Politicians who use emotional language on social media may generate likes and shares but fail to attract new followers, with emotionally charged posts proving less effective when audiences are politically diverse.
Research published in the INFORMS journal Information Systems Research analysed more than 70,000 social media posts from US senators during 2018, studying net changes in followers and follower growth alongside engagement measures such as retweets.
The study found that while content emotionality spurs engagement with existing followers, this can backfire with diverse audiences. Content with less emotionality tends to yield more engagement with diverse audiences, while charged content resonates with polarised audiences.
“One of the interesting findings of our research is that while content emotionality spurs engagement with followers, this can backfire with a diverse audience,” said David A. Schweidel of Emory University. “Content with less emotionality tends to yield more engagement with a diverse audience, while charged content resonates with a polarized audience.”
Emotional content does not contribute to building followership, according to the research. The main drivers of followers are substantive characteristics such as post topic rather than emotional tone.
“The main drivers of followers are other substantive characteristics, such as the topic of the post,” said Beth L. Fossen of Indiana University. “This means that distinct factors drive person’s decision to engage on social media when compared to the decision-making that goes into actually following an account.”
The research represents the first study to demonstrate that content emotionality does not aid in attracting new online followers for politicians. It also introduces the concept of audience or stakeholder diversity to the political communications landscape.
Negative emotions like anger and outrage are more likely to generate reactions on social media, while positive emotions such as happiness and excitement are less likely to generate follower reactions. Reduced diversity within stakeholder groups increases engagement.
