Compared with men’s tweets, a higher proportion of women’s tweets are retweets, and that the majority of women’s retweets originate from men

From 2021... Tweeting and Retweeting: Gender Discrepancies in Discursive Political Engagement and Influence on Twitter. Lingshu Hu,Michael W. Kearney &Cynthia M. Frisby. Journal of Gender Studies, Oct 24 2021. https://doi.org/10.1080/09589236.2021.1995340

Abstract: Two studies were conducted to examine gender differences in the discursive political engagement on Twitter. Study 1 analysed about 5.6 million English tweets regarding nine political issues and one non-political issue. It found that, compared with men’s tweets, a higher proportion of women’s tweets are retweets, and that the majority of women’s retweets originate from men. The results may indicate that women have a relatively lower level of political efficacy and/or sense a higher level of environmental risk than men when participating in political discussions on Twitter. They may also indicate that men have a more significant influence than women on Twitter. Study 2 collected 225 survey responses from the adults in the U.S. via Qualtrics’s online panel. The results partly support the findings of study 1, showing that on average, women have a lower level of perceived political efficacy than men, which affects the likelihood of their political expression along with a feeling of communal support.

Keywords: Political engagementTwittergenderwomensocial mediabig data