[New post] Social Media Posts That Are Hostile Towards Political Opponents Get More Shares

BPS Research Digest posted: " By Matthew Warren What makes something go viral online? A lot of work has highlighted the role of emotion: social media posts that express strong emotions — and particularly negative emotions — tend to spread further. Now a study in PNAS has i" New post on Research Digest Social Media Posts That Are Hostile Towards Political Opponents Get More Shares by BPS Research Digest By Matthew Warren What makes something go viral online? A lot of work has highlighted the role of emotion: social media posts that express strong emotions — and particularly negative emotions — tend to spread further. Now a study in PNAS has identified another factor which seems to have an even greater effect on how often posts are shared. Steve Rathje from the University of Cambridge and colleagues find that tweets and Facebook posts that contain more language referring to political opponents get more shares. These posts may be so popular, the team finds, because they appeal to feelings of anger and outrage towards the political out-group. Continue reading "Social Media Posts That Are Hostile Towards Political Opponents Get More Shares" BPS Research Digest | July 28, 2021 at 4:18 pm | Categories: Facebook, Political, Social, Twitter | URL: https://wp.me/p7Lf0f-bch Unsubscribe to no longer receive posts from Research Digest. Change your email settings at Manage Subscriptions. Trouble clicking? Copy and paste this URL into your browser: https://digest.bps.org.uk/2021/07/28/social-media-posts-that-are-hostile-towards-political-opponents-get-more-shares/