Funny Cats and Politics: Do Humorous Context Posts Impede or Foster the Elaboration of News Posts on Social Media?

On Social Network Sites (SNS), citizens are frequently exposed to political news posts embedded in humorous context posts, such as funny videos or pictures. Using data from two experimental studies and a two-wave panel study, we test the effect of exposure to humorous context posts on message elaboration, and the consequences for political participation and knowledge. Results from the experimental studies indicated that incidental exposure to political posts in the context of humorous posts can increase message elaboration and in turn knowledge and participation. In line with these findings, results from the panel analysis revealed that exposure to humorous posts boosted message elaboration only among individuals who rarely used SNS for news. However, for citizens who use SNS for news more frequently, the effect of humor exposure on elaboration turned negative. While the panel data suggest that message elaboration positively affected political participation, there was no positive effect on knowledge.