Climate Change Advocacy and Engagement on Social Media

2024/10/25 by P. Sol Hart, Lauren Feldman, Soobin Choi +2 · 1 voice
Social Sciences · Environmental Science · #Climate Change Communication and Perception #Environmental Education and Sustainability #Social Media and Politics

paper · pdf · doi:10.1177/10755470241284934

openalex publication_date 2024/10/25 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28

Abstract

This study examines how 21 leading environmental organizations framed climate change on Facebook and how these frames were associated with public engagement through reactions (e.g., likes), shares, and comments on the posts. We find that environmental nongovernmental organizations’ (NGOs) posts about climate change tend to emphasize the environmental impacts of climate change, political actions that are being taken by individuals and groups to address climate change, and political threats to climate progress. The results tentatively suggest that Facebook posts with an affective component—either positive or threat-based—are most likely to be associated with greater levels of engagement.

Citations

• Communicating Climate Change: Why Frames Matter for Public Engagement
• Conceptual Issues in Framing Theory: A Systematic Examination of a Decade's Literature
• “Fear Won't Do It”
• Boomerang Effects in Science Communication
• Emotions and Information Diffusion in Social Media—Sentiment of Microblogs and Sharing Behavior
• Polarizing news? Representations of threat and efficacy in leading US newspapers’ coverage of climate change
• The Political Divide on Climate Change: Partisan Polarization Widens in the U.S.
• Behavioral Effects of Framing on Social Media Users: How Conflict, Economic, Human Interest, and Morality Frames Drive News Sharing
• Prospect Theory: An Analysis of Decision under Risk
• What Makes Online Content Viral?
• Negativity and Elite Message Diffusion on Social Media

Discussions

• Despite severe risks due to #ClimateChange, many organizations have difficulty fostering “sufficient action” on this issue. Hart et al. examined how eNGOs framed climate change on #Facebook & found af [bsky, 0 points, 0 comments]