An Empirical Study Of The Influence Of Social Media Use On College Students' Political Participation In Southwest Universities

With the rapid development of the Internet and the continuous updating of media devices,the number of Internet users in China is increasing year by year.According to official statistics,the proportion of Internet users using mobile devices to access the Internet has increased fr-om 96.3%at the end of 2016 to 98.6%at the end of 2018.This shows that mobile phones have become the main equipment for people to access the Internet.The rapid spread of mobile phones has made social media development soar.With its unique interactive features,easy operation,open resources,and the ability to share anytime and anywhere,social media has gradually penetrated into the daily lives of young people.People,especially college students,are the main tools for obtaining information,disseminating information,expressing opinions,and sharing experiences.More and more college students send their voices through social media,and forward,comment,and like the opinions they agree with and the news information they are interested in.College students are the hope of the motherland and the main force for China's future development.The status quo of their political participation is closely related to China's process of building a socialist modernization power.In the Internet era,social media has become the main tool for information release and acquisition.Public opinion will be infinitely magnified in social media,and sometimes there will be continuous reversal.The political participation of college students faces opportunities and challenges.Social media such as Weibo,WeChat,QQ,etc.,as a very important communication tool and carrier platform,they influence the political participation of college students in the subtle influence.The ability of college students to use the Internet,the ability to quickly absorb new things,and the high attention to social hotspots have determined that social media plays a very important role in the political participation of college students.At the same time,massive,diverse and irrational network information is extremely easy for college students to be guided by false and irrational information,leading to problems such as indifference to politics and decline in political participation.This paper uses empirical research methods,using questionnaires to distribute questionnaires,and 530 Southwest college students as a sample,through multiple regression analysis,to understand the influence of social media use of online college students on online and offline political participation and the regulation of political efficiency effect.The conclusions show that the social media use of college students in Southwest China is significantly positively correlated with online and offline political participation.The online and offline political participation of college students in Southwest China has a significant positive effect on their political efficacy.The influence of media use on political participation is regulated by political efficiency.This study believes that a more systematic discussion on the impact of Southwest college students' social media use on online and offline political participation and the regulation of political efficiency can provide a reference for policy formulation by relevant Southwest government departments to better guide social media.The positive impact on the political participation of Southwest college students.