Generating Science Buzz: An Examination of Multidimensional Engagement With Humorous Scientific Messages on Twitter and Instagram-Reference-Cited by-同舟云学术

Generating Science Buzz: An Examination of Multidimensional Engagement With Humorous Scientific Messages on Twitter and Instagram

Published:2021-12-31 Issue:1 Volume:44 Page:30-59
ISSN:1075-5470
Container-title:Science Communication
language:en
Short-container-title:Science Communication

Author:

Su Leona Yi-Fan¹^ORCID,McKasy Meaghan²^ORCID,Cacciatore Michael A.³^ORCID,Yeo Sara K.⁴^ORCID,DeGrauw Alexandria R.⁴^ORCID,Zhang Jennifer Shiyue¹^ORCID

Affiliation:

1. University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, USA

2. Utah Valley University, Orem, USA

3. University of Georgia, Athens, USA

4. The University of Utah, Salt Lake City, USA

Abstract

This study investigates the types of humor embedded in funny scientific posts on social media and their effects on engagement. We mapped the landscape of such posts on Twitter and Instagram through content analysis of their message attributes. Regression analyses were then conducted to examine how different humor types, communicative functions, and visual attributes were associated with liking, retweeting, and commenting. On Twitter, wordplay and satire were found to be positively related to posts’ engagement levels, while anthropomorphic humor was negatively associated with the presence of comments. On Instagram, humor had no relation to engagement.

Funder

university of utah

National Science Foundation

Publisher

SAGE Publications

Subject

Sociology and Political Science

Link

http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/10755470211063902

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