The characteristics of social media influencers that affect political news engagement among the Thai citizens

Abstract

Nowadays, social media influencers have a significant role in influencing political news engagement among Thai citizens. This research is aimed at examining the characteristics of social media influencers who affect political news engagement among Thai citizens by gender, age, and education, and at providing policy recommendations about the promotion and development of political news engagement among the Thai citizenry through the effective and efficient use of social media influencers. Mixed-methods research was adopted. For a quantitative research approach, a questionnaire was selected to function as a research instrument to collect data from 400 respondents aged over 18 years with the right to vote in the general elections in 2023. The clusters covered 6 regions encompassing 12 provinces in Thailand. In terms of a qualitative research approach, 13 key informants who were social media influencers employed by media outlets and media freelancers presenting news on broadcast and social media channels participated in this research. Statistics applied for the data analysis included frequency, percentage, standard deviation, independent sample t-test, One-Way ANOVA, and Fisher’s LSD method for multiple comparison. The results revealed that 1) overall, each attribute of the social media influencers’ characteristics influenced political news engagement among Thai citizens at a high level. Credibility of personal brand received the highest mean, followed by celebrityhood, social networking, political opinion leadership, capability of content creation and spreading, and social status, respectively. 2) It was found that male and female respondents had different opinions toward the characteristics of the social media influencers that affect political news engagement at statistical significance of the 0.05 level, overall. In contrast, different ages and educations of the respondents had no general differences. (3) Social media influencers were significant at each step of the public policy process. Their role was to provide thorough news and information, which required innovation to develop the presentation patterns of news information in order to meet the tastes of each group of viewers. These presentation patterns could be in the use of charts, pages, or graphics that allow viewers to understand easily and quickly. Colorful presentation also enhances the viewers’ experiences, encouraging more participation in public discussions about the analysis and development of future policy implementation. As far as policy recommendation is concerned, the Government Public Relations Department of Thailand, in particular, is the government agency that has the duty to strengthen better understanding between government agencies and the people regarding public policies. Its duty is demonstrated through coordination and collaboration by giving compensation to political influencers to explain the government’s public policies and mega projects. In this regard, those public policies and mega projects that could potentially affect the people are understood with complete information. This information could lead to people’s political participation to help move public policies forward. On the other hand, it could enable people to refuse public policies in case they cause devastating damage to the country. However, social media influencers should be regulated to prevent the presentation of fake news that could harm the national security. By doing so, the Draft Media Ethics and Professional Standards Promotion Act should cover social media influencer regulations by reviewing the definition of social media and regulations that correspond to the content’s production. These regulations could apply laws and measures from foreign countries to the draft that fits the Thai context, resulting in an effective presentation of news and information. In this way, the people can reach and utilize news and information for their decision making regarding political participation.