Users' Reactions to Rape News Shared on Social Media: An Analysis of Five Facebook Reaction Buttons
This study investigated 3.50 million Facebook reactions collected from 9,429 Bangladeshi news items about rape shared on social media from 2016 to 2021. The primary aim of this study was to understand users' different reaction patterns based on the five major Facebook reactions (i.e., *love*, *...
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| Main Authors: | , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
ANPOR Korea
2022-02-01
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| Series: | Asian Journal for Public Opinion Research |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.15206/ajpor.2022.10.1.51 |
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| Summary: | This study investigated 3.50 million Facebook reactions collected from 9,429 Bangladeshi news items about rape shared on social media from 2016 to 2021. The primary aim of this study was to understand users' different reaction patterns based on the five major Facebook reactions (i.e., *love*, *haha*, *wow*, *sad*, and *angry*). Based on the theories of emotion, we quantitatively answer one research question: How do social media users react to rape with the five major Facebook reactions? The results suggest that users are more likely to express disdain toward rape and sympathy toward the victims using Facebook reactions by using the *angry* button, along with the *sad* button. In rape news, both reactions are consistent and maintain a strong positive correlation, meaning they increase and decrease together. Although many users tend to mock and laugh at rape incidents and the victims, trend lines suggest that such expressions may not be consistent with time. Despite contextual relevance, we presume that in socially and morally unacceptable events like rape and war, the valences of reactions alter to some extent: angry and sad usually become positive, while *love*, *wow*, and *haha* become negative. Some strengths and limitations of the study are discussed as well. |
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| ISSN: | 2288-6168 |