The Impact of Social Media on Students' Perspectives and Voting Behavior in the 2022 Philippine Presidential Elections

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University of San Agustin

General Luna St., 5000 Iloilo City, Philippines
www.usa.edu.ph
SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL

“Our Screen, Our Choice?”: Presidential Elections 2022
For USA SHS Students
A Research Paper
Presented to the Faculty and Staff of
Senior High School Basic Education Department
Iloilo City
In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirement

for Practical Research 1
Academic Year: 2021-2022
By:
Cortez, Mary Jolen S.
Matulac, Carylle S
Recato, Rochel Anne M.
Suyao, Irish Pearl
June 2022
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Table of Contents
Page no.
Title Page…………………………………………………………………… i
Table of Contents……………………………………………………………. ii
I. Introduction………………………………………………………………….. 1
Background of the Study……………………………………………………. 1
Theoretical Framework……………………………………………………… 4
Statement of the Problem 5
Significance of the Study 6
Scope and Delimitation of the Study 6
Definition of Terms 7
I. Related Literature and Studies 8
II. Methodology 17
Research Design 17
Respondents of the Study 17
Research Instrument 18
Data Gathering Procedure 18
Data Analysis 20
References 21
Appendices 26
Interview Guide 26
Transcript of Interview 28
Photo Documentation 42
Curriculum Vitae
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I. Introduction
Background of the study
“The Youth is The Hope of Our Future”
Dr. Jose P. Rizal(1879)
The "future" Jose Rizal is talking about is the choices these young individuals will
make for the country's sake. Students have the opportunity to influence and to be
influenced. As soon as these young individuals mold their minds, they are given the right
to elect someone they trust to let them lead their future, but what if this leadership is
laced with manipulation and corruption? We are raised in an era of technology where
everything we see could be an instrument that can change our perspective and the power
to change the perspective of others. According to Chaffey's (2022) data, there are around
4.62 billion people worldwide, while 92.05 million in the Philippines from the data of
Kemp ( 2022). Social media is a medium of information. It could be used to inform or to
mislead. The mass media have the upper hand on what is happening worldwide to the
point that it has become a necessity. With the election just around the corner, the mass
media is booming with information that could affect the citizens' views. Since we are in a
pandemic, they are dependent only on their devices, and the moment these young people
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open their eyes in the morning, they are faced with content like memes, out-of-the-
context videos, and edits.
The use of social media in current political activity is a new occurrence that is
reshaping election campaigns and the way politicians are engaging with the people. It has
shown that social media has an impact on the voting behavior of youth on how it is
affecting the evidence of people's opinions. These platforms influence the public
allowing them to get information or to provide information within minutes that can
falsify the statement without any confirmation.
In this study, we want to tackle the media's social influence on young students'
public opinion and voting behavior. Their perspective views have calculated the effect of
social media platforms during campaigns. The growing problem of engaging with these
media is still an issue for some people/students who have been manipulated. It may have
an unprecedented impact on the country's future.
The country can not function as a whole without its people. For the students to
have this "future,": first, they need to have a wise, aware and knowledgeable electorate,
someone that knows the competency, plans, vision, and the background of the candidates.
With or without social media, they should be able to tell us about the problems of the
nation's choices and decisions on what we will have for our youth's future. A creative
approach to young people will help to ensure the process by expressing their opinion by
voting to choose a peaceful and efficient way of choosing political leaders.
Influencing the public opinion of students with positive or negative results will
be based on the information they get by showing the result of their attitudes, beliefs, and
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characteristics since most students will rely more on social media because of the power it
holds by dragging people who they can use as one of their victims of uninformative
resources it's obvious that poor reading comprehension is one of the main causes during
the election.
Students are more advanced in technologies that can be defined as the best tool
as their weapon, same as how they collect information from the internet to express their
opinion by public voting. Somehow the relationship between these two can be lacking in
context due to not having enough resources for their views leading to fake news. From
the study of the role of social media in Presidential Election Cycles by Guse (2019), Over
the last years, due to the pandemic that is happening, political election cycles have
become more heavily dependent on the use of social media marketing in campaigning. In
today's society, technology and online communication utilize both business transactions
and personal enjoyment.
With the election just around the corner, we cannot take any chances that social
media is a propaganda battleground, and it is what candidates rely on the most to win the
voters' hearts. It is where ideas will collide, platforms will be contrasted, and candidates'
personalities will be assessed.
We want to analyze students' connection to social media and if it impacts their
behavior and ability to change their minds to both true or false information on the internet
in a more timely manner than any other type of detail they see.
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This study aims to determine the impact of social media on the perspective of
students and the impact of students on social media. Nevertheless, such an investigation
is crucial for us as students. It will inform us about the era of technological progress on
the quality of the electorate's decisions. We need to ascertain whether campaigns can help
people make more informed decisions and enlighten choices that voters must understand
their rights and responsibilities and be sufficiently well informed and knowledgeable. By
this, we will start discussing how we give people an opportunity to have their say by
expressing their opinions to satisfy their need to feel a sense of belonging. Moreover, to
give them only the correct information that is legally valid. We then will review the
specific evidence of details and facts from reliable social media sources.
Theoretical Framework
To guide the researcher in conducting the study, The book "Existentialism is a
Humanism" by Jean-Paul Sartre( 1946) will be used as the basis of our operation.
According to Sartre (1946), experience is essential because it molds our
opinion, identity, ideals, and worldview. He states that we could only give meaning to our
existence by not just existing alone but by how we chose ourselves to live. As he has
said, "existence precedes essence ."Our life is not a fixed path, and no one can pre-
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determine how a person should live their life. Existentialism focuses on the importance of
freedom, actions, and commitment.
Sartre's existentialism almost correlates with how people use social media. The
experience we have while socializing using a social media platform gives the SHS
students of the University of San Agustin the experience and opportunity to mold
themselves. The theory focused on the impacts of social media on the students and if the
contents online shape their stand, opinion, or perspective in choosing someone who could
lead the country with unity, discipline, and prosperity.
Statement of the Problem
This study aims to influence youth and the Senior High school students of the
University of San Agustin to hold free and fair organizations and proper development
resources to disseminate reliable information to voters to exercise their rights effectively.
This study sought to answer the following questions:
1. How can the media persuade the choices of electors to become their decisions?
2. What are the influences of social media on SHS students during elections?
3. Why do students use social media as their tool of information?

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Scope and Limitations of the Study
This study focuses on finding out how social media platforms influence the
behavior of Senior High school student voters at the University of San Agustin during a
political campaign. This will utilize phenomenological approach as its research design.
This study will utilize the purposive sampling technique. These student voters
of the University of San Agustin(SHS) will be chosen for their insight into how
influential the mass media is in their personal choice.
This study will be from April 2022 to June 2022
Significance of the Study
We, the researchers, strongly believe that this study will benefit the students,
election candidates, web developers, and future researchers.
For students, they will be aware and wise as to how social media can have a
significant influence and impact in today's Presidential Elections.
For election candidates, in a way that they can know how they can approach and
what the influence of social media is.
For future researchers, this study could serve as a foothold that could guide
them in the future if they study or have an idea about this concept concerning this study.
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Definition of Terms
The following terms are defined conceptually and operationally or as used in the
study.
Screen. It is an apparatus in which images are projected or displayed that we
commonly see on mobile devices (Chateau & Moure,2016).
In this paper, "Screen" is a representation of social media. It depicts the contents of
the mass media to the University of San Agustin SHS students.
Choice. It is crucial to acknowledge that the learner's choice is guided by the
context of the learning opportunity and the instructor, who aids the learner in making
effective choices. ( Buchem, Tur, & Hölterhof, 2014 )
In this statement/study, learners of SHS students at the University of San Agustin
are given the freedom to choose to make decisions about how they view their candidates.
Awareness. A subjective and straightforward equivalence of consciousness with
self-reports suggests that an observer "consciously observes" stimuli. It is argued that a
more objective measure of awareness is required to differentiate between the subjective
states of "seeing" and "not seeing" a stimulus. (Henley, S.H.A. (1984))
In this study, awareness refers to the state of being aware as a student at the
University of San Agustin; it gives us the ability to influence the outcome.

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II. Review of Related Literature and Studies
"Our Screen, Our Choice?": Philippine Election in USA SHS Students. This study
focuses on determining the influence of social media on the electorates or the students of
the University of San Agustin, Academic Year 2021-2022/
Specifically, it will answer the following questions.
2. What are the influences of social media on SHS students during elections?
The influential power of social media
Social media has become the primary source of information as we live in an era
where everything we do reflects who we are as a person. We hold millions of credible
information in just a grasp of a hand and influence in just a click of a finger. Based on the
data from Statista Research Department, Filipino people spend over 4 hours using social
media, which ranks the highest across the Asia Pacific region.
In modern times, social media dominates the life of the youths. It is a great avenue
to discuss issues regarding the problem that Filipino people face today. Facebook,
YouTube, Twitter, Tik-Tok, and Instagram are just some of the applications we use
today. These applications or websites could directly influence young people's behavior,
beliefs, and opinions. The people could use this platform to influence.
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The electorate's choice is one of society's most critical institutional choices. They
voice their opinions using the platforms of social media. The electorate's every word,
action, and perceived thoughts are paraded before the public. The media has been
changed into something vast communication tool where situations are vocal, which they
can access and be involved with the candidate.
The accessibility of social media makes it an excellent platform that may impact
public opinion. Public actors are willing to go to any length to attract the public attention,
throwing information and reflecting the use of every elector's expression to influence and
affect their behavior by protesting the reality. Because of the qualities of social media
(very interactive, simple to use, and open resources that can be shared at any time and
from any location), involvement in political or public affairs discussions has been much
more accessible: individuals can express their ideas more directly, freely, and openly,
making communication between administration, organizations, and people more
convenient and seamless. Electorate doing what they want to do for one thing: they know
what they act for putting words. They can generate positive feelings of trust and mutual
support through accessible communication and interaction made by any platform
composed of every detail with indefinite resources or collective data. However, somehow
it increases their satisfaction by spitting facts and gathering their knowledge.

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The psychological grip of social media on society.
How we receive information provided by social media could psychologically affect
us in many ways. The pandemic is one of the factors why people drown themselves in the
pool of social media to aid the longingness of the outside world.
According to the article Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience, the
validation people receive from different social media platforms activates the brain
circuitry around the striatum and ventral tegmental area of the brain that sends signals
like receiving a reward. An example is receiving likes and appreciative comments or
positive feedback on social media. The ventral tegmental area (VTA) is one of the parts
that are responsible for firing dopamine receptors that give us a pleasant feeling when we
are posting or engaging in social media( Sherman L, Hernandez L., et al., 2018)
In another study, they used MRI technology to monitor brain activity and count
similarities in the previous results. They state that viewing photos with many (compared
with few) likes was associated with more significant activity in neural regions implicated
in reward processing, social cognition, imitation, and attention."
With social media so connected to the reward systems, they will soon dawn the
possibility of abuse. Gambling, drug usage, and cybersex could have the same power to
rule the mind the way our mind rewards itself. Users should be aware of these to avoid
potential danger.
Social media stimuli also affect the brain's decision-making and emotional
processing functions. In the study by Crone and Konjin (2018), adolescents' brain activity
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that deals with sensory and emotional processing has a distinct reaction when the
participants feel included. It highlights the online social exclusion on the brains of
adolescents.
The article entitled "The Psychology of Social Sharing" included Abraham
Maslow's hierarchy of human needs. The author's approach was a marketing strategy.
The author states that people post on social media to benefit the health or well-being of
their loved ones and friends, which falls on the physiological needs of humane. When
people choose to post on social media, they think of their physical, mental, and financial
security. Some people post to feel social acceptance or the feeling of belongingness from
a group or a specific individual. Esteem is also part of it since people want to quell the
rewards-oriented parts of their brain. Lastly, the self-actualization, this aspect of social
media is the most important of the human needs, showcasing their success like graduating
from school, getting a new job, or updating any parts of their life.
An article titled "Why We Share A Study of Motivations for Mobile Media Sharing
."The social experiment goes with the process of the respondent were asked to document
their posting habits and corresponding feelings in a diary, and they conducted a post-
study interview, and they found out "that social and emotional influences played an
important role in media sharing behavior" states by Goh and Ang (2009)
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According to the study by Shapiro and Margolin (2015) entitled "Growing Up
Wired: Social Networking Sites and Adolescent Psychosocial Development, young adults
or adolescents' motivation for using social media is similar to a traditional form of
communication- to keep in touch with family and friends, meet new people, discover new
information and present oneself to others.
The voters' interest is influenced by the media platforms allowing students to
express their opinions.
The results revealed that the new media and technology had altered interpersonal
interactions. Media communication patterns play an essential role in informing the public
about political events, engaging the roles of its user, and motivating them to participate in
offline political activities (Golan, Arceneaux,& Soule, 2019). When students seek new
information about a topic, social media can instantly change their minds. The online
sphere is popular among voters because they know about their political candidates
through various means of party organization.
These can be used as a tool by the media, or students accessing the balanced
information is undermined if digital political manipulation may influence them. Media
chooses information to make public to be biased, but ultimately serves as a way to reach
and inform a wide variety of people or students coming from universities and to stand
firm in their opinion, not based on what they saw on other platforms. also points out that
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social media provides a space where individuals can engage in politics and generate
political action: in short, when individuals use social media and access information, they
are more inclined to participate in politics (Chen, 2016) ........ and people who share
views, through discussion, can increase their engagement and understanding of issues
and, consequently, their motivation to participate in political and public affairs (Eveland,
2004; Kim and Chen, 2016).
Despite setbacks, media has grown considerably since its founding to measure the
impact of online platforms. It attracts an audience that can find connections by
constructing a detailed profile of the candidates chosen by the students, allowing their
resources to captivate them and acknowledge their opinions to be heard and be a part of
it.
The situations in public to engaged and the active role in political discourse
Students actively utilize new media for political information, such as exchanging
thoughts and debating political topics with their peers (Ashad & Hassan, 2014)...........
Social media is a virtual internet community platform upon which people create, share,
and exchange opinions, views, and experiences (Saud et al., 2020b). Students are active
users brought by the media related to political activities.

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Political participation on Facebook by Universities influences their advocacy and
is related to how much time they spend and engage in politics online. Endeavored to dig
out the facts about social and digital media in political communication and concluded that
Social media is being used for social relations and updating the users about happenings.
Stieglitz, Brockmann, and Xuan (2012) .....Students can build lovely sentiments of trust
and mutual support in virtual social networks through accessible communication and
engagement, which are vital for well-being.
The findings show that students selected candidates to combine strong or weak
control over their beliefs with a specific mix of replication and meaning-oriented
evaluation expectations through media. Therefore, internet users may increase
interpersonal interactions (Nie, 2001) and thus positively affect social capital (Ostic et al.,
2021). They found a strong correlation between social media platforms and collective
movements making students more vocal and entering the communication between
people, and how media can drag millions of people or students from universities. With
their power persuasion in the active role in politics, everyone is becoming more interested
in that topic because of what media hold and published that can attract and influence
people to write down their particular candidates.

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What the social media has to offer in giving information that may or may not help
the students in need of information.
Based on the study, social media has exploded as a genre of online discourse in
which users produce, share, and share content and network at breakneck speed. Social
media is rapidly transforming the world due to its simplicity of use, speed, and reach
public debate in society, as well as shaping trends and agendas in areas ranging from the
environment and politics to technology and the entertainment sector (Asur and
Huberman, 2010)
Students believe that online platforms in the use of finding information are
inexpensive and handy ways to access essential information that have a big help to
students. Several researchers have discovered that using online platforms for blended
learning considerably impacts students' educational outcomes and satisfaction
(Zhu,2012). Online platforms provide students with initiatives to enhance learning
techniques. It may include social media extensions that enable sharing and engagement
through these networks. Despite physical boundaries, mobile devices and social media
give excellent educational e-learning options to students for academic collaboration,
access to course materials, and tutors (Gikas, J., & Grant, M. M. (2013). Students can
connect and effectively use these platforms for their learning and teaching. Social media
has become an essential tool not only for communication and marketing but also in the
field of education.
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The positive side and the negative side of mass media.
Positive:
• Accessing information, providing information, and communicating via social
media is frequently more manageable and convenient. Students can connect and
effectively use these platforms for their learning and teaching. Social media has
become an essential tool not only for communication and marketing but also in
the field of education.
• Social media has become a valuable tool for sharing, reviewing, and quickly
obtaining answers to any questions they may have.
Negative:
• The downsides of social media are fake news, cyberbullying, and internet trolls.
• Fake News or stories can easily sway students' views and opinions, push different
political agendas, and sometimes confuse the readers, which can often be
profitable for people who publish articles online. It can also be created by any
political party to push various political agendas. These kinds of false information
reach the students and thus affect the informed choices of the country's people.
Fake news leads to distrust in social media and misinformation. Students may also
come across some trolls on the internet as to why students should be able to know
how to avoid and deal with it.
•
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III. Research Methodology
Research design
This study aims to analyze the influential power of social media in the minds of the
USA SHS students. This study will determine how social media could impact the
perception of truth. Furthermore, they must understand their rights and responsibilities
and be sufficiently knowledgeable and well informed. The researchers will use the
Phenomenological study as their research method. This is where they will conduct
interviews to gather information.
Respondents of the study
The purposive sampling method will be used as the sampling technique. In this
study, we will only choose (8) Senior High School students from the University of San
Agustin to give us their thoughts. The key informants of the study are chosen from the
Senior High School students that will provide us with their thoughts about the influence
of social media on their level of perception.

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Research Instrument.
Due to today's pandemic crisis, the safety of our key informants and our
interviewer is our top priority. We will conduct the interview through the usage of a
video conferencing application called Zoom. The thoughts and experiences of the key
informants will be the subject of the interview that centered on the topic of social media's
influence on our youth.
Validation and Reliability Testing
We, Researchers, will use face and content validation to prove the validity of the
discussion to be asked. We will ask (3) people who are good and experts in research for
ideas and feedback on the study and interview. The gathered suggestions and new guide
questions will be compiled and implemented.
Data Gathering Procedure
In this study, to assess the participation of young voters in SHS students in the
electoral process, it is essential to have reliable data to develop where SHS students can
conduct the resources they gather and collect during surveys. Elections are about more
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than just voting, and the election cycle as a whole is becoming increasingly data-driven.
At least some personal data is collected during voter registration, authentication, voting,
and results in transmission.
The personal data of respondents will be the basis of this new approach to
influencing political processes. Individuals are profiled based on their expressed or
inferred political opinions, tastes, and attributes through collecting and processing
massive quantities of data. The collection supports coursework in campaign elections
where the participants target their opponents.
Ethical consideration
The participants in the research study will be asked formally to be one of the
informants, and their appearance on the Zoom will serve as their way of consenting. All
participants will be fully informed about the study's purpose and the data collection
process. Every participant will be given time to ask questions and express concerns; thus,
a participant information sheet will be provided to explain the study's purpose and
information about the research personnel, such as contact information. Participants will
have complete discretion over whether to participate.
The researchers will ensure that the participants' interaction will be conducted
conservatively, with the researchers ensuring privacy. All information obtained from
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participants will be acknowledged and appropriately depicted in the study; additionally,
participants will not be held back from skipping questions or withdrawing at any cost.
Data analysis
This is a qualitative study, and the interview will be the primary data-gathering
instrument. As a result, the data acquired will be summarized using the interview
transcript.
Content Analysis is a valuable research tool for examining human thoughts and actions.
During content analysis, researchers will compile qualitative data based on human
language in written form or through interviews. The role of content analysis is to
understand the context of observed human behavior, communication, or emotional
response within a specific situation.
Thematic analysis is a method of analyzing qualitative data. It is usually applied to texts,
such as an interview or transcripts. The most common form of conducting a thematic
analysis follows a six-step process: familiarization, coding, generating themes, reviewing
themes, defining and naming themes, and writing up. It is an excellent approach to
research where they are trying to find out something about people's views, opinions,
knowledge, experiences, or values from a set of qualitative data – for example,
interviewing or transcripts.
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Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience, Volume 13, Issue 7, July 2018, Pages 699–
707, https://doi.org/10.1093/scan/nsy051
Sherman L., Payton A. et.al. (2016) the Power of the Like in Adolescence: Effects of
Peer Influence on Neural and Behavioral Responses to Social Media.
Psychological Science. Retrieved May 21, 2022 from
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0956797616645673
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Goh, D.HL., Ang, R.P., Chua, A.Y.K., Lee, C.S. (2009). Why We Share: A Study of
Motivations for Mobile Media Sharing. In: Liu, J., Wu, J., Yao, Y., Nishida, T.
(eds) Active Media Technology. AMT 2009. Lecture Notes in Computer Science,
vol 5820. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-04875-
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Spies Shapiro, L. A., & Margolin, G. (2014). Growing up wired: social networking sites
and adolescent psychosocial development. Clinical child and family psychology
review, 17(1), 1–18. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10567-013-0135-1

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Appendices
Interview Guide
Our Screen, Our Choice”: 2022 Presidential Elections for USA SHS Students.
This study aims to know the influential power of social media to the youth and
the Senior Highschool students of University of San Agustin to hold free and fair
organizations and proper development resources to disseminate comprehensive reliable
information to voters from exercising their rights effectively.
This study sought to answer the following questions:
2. What are the influences of social media to SHS students during elections?
USA SHS Students
Q1; Can you share what website or social media outlet do you usually encounter
information about this year’s election?
Q2: Do you have friends that influence you into choosing that certain candidate? and in
what way?
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Q3: Does social media influence your decision, or does it effect on your choice of
candidate during elections?
Q4: Can you share what social media platform do you use?
Q5: Why do you use that specific platform, can you share your reason?
Q6: Approximately how many times do you encounter fake news or troll accounts?
Q7: How can you say that your source is accurate?
Q8: How can you say that what you see in social media is a reliable source, can you share
your ways or methods?
Q9: Can you that you are easily swayed or influenced by the things you see in social
media or not?
Q10: Can you share your experience on why you think the media is effective in spreading
information?
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Transcript of the Interview
Interviewer: Mary Jolen Cortez
Interviewee: Regine Caeli Fadriga
DATE: June 12, 2022 TIME : 7:00 PM-7: 30 PM
PLACE: Zoom Meeting
RESPONDENT 1: Regine Caeli Fadriga
How can the media persuade the choices of electors to become their decisions?
Response: The internet is vast and is full of opportunities, it’s like what we first think
when we thought of Manila or any highly urbanized cities. Because of how big and free
the internet is, anyone can post anything they want which results a lot of people making
fake articles about the candidate for election. Not only that, if a gullible person who
doesn't know that the article is fake, they would spread it like wildfire thus people
consuming fake news.
What are the influences of social media to SHS students during elections?
Response: Because of social media, students can support their candidate through the use
of their social media platform like Facebook. During the time of the campaign, my news
feed will be filled by “Kakampink” campaign from my fellow peers. Anyone can post
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anything. They can share life experiences, essays, realizations, and explanation on why
they chose this candi7. Of course, students would often side to their friends and
sometimes students who aren't researching thoroughly about the candidate would see a
hostile article about another candidate, they would think it’s true. Our minds are easily
influenced by what we see and what we deemed interesting. A candidate knows this thus
making us automatically liked a fb group without our knowledge spamming our pages
with their campaign that you don't even want.
Why do students use social media as their tool of information?
Response: Students used social media as their tool of information because it's pretty fast
and accessible to information just like when a radio announce there would be no classes
because of a typhoon. Internet is so fast that a trend could come and go by the day. Not
only that, but our lives are also completely transformed to depend on social media
because of the pandemic.
Can you share what website or social media outlet do you usually encounter
Response: Facebook. My news feed would be filled with campaigns of Leni Robredo
and BBM. Its either factual information or total fabrication. Each supporters share their
accounts or experiences with the other candidate supporter. I witnessed fights among the
two sides that it made me want to strangle them and tell them to chill
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Do you have friends that influence you into choosing that certain candidate? and in
what way?
Response: No. Majority of my friends are “Kakampinks” and only some are pro BBM.
They would share posts on social media about their candidate and I would just read it and
pass by it. I also asked their chosen candidate and made them explain why they would
choose that candidate. Even in the end I'm standing on Leni. But throughout the whole
campaign it made me upset enough that if I was voting I won't vote because of the
toxicity of both parties.
Does social media influence your decision, or does it effect on your choice of
Response: No. Not at all. I researched about the candidates and so far for me, only one
has is qualified to run. My dad however influenced me the most since he had lived
through Marcos time and he experienced the rise and fall of a president thus making him
support Leni than BBM or to any other candidate.
Can you share what social media platform do you use?
Response: I usually use Facebook and Messenger, Instagram and YouTube.

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Why do you use that specific platform, can you share your reason?
Response: Out of the three, i like to use YouTube since I like to watch game theories,
animatics, and animated videos made by independent creators.
Approximately how many times do you encounter fake news or troll accounts?
Response: Not too often since I don't spend my time online on Facebook and other social
media sites except for YouTube. I can only encounter fake exposes when i deliberately
search for it like clickbait titles.
How can you say that your source is accurate?
Response: Well for me the source is accurate that if look at different websites they have
the same message or thought. It might not be written the same, but they have the same
thought. And I would only use Edu sites to get my sources of information.
How can you say that what you see in social media is a reliable source, can you share
your ways or methods?

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Response: I can't tell by first glance if jts a reliable source or not. I have to read through
it first and then have a search about it. If there's anything that contradicts or doesn't add
up, then it is most likely fake.
Can you that you are easily swayed or influenced by the things you see in social
media or not?
Response: No. I don't get easily influenced and often have a different say about social
media.
Can you share your experience on why you think the media is effective in spreading
information?
Response: I think its effective since it is used the go to news source of our generation
nowadays. We wake up in the morning and check our social media on what is the latest
trend or news. One hot title and a convincing picture you got yourself viewers. It’s
because social media is very fast like it even beats the radio from announcing if students
should stay indoors and not go to school. Because of a thunderstorm.

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Interviewer: Carylle Matulac
Interviewee: Chrystal Jade Villalobos
Date: June 18, 2022 Time: 9:00 pm
Place: Zoom
RESPONDENT 2: Chrystal Jade Villalobos
In approximately, how many times do you encounter fake news or troll accounts?
Response: Many accidents that happen around the social media platform and most of the
time I encountered fake news in Facebook and twitter where people could put their
opinions and thoughts that we think its valid but there’s no logical resources, but as this
fake news spread in the media posts and accounts help make misinformation viral made
me aware of the things that I scan and search for an article to base my knowledge and
better to be have a reliable resources.
Can you share your experience on why you think the media is effective in spreading
information?
Response: One of the things I experience is that…. People can share thoughts; people
can share information; The information can be truthful, un-truthful, or an opinion of the
writer. Truthful information can be difficult to ascertain, but can most likely be found on
the majority of national and local news profiles so that major news publications have the
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burden to ensure the information they release is truthful and accurate. And on the other
side, News sources are known for tracking down sources to verify the authenticity of the
information. Un-truthful information can be spread purposely or accidental. So there are
many ways to be effective inside the role of social media but not all the it is accurate so it
is better to be aware on the things and better to have a reliable resources that we can relay
and trust for the future happenings.
Can you share what social media platform do you use?
Response: I've been using Facebook and Twitter as my source since they allow us to
have conversations, share information, and so on.
Why do students use social media as their tool of information?
Response: social media is commonly used for social engagement, news and information
access, and decision making because it is common for us as students It is an useful
communication tool with others both locally and globally, as well as a means to share,
create, and spread information.
How can the media persuade the choices of electors to become their decisions?
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Response: Social media may help voters or electors become more knowledgeable about
politics, but it can also spread incorrect information, which can sway voters' beliefs
negatively. It can bring conflict and the loss of friendships due to opposing political
opinions.
Interviewer: Irish Pearl Suyao
Interviewee: Edgelyn Hualde
Date: June 19 2022 Time: 9-10 pm
Place: Zoom
RESPONDENT 3: Edgelyn Hualde
Q1: Can you share what website or social media outlet you usually encounter
Response: FACEBOOK and TWITTER
Q2: Do you have friends that influence you into choosing that certain candidate?
and in what way?
Response: Yes, they shared some posts that contain information about their chosen
candidate, and I tried reading some of them and that helped me choose my candidate.
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Q3: Does social media influence your decision, or does it affect your choice of
Response: Yes, social media influence affected my choice of candidate during the
election.
Q4: Can you share what social media platform you use?
Response: FACEBOOK
Q5: Why do you use that specific platform, can you share your reason?
Response: I use Facebook because it seems like a big platform to share your own
opinions and share facts because many people use it.
Q6: Approximately how many times do you encounter fake news or troll accounts?
Response: I don't know the exact times I've been fooled by fake news but i think many
times.
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Q7: How can you say that your source is accurate?
Response: I conduct some research on the author to determine whether the source is
reliable. I look to see if the creators have the credentials, academic backgrounds, and,
most importantly, experience to write authoritatively about the subject.
Q8: are you easily swayed or influenced by the things you see in social media or
not?
Response: Yes, but I try my best to do some research before I totally believe it.
Q9: Can you share your experience on why you think the media is effective in
spreading information?
Response: I'm a SHS student, so we also have research, and to conduct our research, we
need to collect data via google forms, and the best, way to conduct that type of survey is
to send it through messenger, and it really helps because, Social media is really effective
in spreading information because it allows us to quickly forward information in a large
group.
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Interviewer: Rochel Anne Recato
Interviewee: Kirwick Daven Cordero
Date: June 20 2022 Time: 9am-10am
Place: Zoom
RESPONDENT 3: Kirwick Daven Cordero
Q; Can you share what website or social media outlet you usually encounter
Response: There’s usually a lot of social media platforms, this could be Facebook,
twitter, Instagram, and I could also find information and ads in google.
Q: Do you have friends that influence you into choosing that certain candidate? and
in what way?
Response: Yes, they are my former junior high school classmates. They influence me by
telling some of the candidates’ credentials, their background information, educational
backgrounds. They also tell me why this candidate or party list is better by telling me
their plans and their intentions and their sincerity as well.
Q: Can you share what social media platform you use?
Response: Usually Facebook and also on twitter but i don’t usually get my information
from Facebook but I get mostly what information I know to include there but that doesn’t
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mean I would immediately believe or get the information from there, I would just get the
topic and research it on my own.
Q: How can you say that your source is accurate?
Response: My sources could be Facebook, twitter, google and other trusted news
websites so I am certain that Facebook and twitter is not really that reliable credible
source for information but rather google news websites. Information like ABC News,
ABCBN News, GMA News Website, though the information I got from them and other
websites that are associated with education, institutions and organizations as well.
Q: How can you say that what you see in social media is a reliable source, can you
share your ways or methods?
Response: The first thing to know about a certain information you got from social media
would be if it is believable or not and it doesn’t sound made up so it is common sense
that if you got an information from social media that sounds like it’s made up or it
doesn’t add up the things, like -there is a certain candidate that their father who was a
former president was appointed with Jose Rizal- so doesn’t sound real right because it
doesn’t add up, so things like that is really just common sense most of the time since you
would just know from the first look if it is real or not. To be sure you would just have to
information from trusted sources, like information educational institutions, research

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studies, verified sources, but when you say “vloggers” it doesn’t really sound credible
since they might be bluffing or just to say it for clout even though it’s not actually real.
They are doing it maybe for misinformation and to destroy other people.
Q: Can you be easily swayed or influenced by the things you see in social media or
not?
Response: Well before, I am actually different in my on ways I don’t know what to
believe yet in the internet since I thought every information is verified and proved but
when I encountered several fake news and overtime I believed them before yes of course
but today I realized that some information back then is really not correct so I learnt my
lesson and do my own research, do my own verification in some ways to verify
information and uses credible sources so I would not do the same thing, so no I am not
easily swayed by fakes news and misinformation.
Q: Can you share your experience on why you think the media is effective in
spreading information?
Response: This is my own experience I would say, the social media is very defective in
misinformation, fake news and convincing who are gullible enough, those people who do
not have the basic background information, those who would just believe anything they
see in social media whether you tell them to verify it or you don’t believe it. It is very
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effective in that population because some people would just believe anything especially
those who do not know anything about a certain topic so they just believe what is fed to
them, so social media is that form for all kinds of information without deep analysis
whether fake news or misinformation. So people who would be curious and do not apply
critical thinking would just easily be swayed by misinformation, they would just eat and
eat until they believe it’s true. They say that when you believe a lie long enough it will
become the truth, that is their mentality. For those who have critical thinking they would
just tell it’s a lie again and again and they would not believe it until they would verify it
themselves. So people who are just staying in social media without the experience of
research and verifying sources would just be easily swayed and would fall prey upon fake
news and misinformation.

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1

University of San Agustin

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In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirement

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I. Related Literature and Studies 8

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Background of the study

“The Youth is The Hope of Our Future”

Dr. Jose P. Rizal(1879)

Kemp ( 2022). Social media is a medium of information. It could be used to inform or to

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context videos, and edits.

falsify the statement without any confirmation.

an unprecedented impact on the country's future.

voting to choose a peaceful and efficient way of choosing political leaders.

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and personal enjoyment.

personalities will be assessed.

We want to analyze students' connection to social media and if it impacts their

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To guide the researcher in conducting the study, The book "Existentialism is a

According to Sartre (1946), experience is essential because it molds our

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freedom, actions, and commitment.

lead the country with unity, discipline, and prosperity.

Statement of the Problem

resources to disseminate reliable information to voters to exercise their rights effectively.

This study sought to answer the following questions:

3. Why do students use social media as their tool of information?

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influential the mass media is in their personal choice.

This study will be from April 2022 to June 2022

Significance of the Study

election candidates, web developers, and future researchers.

significant influence and impact in today's Presidential Elections.

what the influence of social media is.

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Screen. It is an apparatus in which images are projected or displayed that we

commonly see on mobile devices (Chateau & Moure,2016).

In this paper, "Screen" is a representation of social media. It depicts the contents of

the mass media to the University of San Agustin SHS students.

Choice. It is crucial to acknowledge that the learner's choice is guided by the

effective choices. ( Buchem, Tur, & Hölterhof, 2014 )

In this statement/study, learners of SHS students at the University of San Agustin

Awareness. A subjective and straightforward equivalence of consciousness with

self-reports suggests that an observer "consciously observes" stimuli. It is argued that a

more objective measure of awareness is required to differentiate between the subjective

states of "seeing" and "not seeing" a stimulus. (Henley, S.H.A. (1984))

University of San Agustin; it gives us the ability to influence the outcome.

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the University of San Agustin, Academic Year 2021-2022/

Specifically, it will answer the following questions.

3. Why do students use social media as their tool of information?

The influential power of social media

where everything we do reflects who we are as a person. We hold millions of credible

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can access and be involved with the candidate.

making communication between administration, organizations, and people more

support through accessible communication and interaction made by any platform

it increases their satisfaction by spitting facts and gathering their knowledge.

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