"We are all in big trouble! *Shock Emoji": Personal Narratives in Expressing Emotions, Opinions, and Data Regarding Climate Change in TikTok Short Videos
2026-07-13 • Human-Computer Interaction
Human-Computer InteractionSocial and Information Networks
AI summaryⓘ
The authors studied 200 TikTok videos about climate change to understand how people talk about it online. They found four main types of content: expressing feelings, sharing opinions, giving news, and using popular trends. Creators often use humor and personal stories to discuss climate topics without being too serious or confrontational. Viewers respond with empathy, which helps build a sense of community even though TikTok doesn’t have formal groups. This shows how short videos blend science and personal experience to communicate about climate change.
climate changesocial mediaTikTokcontent categorieshumor in communicationpersonal narrativesscience communicationviewer engagementcommunity building
Authors
Chu Zhang, Simai Huang, Shaohua Wu, Yihuan Chen, Ray LC
Abstract
Climate change is a source of anxiety about the future. Understanding how people express themselves about climate change enables us to address such concerns. To study climate change expression on social media, we analyzed 200 TikTok videos tagged with #climatechange, identifying four categories of content: expression-feelings, views-appeals, news-information, and trend-hijacking. We found that creators use humor to package sharp critiques, avoiding direct confrontation. They replace complex discussions with life stories, such as adopting a vegetarian lifestyle or deleting emails. They borrow from news media to present fragmented information as scientific interpretations, creating a perception of scientific credibility, balancing scientific accuracy with emotionality. Analysis of viewer responses showed they engaged empathetically, reshaping interpretations of videos. These interactions risk reinforcing existing views but help build community on TikTok, which lacks community structure. This study reveals how creators may retell news on science using personal narratives, highlighting how short-form videos enable climate communication.