Positively Original: Effects of Mindfulness on Social Media Tweets and Sentiment

Abstract

Mindfulness challenges allow consumers to track meditation frequency through posting social media updates documenting their regular meditations. However, little is known about the effects of mindfulness on consumers in these representative online settings. In one study (1a and 1b) the research utilises two types of data to explore how a contemplative practice such as mindfulness influences online behaviour. Specifically, consumers who have completed a 60-day online meditation challenge showed an increase (vs. decrease) in original tweets (vs. retweets) (study 1a), and further, consumers who completed the challenge (vs. did not complete) showed higher (vs. lower) positive sentiment of original tweets. Despite some research showing engagement in social media as maladaptive, we provide a positive and unexpected contribution to show that mindfulness has a positive effect on how consumers may engage with social media. Further, we contribute a novel research method based on Twitter that advances immediate and unique marketing methods. Finally, we expand the practical application of mindfulness by exploring how consumers are organically, and consequentially, practicing mindfulness in field settings.