Research indicates that the positive or negative attitude of a social media comments section can influence your perception of online videos.
The internet can be a great place to watch uplifting content—whether it be random acts of kindness, cute dog videos, or even something that elicits a good laugh. The internet can also be a useful resource for connecting and engaging with others. Most social media platforms combine both of these experiences by showing users videos alongside other users’ comments. Examining the effect of this dual experience prompts us to think about what we consume online and how we engage with each other.
Under this lens, the researchers recruited a group of 893 English-speaking participants through Amazon’s Mechanical Turk. Participants watched wholesome videos (showing human unity, acts of kindness, or humor). The videos, displayed similarly to the way one would watch a YouTube video, included user comments of varying sentiment: positive, negative, or neutral. The comments were also presented in the participants’ native language (English) or in other languages (with emojis or cognates that allowed for the sentiment to be easily discerned), allowing the researchers to examine whether the perceived nationality of the commenter affected how much the participants identified with (felt similar to) the commenters. After watching the video, participants were asked to complete a survey about their experience. In part, participants were asked about elevation (their levels of happiness) and their levels of identification with commenters.
The results indicated that participants reported higher levels of happiness when they watched videos showing human unity or acts of kindness than when they were watching humorous videos. In addition, watching videos—especially those showing acts of kindness—with positive comments resulted in participants identifying more with commenters, regardless of the language the comments were in. The researchers commented: “Results demonstrate that peer comments indeed alter the emotional effects of the video clip, with negative comments leading to a reduced sense of elevation” (354).
“Results demonstrate that peer comments indeed alter the emotional effects of the video clip, with negative comments leading to a reduced sense of elevation.”
Krämer et al. (2019)
THE IMPLICATIONS
This research indicates that social media comments—regardless of the language they’re presented in—have an effect on the emotional state of the viewer. In the semi-anonymity of many online spaces, it can be all too easy to leave comments without stopping to think about the impact our words may have. But whether we stop to think or not, the things we say can and do affect the world around us. As denizens of online spaces, before we post a comment, we could stop to consider this: How will this comment make people feel? Is it contributing to the conversation in an uplifting or constructive way? Is there a kinder way to say it? Is it worth saying at all? By being more intentional with the things we say online, we can make our digital world a better place for everyone.
To learn more about the effect comments can have on your emotional state, read the full article: Krämer, Nicole C., German Neubaum, Stephan Winter, Leonie Schaewitz, Sabrina Eimler, Mary Beth Oliver. 2019. “I feel what they say: the effect of social media comments on viewers’ affective reactions toward elevating online videos.” Media Psychology 24 no. 3: 332–358. https://doi.org/10.1080/15213269.2019.1692669.
The Emotional Power of Social Media Comments
Research indicates that the positive or negative attitude of a social media comments section can influence your perception of online videos.
The internet can be a great place to watch uplifting content—whether it be random acts of kindness, cute dog videos, or even something that elicits a good laugh. The internet can also be a useful resource for connecting and engaging with others. Most social media platforms combine both of these experiences by showing users videos alongside other users’ comments. Examining the effect of this dual experience prompts us to think about what we consume online and how we engage with each other.
THE RESEARCH
The study “I Feel What They Say: The Effect of Social Media Comments on Viewers’ Affective Reactions Toward Elevating Online Videos” by Nicole C. Krämer, German Neubaum, Stephan Winter, Leonie Schaewitz, Sabrina Eimler, and Mary Beth Oliver (2019) from Media Psychology aimed to evaluate the effect of comments on how people feel when they watch videos.
Under this lens, the researchers recruited a group of 893 English-speaking participants through Amazon’s Mechanical Turk. Participants watched wholesome videos (showing human unity, acts of kindness, or humor). The videos, displayed similarly to the way one would watch a YouTube video, included user comments of varying sentiment: positive, negative, or neutral. The comments were also presented in the participants’ native language (English) or in other languages (with emojis or cognates that allowed for the sentiment to be easily discerned), allowing the researchers to examine whether the perceived nationality of the commenter affected how much the participants identified with (felt similar to) the commenters. After watching the video, participants were asked to complete a survey about their experience. In part, participants were asked about elevation (their levels of happiness) and their levels of identification with commenters.
The results indicated that participants reported higher levels of happiness when they watched videos showing human unity or acts of kindness than when they were watching humorous videos. In addition, watching videos—especially those showing acts of kindness—with positive comments resulted in participants identifying more with commenters, regardless of the language the comments were in. The researchers commented: “Results demonstrate that peer comments indeed alter the emotional effects of the video clip, with negative comments leading to a reduced sense of elevation” (354).
THE IMPLICATIONS
This research indicates that social media comments—regardless of the language they’re presented in—have an effect on the emotional state of the viewer. In the semi-anonymity of many online spaces, it can be all too easy to leave comments without stopping to think about the impact our words may have. But whether we stop to think or not, the things we say can and do affect the world around us. As denizens of online spaces, before we post a comment, we could stop to consider this: How will this comment make people feel? Is it contributing to the conversation in an uplifting or constructive way? Is there a kinder way to say it? Is it worth saying at all? By being more intentional with the things we say online, we can make our digital world a better place for everyone.
To learn more about the effect comments can have on your emotional state, read the full article:
Krämer, Nicole C., German Neubaum, Stephan Winter, Leonie Schaewitz, Sabrina Eimler, Mary Beth Oliver. 2019. “I feel what they say: the effect of social media comments on viewers’ affective reactions toward elevating online videos.” Media Psychology 24 no. 3: 332–358. https://doi.org/10.1080/15213269.2019.1692669.
Find more research
Take a look at VeryWellMind’s article for research on the long-term effects of consuming negative social media comments regularly: “Mental Health Effects of Reading Negative Comments Online”
Read Sage Journals’ study to see how reading comments can also shape our perceptions of institutions as a whole: The Social Media Comment Section As An Unruly Public Arena: How Comment Reading Erodes Trust in News Media.
—Sadie Turnbow, Leah Kim, Hannah Hacking-Brown, Kyla Christensen, Netiquette
FEATURE IMAGE BY COTTONBRO STUDIO
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