Online political activity continues offline

A new report from the Pew Internet and American Life Project finds that young people are becoming increasingly engaged in politics online, and that overall online activity leads to traditional offline participation.

Young voters, who have traditionally been the most apathetic demographic, are using the Internet to express their views on political and social issues:

[The] Internet has pulled in younger voters, a historically inactive group, who have latched onto social networks and online forums as a way to voice opinions, find like-minded voters, donate money or join campaigns.

Nearly twice as many 18- to 29-year-olds are engaged in online politics as those between 30 and 49 years old, the survey found. It is still unclear, however, whether these online experiences will help prompt younger citizens to become more directly involved in the political process, such as voting, campaigning and getting in touch with elected officials.

In addition, particularly among older Internet users, there is a growing correlation between online political activity and traditional offline participation:

"This online participatory group that posts on social networking sites and writes things on their own Web sites are also extremely active in other areas," said Aaron Smith, lead author of the report. "It's not the case that what happens online stays online. They're donating money at much higher rates than other groups, which is indicative that these new tools are not totally separate from other types of involvement."

About 19 percent of Internet users are engaging in some sort of online political activity, making them part of what the report is calling the "online participatory class." This is twice as high as the percentage of citizens previously thought to participate in politics through any medium.

The level of online and offline political activity is still correlated with high levels of income and education. However, there are glimmers of hope: online political activities such as blogging and social networking are less correlated with education and income than traditional activities.

You can read the full report here.

Online politics leads to offline activism (The Hill)

The Internet and Civic Engagement (Pew Internet and American Life Project)