1. Tap, scroll down, chat and more?
Examining the influence of mobile applications and interpersonal discussions towards political participation
Joseph Jai-sung Yoo, Pei Zheng,
Hyeri Jung, Victoria Y. Chen, Shuning Lu
& Thomas J. Johnson

2. Introduction
Mobile is ubiquitous. Using mobile device -> civic engagement But how? Interaction & Mediation

3. The goal of this study
The influence of mobile application use on political participation, from the perspective of the Differential Gains Model and the Communication Mediation Model.

4. Mobile Communication & Politics
Political use of mobile phone technology
The low cost, easiness and portability
The pattern of mobile application use for political news and information and its impact on political participation

5. Interpersonal Communication
Soul of democracy
Online and offline
Mobile devices: sources for the public to consume political information and engage in interpersonal communication

6. Differential Gains Model (Scheufele, 2002)
The political effects of news media messages are contingent upon media’s interaction with interpersonal communication.
Communication Mediation Model (Shah, Cho, Eveland, Kwak, 2005)
Mass Communication has an influence on political engagement but such relationship is indirect: Interpersonal communication mediates the effects of news media toward political participation.

7. Hypotheses
H1: The interaction between mobile application use and online communication is positively related to H1a) online and H1b) offline participation.
H2: The interaction between mobile application use and face-to-face communication is positively related to H2a) online and H2b) offline participation.

8. Hypotheses
H3: Online communication mediates the relationship between mobile application use and a) online and b) offline political participation.
H4: Face-to-face communication mediates the relationship between mobile application use and a) online and b) offline political participation.

9. Methodology
From one week before to one week after the 2012 presidential election
N=1267
Hierarchical linear regression (Differential Gains) & Path analysis (Communication Mediation)

10. Independent variables
Age, Gender, Race, Education, Income
Party ties, ideology and political interests
Reliance on mobile applications
Online & face-to-face discussion
Interaction (App x discussion): Differential Gain

11. Figure (Communication Mediation)

12. Dependent variables

13. Results (Differential Gain)
Online & offline political participations are predicted by reliance on news applications X online discussion (H1 supported).
Online discussion: direct effects toward both forms of participation
Face-to-Face discussion: direct effects toward offline participation but no interaction effects with mobile apps
(H2 rejected).
Mobile application: direct effect toward both forms of political participations

14. Results (Communication Mediation)
The path from reliance on mobile applications toward online participation is mediated by online discussion.
The path from reliance on mobile applications toward offline participation is mediated by online & face-to-face discussions.
H3 fully supported, H4 partly supported

17. Discussion Mobile application and online discussion
-> Both mediation and moderation effects
Portability, connectivity and personalization of mobile
Smartphone for online political discussion
-> larger network size through weak ties
Mobilizing individuals in online activities

18. Conclusion Mobile could complement face-to-face talk.
Need for clearer causal relationships & panel study
News media companies: development of mobile news applications to elicit more engagement