Location
Hilton Waikoloa Village, Hawaii
Event Website
https://hicss.hawaii.edu/
Start Date
7-1-2025 12:00 AM
End Date
10-1-2025 12:00 AM
Description
How users' communication varies by social media affordances, especially in the context of political communication, is underexplored. This study extends the existing literature by observing comments on a politician’s identical messages across two platforms, YouTube and Instagram. Comments on Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez's 18 identical videos on both platforms were analyzed using natural language processing. The research design of this study is three-fold. First, we tested if three engagement metrics—number of views, likes, and comments—are significantly associated between the two platforms. Second, we examined which platform has more positive comments. Lastly, we studied how the extent of offensive language and hate speech varies by platform. Our results showed that (1) user engagement with AOC’s videos is consistent across the two platforms, (2) Instagram had more positive comments than YouTube, and (3) YouTube comments were more likely to contain offensive language, whereas Instagram comments were more likely to include hate speech.
Recommended Citation
Chae, Seung Woo and Hwang, Jennifer, "Like and Hate by Platform: Exploring How Users’ Reactions to Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s Posts Vary between YouTube and Instagram" (2025). Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences 2025 (HICSS-58). 6.
https://aisel.aisnet.org/hicss-58/dsm/conversation/6
Like and Hate by Platform: Exploring How Users’ Reactions to Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s Posts Vary between YouTube and Instagram
Hilton Waikoloa Village, Hawaii
How users' communication varies by social media affordances, especially in the context of political communication, is underexplored. This study extends the existing literature by observing comments on a politician’s identical messages across two platforms, YouTube and Instagram. Comments on Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez's 18 identical videos on both platforms were analyzed using natural language processing. The research design of this study is three-fold. First, we tested if three engagement metrics—number of views, likes, and comments—are significantly associated between the two platforms. Second, we examined which platform has more positive comments. Lastly, we studied how the extent of offensive language and hate speech varies by platform. Our results showed that (1) user engagement with AOC’s videos is consistent across the two platforms, (2) Instagram had more positive comments than YouTube, and (3) YouTube comments were more likely to contain offensive language, whereas Instagram comments were more likely to include hate speech.
https://aisel.aisnet.org/hicss-58/dsm/conversation/6