Personal Narratives Empower Politically Disinclined Individuals to Engage in Political Discussions

TL;DR

This study shows that personal narratives can effectively encourage politically disinclined individuals to participate in online political discussions, fostering more inclusive and positive political engagement.

Contribution

The paper demonstrates that personal narratives increase participation and positive reception among politically disinclined users in online political discussions, using large-scale computational analysis.

Findings

Politically disinclined individuals use more personal narratives.

Personal narratives attract and retain disinclined users.

Disinclined users' personal narratives are received positively.

Abstract

Engaging in political discussions is crucial in democratic societies, yet many individuals remain politically disinclined due to various factors such as perceived knowledge gaps, conflict avoidance, or a sense of disconnection from the political system. In this paper, we explore the potential of personal narratives-short, first-person accounts emphasizing personal experiences-as a means to empower these individuals to participate in online political discussions. Using a text classifier that identifies personal narratives, we conducted a large-scale computational analysis to evaluate the relationship between the use of personal narratives and participation in political discussions on Reddit. We find that politically disinclined individuals (PDIs) are more likely to use personal narratives than more politically active users. Personal narratives are more likely to attract and retain politically disinclined individuals in political discussions than other comments. Importantly, personal narratives posted by politically disinclined individuals are received more positively than their other comments in political communities. These results emphasize the value of personal narratives in promoting inclusive political discourse.