Emotion and Virality as Drivers of Environmental Issues on Social Media: Scoping Review
May 2026
As social media becomes central to environmental communication, understanding what drives widespread sharing is essential. This scoping review analyzes 82 peer-reviewed studies examining whether emotional environmental content on social media contributes to virality. It maps research trends, methodologies, and theoretical approaches used to study emotion in online environmental communication. Findings show a sharp increase in publications since 2020, with quantitative computational analyses of Twitter (now X) dominating the literature. Most studies relied on dimensional or sentiment-based emotion measures rather than discrete emotions. Theory-driven and experimental studies were rare. Overall, the review highlights gaps in theory, methodological diversity, and platform coverage.
CITE
Kim, M., & Rhodes, N. (2026). Emotion and Virality as Drivers of Environmental Issues on Social Media: Scoping Review. Science Communication, 0(0).
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