These are the key facts everyone needs to know about climate change, according to @yaleclimatecomm :
It's real.
It's us.
It's serious - and already dangerous.
But there are solutions.
I shared this post across 7 different social media platforms, including FB, LI, Mastodon, Threads, X and Twitter both pre-and post-Musk.
Here's how their engagement stacked up. ๐งต
https://fediscience.org/@kathhayhoe/113507294720813822
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I first compared normalized engagement: likes, shares + comments per 1000 followers.
You can see the big changes in Twitter/X over time, plus the stark differences in engagement between FB/LI versus Threads/Bluesky, with Mastodon in the middle.
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Comparing the percentage of comments that are negative versus neutral/positive on each platform, you can also see that (a) Twitter has always had proportionately more trolls than other platforms, but also (b) trolling has massively increased post-Musk.
Note 1: The reason there were no negative comments on FB is because my page there has been shadow-banned since Aug 2018 when climate change & clean energy were added to the list of politically sensitive topics and FB refused (twice) to verify my identity, the step they claim is needed to post on those topics. So only a tiny fraction of the people who already follow my page see my posts there. They are not shared beyond that tiny bubble.
Note 2: it's also interesting that negative comments on Twitter/X, LinkedIn and Threads are nearly 100% denial, whereas negative comments on Mastodon are 100% from people worried about climate but who are mansplaining me or who want to harass or attack me for different reasons (e.g. not explaining the science the way they think I should, saying that climate action can make a difference, standing firm on the social science of effective communication, being a person of faith, etc.). This platform is #1 for "friendly fire," which is why I still post but don't engage here very much. It's not good for my mental health. If you want to see more of my posts here though, no worries: I have a bluesky bridge account @katharinehayhoe.com
Onward!
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I didn't bother to analyze the negative X comments by category this time, but they are not substantially different than the analysis I did previously here. Little imagination, but lots of variety -- because the point isn't to make their point, but rather to reject the need for climate action. In pursuit of that goal, any excuse will do.
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Here's the even more interesting part: the absolute values.
Twitter used to be the clear winner for me, but Bluesky is rapidly catching up. Even though I have 3x more followers on X than Bluesky, the actual numbers on positive or neutral engagement here is nearly as high. That's amazing - and this is why, if you want to hear the most from me, I recommend following me on Bluesky directly or on my fediverse bridge account rather than this one. Here it is -> @katharinehayhoe.com
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Other interesting platform-specific tidbits:
On Mastodon people were most likely to share, while on LinkedIn they were least likely to.
More people hit the heart button on Threads, but Bluesky was tops for comments.
โช
Bottom line:
One of the main reasons I use social media is to provide accurate + relevant climate info, so I use analyses like this to help inform where best to spend my time. These days, engagement is:
I hope this is of interest - feel free to comment and share your own experiences!
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PS. I should also mention that my data shows clear evidence of algorithmic changes on Facebook (Fall 2018), X (Fall 2022 and ongoing) and now Threads (Nov 2024) explicitly downweighting climate content.
In Aug 2018, 'clean energy' was added to FB's "socially sensitive topics" list, and my page's growth was cut in half. A few months later, 'climate change' was added. My page growth froze at 46k then decreased, and my engagement dropped about 10x.
Now, changes in the Threads algorithm made in November have similarly frozen my Threads account and tanked engagement there as well. Here's the data below.
For more on how X's changes have boosted denial, read @ketan's analysis here: https://ketanjoshi.co/2023/03/28/musk-is-remaking-twitter-into-a-climate-denier-sanctuary/
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@kathhayhoe @ketan in other words "No, you are not being paranoid, they ARE doing this."
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@kathhayhoe Thanks so much for the important work you do and all the slings and arrows you endure (but shouldn't have to!) for it. A better world is possible.
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@kzodasnowman I agree. thank you! ๐
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@kathhayhoe This will get worse after today. Look at the changes that Zuckerberg just announced and try not to despair.
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@masek @kathhayhoe if we thought it was bad now, and it is, it's going to be hopeless once Trump ascends the throne.
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@Lazarou I was a lead author of the National Climate Assessment under the last Trump administration. Front row seat. https://www.eenews.net/articles/trump-team-takes-aim-at-crown-jewel-of-us-climate-research/
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@kathhayhoe in your opinion, must we see America as an antagonist in Climate Change now? Not even a pretense of being an ally?
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@Lazarou the US is much more than its federal government. https://www.americaisallin.com/
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@kathhayhoe @ketan I wonder if these algorithmic manipulations are not the biggest issue of all - I was certainly unaware of them.
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@kathhayhoe @ketan We will start to see more #DataStrikes
How to poison the data that Big Tech uses to surveil you and mess with the algorithms.
https://www.technologyreview.com/2021/03/05/1020376/resist-big-tech-surveillance-data/
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@DebErupts @kathhayhoe @ketan Thanks for sharing. I'd never heard of a data strike before. ๐๐ฝ
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Hi @kathhayhoe, may I use your findings and possibly your diagrams too for a blog post of mine? ๐
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@stephan324ppm of course! it's all public
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@kathhayhoe thanks! ๐
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@kathhayhoe @ketan really interesting data, thanks. Now I wonder why I do not draw that friendly fire. "No one cares/I am not important" enough is the most likely reason. Maybe #economics draws less engagement than the #ClimateCrisis? Or maybe mansplaining and pedantry do not manage to cross my attention threshold?
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@alberto_cottica @kathhayhoe @ketan
There might be permissibility to be more heavy handed and disrespectful of female presenting scientists.
A test might be interesting, see if inventing an alter ego invites abusive replies.
It's also possible instances give very different outcomes. On floss social I rarely ever see those posts and have to view the original page in a browser to see most of the abuse.
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@doctormo @alberto_cottica @kathhayhoe @ketan I mean, many, many women have talked about this exact phenomenon, here and elsewhere, for years and years and years.
Skipping over that to "instead of believing the actual women, we need to create a fake woman to test for ourselves if this is actually a real thing that happens" feels like kind of a wild response at this point on the calendar.
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@pstewart @doctormo @kathhayhoe @ketan
That is certainly an element at play. In my specific case there might be others, such as a certain amount of impersonality, even self-censorship. I am, after all, not a scientist. Even when I speak about my discipline - economics is no science. So I am too boring to be flamed! Even on Twitter my experience got bad because of the endless advertising and doctored timeline, but no real conflicts.
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@doctormo @alberto_cottica @ketan
Well first there is already much published research showing that gender plays a huge role in how people interact and respond online.
But second, on my Facebook page (back when it was still alive, pre-August 2018) a climate scientist named Jonathan Baker (obviously white, male) and I took turns responding to negative comments (nearly all of which were from accounts that appeared to be men).
The difference in people's responses was massive. At least half the time, he'd get an "oh, thank you for sending this info, I will consider it" or a non-offensive clarifying question. 100% of the time they'd just double down on me and I'd have to block them.
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@kathhayhoe @alberto_cottica @ketan
Thank you for sending this info.
The experiment design is elegant โค๏ธ
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@kathhayhoe @doctormo @ketan this is insane! I am so sorry you have to put up with this crap.
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@kathhayhoe @doctormo @alberto_cottica @ketan I used to love going after such trolls when I was on facebook. Since most of them are white trash losers living in their mummy's basement, it wasn't hard to get them riled up! Once they get riled up; they've lost (and they usually know it too). Their trolling of me was semi-civil. But, some of them used to pick on my female friends and with those clowns, I was utterly merciless! Oddly enough, i did get one troll to apologise and even send me a friendship request (which I accepted). We differed politically, but were able to disagree politely, and he even stuck up for me when a leftwing friend wanted to unfriend me.
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@doctormo @alberto_cottica @kathhayhoe @ketan Id argue that its not just female presenting but also the degree of 'femininity". 'Butch' (for lack of descriptive term) presenting women tend to be more accepted than "femmes". And there was a study on that too
In my case, none of my toots received more than 2 likes when I was anon (for a few months). Hell, I was lucky if Id get a reply.
But once I am here with my extra flamboyance, I get comments, post would trend followed by bashing from shitheads and perverts criticising every single post. Its good if they actually read the post and start a civilised debate, but no. It includes name calling.
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@queserasera @doctormo @alberto_cottica @kathhayhoe @ketan and also, people like faces. At least I do :)
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@tachi yea, some seem to like them enough to send them random perverted messages
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@queserasera that's a thing too, unfortunately :/
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@kathhayhoe @ketan
Any platform that is actively boosting or suppressing content needs to be viewed and regulated as a broadcaster. They should be required to get a broadcast license and be under the same scrutiny and anyone else in that position of mass influence.
This is no longer #FreeSpeech
[#]Facebook #Twitter #SocialMedia
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@kathhayhoe @ketan long live free speech!
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@kathhayhoe
Thank you for taking the time to research & share this info. Keep up the good work!
@ketan
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@kathhayhoe @ketan maybe the announced stop for content moderation on Metas platforms isn't so bad in the end. That could then give your posts there better visibility.
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@thet @kathhayhoe @ketan They aren't stopping moderation, they're getting rid of (supposedly) independent factchecking in favour of whatever "community notes" alternative they're setting up.
That's independent of their burial of posts whose politics Zuck et al don't like, which seems to have been ramped up recently.
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@kathhayhoe @ketan Time to leave Meta. Threads, FB, WhatsApp.
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