This talk will explore the role that the most popular instant messaging app in Korea, Kakao Talk, played during the 2017 presidential election in Korea. Scholars have examined various affordances of social media and its significance in politics with respect to mobilization, learning, deliberation, and citizen communication. Analyzing a nationally representative two-wave panel survey data, this presentation will take a close look at how voters used Kakao Talk during the campaign to get and discuss news and political rumors and its effect on their political engagement, including campaign participation, knowledge, and persuasion attempts. In particular, the talk will attempt to shed some light on the impact of rumor-sharing on Kakao Talk.

Nojin Kwak is professor and chair of the Department of Communication Studies; and director of the Nam Center for Korean Studies at the University of Michigan.