Tweeting weight loss: A comparison of #thinspiration and #fitspiration communities on Twitter
Marika Tiggemann1, Owen Churches1, Lewis Mitchell2
1School of Psychology, Flinders University, Australia.
Abstract:
Thinspiration and fitspiration represent contemporary online trends designed to inspire viewers towards the thin ideal or towards health and fitness respectively. The aim of the present study was to compare thinspiration and fitspiration communities on Twitter. A total of 3289 English-language tweets with hashtags related to thinspiration (n = 1181) and fitspiration (n = 2578) were collected over a two-week period. Network analysis showed minimal overlap between the communities on Twitter, with the thinspiration community more closely-connected and having greater information flow than the fitspiration community. Frequency counts and sentiment analysis showed that although the tweets from both types of accounts focused on appearance and weight loss, fitspiration tweets were significantly more positive in sentiment. It was concluded that the thinspiration tweeters, unlike the fitspiration tweeters, represent a genuine on-line community on Twitter. Such a community of support may have negative consequences for collective body image and disordered eating identity.
Related Concept Videos
What are Populations and Communities?
Line Loss
Line loss impacts power delivery efficiency in a balanced three-phase circuit. The symmetry in such a circuit simplifies the...
Weighted Mean
For example, consider the number of goals scored in the matches of a tournament. While computing the average number of goals scored in the tournament, it may be more important to...
The Sense of Self: Reflected Self-Appraisal and Social Comparison
Reducing Line Loss
With a step-up transformer at the source, the voltage is increased, thereby reducing the current in the transmission lines since power loss in...
Atomic Weight


