When people think about social media, they think about the upsides of it. It speaks to what they want in democracy that they're not getting. They feel disconnected, voiceless, and not empowered. So, if there's ways that social media can play a role in empowering people and giving them a voice and holding accountable leaders that they don't think listen to them, those are upsides and that's some of the reasons why you get more positive evaluations of social media than we might think.Richard WikeBecome a Patron!Make a one-time Donation to Democracy Paradox.A full transcript is available at www.democracyparadox.com.Richard Wike is director of global attitudes research at Pew Research Center. He conducts research and writes about international public opinion on a variety of topics, such as America’s global image, the rise of China, democracy, and globalization. His latest report (coauthored with Laura Silver, Janell Fetterolf, Christine Huang, Sarah Austin, Laura Clancy and Sneha Gubbala) is   "Social Media Seen as Mostly Good for Democracy Across Many Nations, But U.S. is a Major Outlier."Key HighlightsIntroduction - 0:47Role of Survey Research - 2:47Views on Social Media and Democracy - 5:27Differences by Age - 16:35Social Media Engagement - 24:23 Key Links"Social Media Seen as Mostly Good for Democracy Across Many Nations, But U.S. is a Major Outlier" by Richard Wike, Laura Silver, Janell Fetterolf, Christine Huang, Sarah Austin, Laura Clancy and Sneha Gubbala"Liberal Democracy’s Crisis of Confidence" by Richard Wike and Janell Fetterolf in the Journal of DemocracyLearn more about Richard Wike at the Pew Research CenterDemocracy Paradox PodcastAllie Funk of Freedom House Assesses Global Internet FreedomRonald Deibert from Citizen Lab on Cyber Surveillance, Digital Subversion, and Transnational RepressionMore Episodes from the PodcastMore InformationDemocracy GroupApes of the State created all MusicEmail the show at jkempf@democracyparadox.comFollow on Twitter @DemParadox, Facebook, Instagram @democracyparadoxpodcast100 Books on DemocracyDemocracy Paradox is part of the Amazon Affiliates Program and earns commissions on items purchased from links to the Amazon website. All links are to recommended books discussed in the podcast or referenced in the blog.Support the show