How App Are People to Use Smartphones, Search Engines, and Social Media for News?: Examining Information Acquisition Tools and Their Influence on Political Knowledge and Voting

The growing use of tablet and smartphone news applications, search engines, and online social media for political and news information deserves attention because of the political implications. Using data from a statewide Texas opt-in poll from February 2012, this study tests the direct versus the differential hypothesis for each of the information acquisition tools with respect to political knowledge and voting. Results indicate a direct effect for search engine use and political knowledge. Suggestions for future research are provided in light of limitations of the current study and the possibility that information acquisition tool use will continue to grow.