Twitter for Sparking a Movement, Reddit for Sharing the Moment: #metoo through the Lens of Social Media (1803.08022v1)

Abstract: Social media platforms are revolutionizing the way users communicate by increasing the exposure to highly stigmatized issues in the society. Sexual abuse is one such issue that recently took over social media via attaching the hashtag #metoo to the shared posts. Individuals with different backgrounds and ethnicities began sharing their unfortunate personal experiences of being assaulted. Through comparative analysis of the tweets via #meToo on Twitter versus the posts shared on the #meToo subreddit, this paper makes an initial attempt to assess public reactions and emotions. Though nearly equal ratios of negative and positive posts are shared on both platforms, Reddit posts are focused on the sexual assaults within families and workplaces while Twitter posts are on showing empathy and encouraging others to continue the #metoo movement. The data collected in this research and preliminary analysis demonstrate that users use various ways to share their experience, exchange ideas and encourage each other, and social media is suitable for groundswells such as #metoo movement.