How lawmakers' social media activity changed in the days after the U.S. Capitol riot

[JonLP24]

1. Members of the two parties framed the day’s events at the Capitol using different language. The vast majority of members of Congress in both parties weighed in on the events of Jan. 6 on Twitter or Facebook. All but six lawmakers posted during this period, and 97% of Democrats and 96% of Republicans who did so mentioned the term “Capitol” in at least one post. Nearly as many (90% of Democrats and 88% of Republicans) used the words “violence” or “violent.”

But beyond these basic similarities, lawmakers from the two parties discussed the events using different language. For instance, congressional Democrats were far more likely than Republicans to use terms such as “terrorism,” “insurrection,” “mob” and “democracy.” And although 95% of Democratic lawmakers mentioned the word “Trump” in at least one social media post during this time period, just 39% of congressional Republicans did so.

Audience engagement with posts from Democratic lawmakers increased on and after the day of rioting. The median Democratic member of Congress saw a substantial boost in audience engagement on both Facebook (reactions and shares) and Twitter (favorites and retweets) in the days after the violence and destruction at the Capitol. On a day-over-day basis, the increase between Jan. 5 and Jan. 6 was the second-largest ever observed among Democrats since the Center began tracking congressional social media posts in early 2015. The largest occurred on June 22, 2016, when the party staged a “no bill, no break” sit-in to demand gun control legislation.

(Snip)

3. The number of comments and “angry” reactions in response to Republican lawmakers’ Facebook posts surged after the riot. In the days following the attempted takeover of the Capitol, the typical member of Congress received a record-breaking volume of user comments in response to their posts on Facebook. The average number of comments per post for members of both parties reached their highest levels since at least 2015. Republican lawmakers experienced an especially substantial increase in comments during this time.

https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2021/01/15/how-lawmakers-social-media-activity-changed-in-the-days-after-the-u-s-capitol-riot/

[Hortensis]

1. Interesting, thanks. "Republican lawmakers experienced a surge in "angry" reactions

to their posts on Facebook. The angry emoji accounted for 17% of all reactions to the typical Republican’s average post on the day after the attack, the second-highest level ever observed among Republican lawmakers (the all-time peak occurred just weeks earlier, when the House passed its COVID-19 relief bill on Dec. 22). Facebook posts from Democrats did not see a similar increase in angry reactions."

After the distractions to electoral college counts and the insurrection (I use the word 100% of the time!), and then the swearing in and whatever happens then, they'll have to be getting back to discussing the pandemic. We're seeing 200,000 new cases a day now. At 1% death rate, every day would mean another 2000 will die.