The role of social media in shaping the knowledge and attitudes of the Egyptian and Libyan public towards economic issues

Abstract

This study This study aimed to identify the role of social media in shaping the knowledge and attitudes of the Egyptian and Libyan publics towards economic issues. This was achieved by monitoring the extent and intensity of the study sample's use of social media platforms, identifying their preferred platforms, analyzing and describing the degree to which the sample relies on social media as a source of information on economic issues, and interpreting the relationship between the public's exposure to economic issues on social media and the resulting cognitive, emotional, and behavioral effects. This descriptive study employed a survey methodology using a field sample of 400 individuals, equally divided between the Egyptian and Libyan publics (200 from each group), ensuring representation of demographic variables as much as possible.

The study reached several results, the most important of which are: the high rates of use of social media sites by the Egyptian and Libyan publics, where constant use came in first place, then sometimes in second place, and the exposure of the study sample from the Egyptian and Libyan publics to economic issues on social media sites came in first place, followed by always in second place, and the cognitive effects topped the effects of the study sample’s reliance on social media sites to follow economic issues, followed by behavioral effects, and finally emotional effects.