The 2012 presidential election cycle was marked by an increase in simultaneous media use, often known as “social TV,” particularly among young adults whose attention to TV has fragmented in the digital age. This study is one of the first to apply uses and gratifications theory to the simultaneous use of both social media and mass media. Although a low survey response rate hinders generalizability of this study, the considerable size of the sample (N = 2,727) makes this research useful for identifying motivations and political outcomes of using two screens. Findings show those who actively used social media while watching TV for sociocognitive motives were likely to have engaged with one of the 2012 presidential candidates by following them or sharing their content on Facebook or Twitter. Active social TV users also reported that they weighed the candidates’ social media presence when making voting decisions. Implications for researchers and practitioners are discussed.
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