Negative expressions are shared more on Twitter for public figures than for ordinary users

Area of Science:

• Social media studies
• Computational social science
• Communication research

Background:

• Social media users often post more positive content.
• Negative content, however, tends to be shared more frequently.
• Previous research focused on content-based psychological factors for sharing negative content.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate if the content producer influences the sharing of negative social media content.
• To examine the role of public figures in the diffusion of negative content.
• To identify user characteristics that amplify the sharing of negative posts.

Main Methods:

• Comparative analysis of sharing patterns for public figures versus ordinary users.
• Statistical modeling to assess the impact of user characteristics on content sharing.
• Analysis of social media data focusing on emotional tone and user attributes.

Main Results:

• An increase in negative content correlated with a significantly stronger increase in sharing for public figures compared to ordinary users.
• The number of followers (tie strength) and the proportion of political tweets explained this effect.
• Public figures' negativity is more viral than that of average users.

Conclusions:

• Content producer characteristics, specifically for public figures, significantly impact the virality of negative social media content.
• Follower count and political content are key drivers of amplified sharing for public figures' negative posts.
• Findings inform strategies for mitigating the spread of negative online content.