What’s in a post? How sentiment and issue salience affect users’ emotional reactions on Facebook

Author(s)
Jakob-Moritz Eberl, Petro Tolochko, Pablo Jost, Tobias Heidenreich, Hajo Boomgaarden
Abstract

We investigate the effects of sentiment and issue salience on emotionally labeled responses to posts from political actors on Facebook (i.e., Reactions). We use an automated content analysis of Facebook posts and voter survey data in a multilevel negative binomial regression approach. Findings show that the sentiment of a post relates to the number of "Love" and "Angry" Reactions. Furthermore, if a post addresses an issue that constituents perceive as salient, this positively influences the number of "Angry" Reactions only. We also find that the effect of sentiment on "Angry" Reactions is highest when issue salience is low.

Organisation(s)
Department of Communication, Department of Political Science
External organisation(s)
Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz
Journal
Journal of Information Technology & Politics
Volume
17
Pages
48-65
No. of pages
18
ISSN
1933-1681
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1080/19331681.2019.1710318
Publication date
01-2020
Peer reviewed
Yes
Austrian Fields of Science 2012
508020 Political communication
Keywords
ASJC Scopus subject areas
Computer Science(all), Sociology and Political Science, Public Administration
Portal url
https://ucrisportal.univie.ac.at/en/publications/whats-in-a-post-how-sentiment-and-issue-salience-affect-users-emotional-reactions-on-facebook(6d468104-d5f3-4799-b9ad-6079258b33a1).html