Social Science Research Council Research AMP Just Tech
Citation

How negativity and policy content drive the spread of political messages

Author:
Fine, Jeffrey A.; Smith, D. Hudson; Oliveira, Cierra; Deas, Nicholas; Shellnutt, Spencer; Stotzky, Riley; Clyburn, Rachel
Publication:
Journal of Information Technology & Politics

Research demonstrates that negative messages spread more online, both at the elite and mass levels. We know comparatively less about the role that policy content plays, and whether that might be responsible for the effect of negativity. We examine over 1.4 million congressional tweets to test the effect of message tone and topic on the number of retweets that messages receive. We find that elite messages are retweeted more when they contain political attacks. However, even while controlling for tone, we find that messages are shared more when they discuss some “culture war” issues or when they discuss Donald Trump.