TY - JOUR
T1 - Tweeting About Climate
T2 - Which Politicians Speak Up and What Do They Speak Up About?
AU - Yu, Chao
AU - Margolin, Drew B.
AU - Fownes, Jennifer R.
AU - Eiseman, Danielle L.
AU - Chatrchyan, Allison M.
AU - Allred, Shorna B.
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© The Author(s) 2021.
PY - 2021
Y1 - 2021
N2 - This study examines tweets (N = 1,103,119) sent by 638 US politicians regarding climate change (N = 10,135). Using data reflecting the risks faced and opinions held by their constituents, the extent to which politicians lead—tweeting about climate change for those most at risk, called trusteeship—or follow—tweeting about climate change for those who are already concerned, called playing to the crowed—is examined. Results reveal that while Democrats generally tweet about climate change more often than Republicans, within each party, tweeting frequency is mostly explained by the level of concern in a politicians’ constituency. Objective risks faced by constituents play no role. Analysis of behavior across different office levels—federal, state, and local—also shows that while federal politicians are more partisan, state and local politicians play to the crowd to a greater degree. Analysis of the tweets shows the politicians’ unequal engagement leads to over-representations of some topics (e.g., “calls for action”) and under-representations of other topics (e.g., criticizing fossil fuels and deniers).
AB - This study examines tweets (N = 1,103,119) sent by 638 US politicians regarding climate change (N = 10,135). Using data reflecting the risks faced and opinions held by their constituents, the extent to which politicians lead—tweeting about climate change for those most at risk, called trusteeship—or follow—tweeting about climate change for those who are already concerned, called playing to the crowed—is examined. Results reveal that while Democrats generally tweet about climate change more often than Republicans, within each party, tweeting frequency is mostly explained by the level of concern in a politicians’ constituency. Objective risks faced by constituents play no role. Analysis of behavior across different office levels—federal, state, and local—also shows that while federal politicians are more partisan, state and local politicians play to the crowd to a greater degree. Analysis of the tweets shows the politicians’ unequal engagement leads to over-representations of some topics (e.g., “calls for action”) and under-representations of other topics (e.g., criticizing fossil fuels and deniers).
KW - climate change
KW - politics
KW - topic modeling
KW - Twitter
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85110983613&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=85110983613&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1177/20563051211033815
DO - 10.1177/20563051211033815
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85110983613
SN - 2056-3051
VL - 7
JO - Social Media and Society
JF - Social Media and Society
IS - 3
ER -