Concepts de base
Self-presentation afforded by Twitter user profiles can shape perceptions of alignments between non-political and political identifiers, contributing to subjective social sorting.
Résumé
The study examines how self-presentation on Twitter user profiles may contribute to subjective social sorting along political lines. Key findings:
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There was a substantial increase in the number of Twitter users publicly defining themselves using anti-establishment right identities (e.g. "MAGA", "Trump") between 2016-2018, accompanied by more modest growth in left and pro-establishment right identities.
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Approximately 9.2% of non-political identifiers (social identities, preferences, affiliations) significantly aligned with political identities, reinforcing existing associations, revealing unexpected relationships, and reflecting online/offline events.
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Certain types of identifiers, like religion, activism, and family, exhibited strong bias towards one political side or the other, while others like sports and technology were more bridging.
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Temporal changes in alignments reflected broader shifts in party identification, as holders of anti-establishment orientations joined and emerged from the Republican party.
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The relatively small set of Twitter users with overt political signals have disproportionate influence due to their high activity and large follower counts compared to non-political users.
Stats
"Christian" (LR: 64.39**, EST: 40.85**), "God" (LR: 43.34**, EST: -2.48), "Jesus" (LR: 22.69**, EST: 4.19), "Catholic" (LR: 20.16**, EST: 20.16**)
"dj" (LR: -21.53**, EST: -21.58**), "producer" (LR: -20.27**, EST: -18.37**)
"military" (LR: 28.66**, EST: -2.84), "veteran" (LR: 21.99**, EST: 7.23*), "police" (LR: 14.02*, EST: -3.16)
"blacklivesmatter" (LR: -22.72**, EST: 0.16), "alllivesmatter" (LR: 9.71*, EST: -5.36*), "bluelivesmatter" (LR: 18.11**, EST: -11.25**)
"feminist" (LR: -49.22**, EST: 6.53**), "environmentalist" (LR: -16.69*, EST: -1.679), "resistance" (LR: 16.52*, EST: 0.79)
"mom" (LR: 1.15, EST: 15.55**), "grandmother" (LR: 6.63, EST: 8.80*), "sister" (LR: -6.74, EST: 6.17*)
"lgbt" (LR: -17.8**, EST: 2.94), "gay" (LR: -16.51**, EST: 1.45), "she" (LR: -11.71*, EST: 0.83), "her" (LR: -8.36*, EST: 2.36)
"american" (LR: 35.35**, EST: 7.015*), "israel" (LR: 25.86**, EST: 3.086), "texan" (LR: 12.54*, EST: 9.67*)
"patriot" (LR: 39.38**, EST: 3.66), "freedom" (LR: 22.30**, EST: 2.02), "liberty" (LR: 20.41**, EST: 3.06)
"deplorable" (LR: 36.47**, EST: -24.79**), "covfefe" (LR: 13.32*, EST: -12.16**)
"tgdn" (LR: 12.32*, EST: 9.04*)
Citations
"deplorable"
"covfefe"
"tgdn"