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Title: Hashtags as signals of political identity: #BlackLivesMatter and #AllLivesMatter
We investigate perceptions of tweets marked with the #BlackLivesMatter and #AllLivesMatter hashtags, as well as how the presence or absence of those hashtags changed the meaning and subsequent interpretation of tweets in U.S. participants. We found a strong effect of partisanship on perceptions of the tweets, such that participants on the political left were more likely to view #AllLivesMatter tweets as racist and offensive, while participants on the political right were more likely to view #BlackLivesMatter tweets as racist and offensive. Moreover, we found that political identity explained evaluation results far better than other measured demographics. Additionally, to assess the influence of hashtags themselves, we removed them from tweets in which they originally appeared and added them to selected neutral tweets. Our results have implications for our understanding of how social identity, and particularly political identity, shapes how individuals perceive and engage with the world.  more » « less
Award ID(s):
1840265
PAR ID:
10505342
Author(s) / Creator(s):
; ;
Editor(s):
Galak, Jeff
Publisher / Repository:
PLOS
Date Published:
Journal Name:
PLOS ONE
Volume:
18
Issue:
6
ISSN:
1932-6203
Page Range / eLocation ID:
e0286524
Format(s):
Medium: X
Sponsoring Org:
National Science Foundation
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