More aggressive, more retweets? Exploring the effects of aggressive climate change messages on Twitter

Abstract

Although an increasing amount of aggressive and polarized tweets about climate change are being observed, little is known about how they spread on Twitter. This study focuses on how different types of network gatekeepers use aggressive styles and how the styles affect their propagation. The current study employed a computational method and identified 951 influential accounts from 7.25 million tweets about climate change in 2019 and 2020. We analyzed their use of aggression and politicized cues, and the relationship with the volume of retweets. Results showed that even though aggressive tweets were a small portion of the overall tweets about climate change, aggressive tweets were more likely to be politicized and retweeted. Specifically, aggressive tweets from politicians received the most retweets and news media amplified the aggression. The findings of this study build upon the current knowledge of the use of aggression online and provide practical implications for environmental communicators.