Social Media and Politics: Examining Indonesians’ Political Knowledge on Facebook

The Internet and social media have played a significant role in contemporarypolitical sphere of Indonesia. In particular, they have been widely usedfor political activism and discussion; but whether the discussions areconstructive is another issue. Constructive political discussion requiresseveral preconditions; one of the most important requirements is rationalreasoning. Citizens must be equipped with some degree of politicalknowledge and competency to provide reasonable arguments andjustifications in discussions. The primary objective of this paper is to examinethe level of political knowledge of Indonesian Facebookers regardingcorruption which is currently a serious issue in Indonesia. An online surveywas conducted among the most active users of an anti-corruption Facebookgroup of Indonesians. The results of the study generally suggested that theparticipants were well informed about the current affairs of their societyand showed a high level of political knowledge in terms of the CorruptionEradication Commission and also the incumbent politicians; however, theresults indicated a low level of knowledge regarding laws and regulationssurrounding corruption as well as the issues related to the former politicians.