Online propagation of emotions: A study of resharing dynamics on social media following celebrity suicides.

ABSTRACT: Emotional contagion on social media, particularly following shocking and tragic events, often unfolds through widespread resharing, amplifying affective responses that are typically intense and negative. This study focuses on the context of celebrity suicides, which have the potential to trigger emotional contagion and lead to adverse behavioral outcomes, such as copycat suicides. Using an exhaustive Twitter dataset covering four celebrity suicides, we theorize the propagation of emotional content through a valence-arousal framework, distinguishing emotions based on affective valence (positive or negative) and physiological arousal (high or low). We analyze how distinct emotions embedded in tweets propagate through retweet cascades, treating each tweet and its retweets as a single cascade.

SUBMITTER: Nouri E 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12694876 | biostudies-literature | 2025

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature