Moral Language Online: Does it Really Engage People?

Topic: Technology

Researchers from Universidad del Desarrollo in Chile and US universities found that using moral language online can increase engagement, but only up to a point. After that, it may even reduce engagement.

Moral language is words and phrases that express ideas about right and wrong, virtues, fairness, harm, and social obligations. It's widely used in social media posts and other online content.

Researchers at Universidad del Desarrollo in Chile, the University of Massachusetts Amherst, and Northwestern University in the US wanted to understand if moral language is always linked to greater user engagement on social media. They analyzed posts and comments from three online platforms: Twitter, Reddit, and 8chan. The team collected around 1.62 million observations spanning 13 topics and discussion communities.

The researchers used a computational method called Distributed Dictionary Representations to measure how closely language related to moral concepts and how concentrated that language was. They then examined its relationship with retweets or replies on each platform, accounting for features like links and multimedia. The team also checked the findings using conventional moral-word dictionaries.

Their findings revealed that expressing moral ideas (or 'moral loading') was consistently linked with greater user engagement across all three platforms. However, when there was too much moral language ('moral density'), it was associated with lower engagement. This suggests that using moral language can only go so far in engaging people online.

Why It Matters

Understanding how moral language affects online engagement is important for social media companies and content creators. It can help them create more effective and engaging content, which is essential in today's digital age.

Key Facts

• Researchers from Universidad del Desarrollo in Chile and US universities analyzed around 1.62 million observations spanning 13 topics and discussion communities.
• The study found that expressing moral ideas was linked with greater user engagement across all three platforms.
• However, too much moral language was associated with lower engagement.
• The researchers used a computational method called Distributed Dictionary Representations to measure the relationship between moral language and user engagement.
• The study's findings can help social media companies and content creators create more effective and engaging content.

Key Terms

Moral Language

Words and phrases that express ideas about right and wrong, virtues, fairness, harm, and social obligations

Distributed Dictionary Representations

A computational method used to measure how closely language relates to moral concepts

Implications

Understanding how moral language affects online engagement is important for social media companies and content creators. It can help them create more effective and engaging content, which is essential in today's digital age.