Don't get too excited about the "virability" of Twitter, if you hope to change minds.
Although six in 10 users get their news from Twitter, a new study shows retweeting is insular.
A group of psychologists at NYU analyzed 560 thousand tweets about three polarizing topics: gun control, same-sex marriage, and climate change.
They found that, while tweets which include fiery "moral and emotional language" go viral, they're rarely traded outside users' in-groups. Sharing occurs almost exclusively among users in the same ideological camps.
"The expression of emotion is key for the spread of moral and political ideas in online social networks," the study's authors say.
But emotion doesn't make an idea worth spreading.
But emotion doesn't make an idea worth spreading.
"While using this type of language may help content proliferate within your own social or ideological group, it may find little currency among those who have a different world view,” lead researcher William Brady says.
