Social antecedents and consequences of political privacy
Using a national sample in the United States ( n = 1047), we test the social stratification of (1) political disclosure and (2) its effects on one’s decision to connect into and disconnect from communities, as indicated by friendship or follower status. The analysis poses larger questions about the function of social media in bringing together diverse communities and explores how one’s political disclosure is (1) affected by social backgrounds and (2) affects the characteristic of mediated social interactions. We found that political disclosure and racial background had the interactive relationship in influencing one’s social connection. Frequent social media use, on the other hand, was not associated with the disclosure of political viewpoints. We discuss the implications of how socialization might incubate the differential effects among social segments, as well as the mixed effects of social media on the users from different communities.