Generic or Specific Search Terms: What Do Citizens Type in the Google Search Bar to Obtain Political Information?

Abstract

Facing a policy issue, citizens use search engines such as Google to seek political information. Although some scholars have expressed concern that higher user control, and high choice might induce selectivity, existing literature has neglected the role of search terms in the echo chamber debate. This study applied two cross-section surveys during two referendum votes to expose respondents to mock Google webpages (N = 728; N = 820). With thematic coding analysis and logistic regressions, the study indicates that citizens rarely use the search bar to search for only like-minded information sources and that individual-level characteristics are not drivers of search terms. Though search terms foresee self-selection in the results’ page for some motivated citizens, ranking remains the main driver of self-selection for most citizens.