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Role model narratives are underutilized in Instagram and TikTok climate action posts
Julia Fine1, Joshua Ettinger1, Sri Saahitya Uppalapati1,2
1Center for Climate Change Communication, George Mason University, Fairfax, VA 22030, United States.
Oxford Open Climate Change
|March 27, 2026
Summary
Climate activists underutilize role model narratives on social media. Sharing these stories can inspire more climate action, despite current low engagement rates compared to other content.
Area of Science:
- Environmental communication
- Social media studies
- Behavioral science
Background:
- Role model narratives are effective for promoting socially beneficial behaviors like climate action.
- The use of role model narratives by climate activists on social media remains under-researched.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the prevalence of climate action role model narratives on Instagram and TikTok.
- To analyze the content of these narratives, including calls to action and engagement levels.
Main Methods:
- Manual collection of Instagram and TikTok posts tagged #climateaction and #climateactivist (August 2021 - October 2024).
- Content analysis of 457 Instagram and 188 TikTok posts to identify role model narratives and associated features.
Main Results:
- Role model narratives comprised only 11% of Instagram and 19% of TikTok posts.
- Calls to action were present in 28% of narratives, most commonly encouraging organizational joining.
- Narratives showed no significant difference in engagement but appeared in top-performing content.
Conclusions:
- Climate activists are underutilizing role model narratives on social media platforms.
- There is a significant opportunity for climate advocates to leverage social media for inspiring climate action through personal storytelling.
- Adopting role model narratives can amplify climate advocacy efforts given their potential reach and ease of implementation.
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