On social media, enragement equals engagement.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, a recently published Pew Research analysis shows that people are far more likely to interact with social media posts that feature political disagreement and indignant rhetoric than those that do not. In fact, researchers found that the more incendiary the post, the higher the boosts it received.
Researchers analyzed Facebook posts and press releases published on social media by offices of members of Congress between Jan. 1, 2015, and April 30, 2016. The team identified incendiary posts by searching for strong adjectives, negative emotional language and resentment. The team searched for bipartisan posts by identifying documents that mention how Republicans or Democrats have agreed, compromised, or worked together.
In a trend that crossed the partisan divide, posts disagreeing with the opposing party saw an average of one and a half times as many likes as posts without the disagreement, and almost three times as many comments. And whether from liberals or conservatives, these posts were also twice as likely to be shared as posts without disagreement.
When posts escalated into indignation, the average increase to almost twice as many likes, three times as many comments, and more than twice as many shares.
To read more about the study, click here.
— RealClearLife
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