Study Finds Greater Minority Involvement in Causes via Social Media

A Georgetown study on the use and effects of social media has released its first batch of findings: compared to Caucasian users, Hispanic and African-American users of social media are significantly more likely to learn about and become involved in social issues.

When asked if they felt "more likely to support a cause or social issue online than offline", the percentage of positive results from Caucasian respondents was approximately one-fourth (24%). African-American respondents answered 'more likely' nearly one-third of the time (30%) while Hispanic respondents were 39%, or nearly two-fifths more likely to support a social issue or cause online.

While the Internet has led many to observed that traditional media's role in society has decreased, television and print media remain the chief way in which all Americans learn about social issues. However, all ethnicities consider social networking (including such diverse sites as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Bebo, Bizzingo, MySpace, Tumblr, etc.) to be a major additional source of information -- with Hispanics (31%) and African Americans (27%) more likely to feel this way than Caucasians (21%). When it comes to 'getting the word out', African Americans and Hispanics both value Facebook and other social media websites as valuable (58% and 51%, versus only 34% of Caucasians), and believe that supporting causes is easier using these routes.