Informed Voting Through Incidental News Exposure? – Reconceptualizing the O-S-R-O-R Model for Social Media

Resumen de los autores

The O-S-R-O-R framework posits that news exposure affects political participation by promoting political discussion and increasing political knowledge. However, due to the widespread adoption of social media as news platforms, this model requires revision for three reasons. First, the level of intentionality of news exposure should be considered because intentional versus incidental exposure to news on social media was found to affect learning and discussion differently. Second, subjective knowledge must be considered alongside objective knowledge because accumulating evidence suggests that the actual and perceived learning effects of social media news use differ. Third, prior work has largely neglected qualitative distinctions of different forms of participation. We address this issue by incorporating “aligned voting” as an outcome. To test these model refinements, we conducted a pre-registered, two-wave panel survey surrounding the 2025 German federal election (N = 697). The results showed that the intentionality of social media news exposure is key in shaping subsequent knowledge gains and political actions, such as voting. Consistent with the O-S-R-O-R framework, exposure to news on social media can enhance the subjective sense of political knowledge. When individuals are incidentally exposed to news on social media and recognize its relevance, this can enhance their objective knowledge. This, in turn, helps them vote in line with their personal stances. These findings support a reconceptualization of the O-S-R-O-R framework to account for learning and participation in algorithmically curated social media news environments.

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Cómo citar (APA 7)

Dreston, J. H., & Neubaum, G. (2026). Informed Voting Through Incidental News Exposure? – Reconceptualizing the O-S-R-O-R Model for Social Media. https://doi.org/10.31234/osf.io/s7yqb_v1