Social media engagement and democracy: Understanding the impact of social media on youth civic engagement in Tanzania

This study examined how the use of social media among youth influences their offline civic participation outside election period in Tanzania. Unlike previous studies, this used multidimensional aspects participation.  Civic was studied using concurrent qualitative dominant mixed-methods approach. The conducted four focus group discussions (FGD) with aid an FGD guide and surveyed 372 young people help a questionnaire. Narrative responses were analyzed thematically NVivo-12, whereas statistical data SPSS 26 software. participants agreed that they comment share messages, photos, voice messages videos related to activities media, actively participate own community offline. research findings confirmed connection between interactivity active participation. lays foundation for further theory development.   Key words: Social engagement, participation, youth,