Fun with Frustration? TikTok Influencers’ Emotional Expression Predicts User Engagement with COVID-19 Vaccination Messages

ABSTRACT

This study examined what kinds of TikTok video and message features are associated with user engagement in the context of COVID-19 vaccination. Content analysis was applied to study a sample of 223 COVID-19 vaccination-related videos from creators with at least 10,000 followers. The content analysis involved coding themes, video formats, the valence of attitude toward vaccination, and emotional expressions from the influencers. A majority of videos showcased personal vaccination experiences, followed by fictitious dramas and instructional information. More fictitious dramas expressed unclear attitudes, neither explicitly supporting nor opposing the COVID-19 vaccine, compared to personal vaccination stories and instructional videos. Some imaginative and dramatic scenes, such as zombie transformation or dramatic spasms after taking the vaccines, were widely imitated across influencers, perhaps humorously, and raised concerns about diminishing positive images of vaccine uptake. Videos with simultaneous expression of humor and frustration significantly predicted engagement when the video content opposed or was uncertain about taking the vaccine, implying the effectiveness of mixed emotional attributes within a message. This study provides insight into how social context and message choices by creators interact to influence audience engagement.

Acknowledgements

The authors thank the Mass Communication Research Center (MCRC) led by Professor Dhavan Shah at the University of Wisconsin-Madison for supporting our data collection and feedback for this manuscript. We would also like to thank the editors and reviewers of Health Communication for their constructive suggestions and helpful feedback.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Data availability statement

The data underlying this article will be shared on reasonable request by the corresponding author

Additional information

Funding

The author(s) reported there is no funding associated with the work featured in this article.