Emotionality in Political Social Media Communications: The Moderating Role of Audience Diversity.

This article investigates how the emotionality of social media posts by U.S. senators influences public engagement (e.g., shares) and follower growth on Twitter (rebranded as X). The research finds that while emotionally charged posts, especially those with negative valence, tend to increase engagement, this effect weakens for senators representing ideologically diverse (battleground) states; in such cases, less emotional content may generate more engagement. Importantly, emotionality does not significantly affect follower growth, which is instead driven by substantive post content such as policy topics. These findings highlight that audience ideological diversity and message valence moderate the impact of emotionality on engagement, suggesting political communicators and other content creators should tailor emotional messaging carefully to their audience composition to optimize engagement and community building.