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When it comes to trying to convince people to eat vegetarian on Twitter, personal experience has more impact than outlining facts, according to the findings of a Danish study conducted by researchers at the University of Copenhagen.
When it comes to trying to convince people to eat vegetarian on Twitter, personal experience has more impact than outlining facts, according to the findings of a Danish study conducted by researchers at the University of Copenhagen.
At a time when the climate crisis is increasingly the subject of discussion in the media, and more generally on the web, there's no shortage of arguments to convince people to take up more planet-friendly eating habits. But not all of them are equally effective, according to researchers at the University of Copenhagen's Department of Computer Science. The authors of recently published research have mapped internet users' "climate-friendly" attitudes, based on language models and other artificial intelligence tools. The algorithm they developed analyzed nearly 30,000 tweets whose content was all related to sustainable food.
The posts in question covered topics such as reducing meat consumption, promoting plant-based diets, encouraging alternatives to meat products, and supporting policy measures that promote sustainable food. The posts were also evaluated according to the types of arguments put forward and what the arguments expressed in the message were based on: testimonies of internet users, expert opinions, statistics, study results, moral convictions, etc.
What conclusions did the researchers come to? When it comes to convincing others, experience and opinion trump facts! "In this study, we can see that many people use their beliefs as evidence to back their stance on sustainable eating, whether it be positive or negative, without it being linked to a study or an expert in a scientific article, for example. Arguing in this manner is commonplace on social media," says Daniel Hershcovich, an assistant professor of computer science and co-lead of study, in astatement.
Based on these findings, the researchers conclude that individual experience and personal stories from internet users have great potential to support strategies put into place by public agencies, policymakers, and other actors when it comes to creating communication campaigns and information packages for the public. "People's experiences and stories are shared and discussed far more often than factual information from experts and the media. It says something about the personal approach that agencies and ministries may need in their communications in order to connect with people and get them to change their behavior," Hershcovich concludes.
