
| title_short | People are more engaged on Facebook as they get older, especially in politics: evidence from users in 46 countries |
| title_sort | people are more engaged on facebook as they get older especially in politics evidence from users in 46 countries |
| topic | older adults social media |
| url | https://journalqd.org/article/view/3317 |
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