Understanding Climate Communication on Social Media: Methods & Perspectives

Climate change is a critical global issue which requires collective actions, and yet public understanding of climate change vary significantly across countries due to cultural, political, and media differences. Meanwhile, social media platforms have become primary sources of information and play important roles in shaping public perceptions of climate crises and policies. China and the UK, both major players in global climate policy, offer differentiated social media landscape and cultural contexts, making the two countries ideal for a comparative study.

The project addresses a gap in existing research by focusing on the digital storytelling aspects of climate change communication in both Western and non-Western contexts. It builds on previous work examining digital media’s roles in public understanding of science and technology but narrows its focus to climate change, which is a field of growing urgency and relevance. We aim to understand how climate change communication differs between the two countries. The focus areas include:

Content analysis of social media narratives: We will collect and analyse climate change-related content to identify prevalent themes, main sentiments, and storytelling strategies.

Public attention and engagement: The project will measure public engagement metrics such as likes, shares, and comments on social media platforms to understand the impact of various climate narratives.

The seminar will offer an introduction and overview of the UCL-PKU strategic partnership project and a roundtable by the UCL-PKU project team and guests:

• Prof. Ralph Schroeder, Oxford Internet Institute, University of Oxford
• Michael Pidd, Digital Humanities Institute, University of Sheffield
• Dr Elisa Oreglia, Reader in Global Digital Cultures, King’s College London
• Dr Tristan Cann, Institute for Data Science and Artificial Intelligence, University of Exeter

Workshop

14:00 Words of welcome

14:10 Project introduction

• Opening remarks and overview of the project
• RAs presentations
• Data collection and analysis of results
• General discussion

16:00 Afternoon tea & coffee with biscuits

16:30 Guests comments

Round Table discussion

18:00 Reception

20:00 Close

Host or Publisher UCL Institute for Advanced Studies