Kilgo article finds demographic predictors of Reddit engagement
An article by assistant professor Danielle Kigo in the latest issue of Social Media + Society finds that women and younger users of the website Reddit are less likely to comment and post than men and older users.
“Reddit’s Veil of Anonymity: Predictors of engagement and participation in media environments with hostile reputations” analyzes how personality strength, news engagement and news consumption influence engagement on Reddit, an environment that affords varying degrees of anonymity and is known to paradoxically host toxic and supportive communities.
Using a survey of Redditors, Kilgo’s findings suggest women are less likely to comment and post but are equally likely to vote and read posts as men, indicating there may be hesitation to engage in more active participatory features of the site. Older users are more likely to comment and post when compared to younger users.
Yee Man Ng of the University of Illinois, Martin Riedl of the University of Texas and Ivan Lacasa of Universitat Internacional de Catalunya in Spain are co-authors.
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