Climate Change Communication of Interest Groups on Twitter

The way different interest groups frame problems can influence public opinion about those issues. Since public opinion plays a large role in policy formation, it is important to understand how climate change is being conveyed to the public by influential groups. Media coverage is one of the major predictors of public concern about climate change. As Twitter has skyrocketed in popularity over the years, many organizations use this networking site to promote their interests. Twenty-five organizations were selected for content analysis of tweets relating to climate change. Over 1,600 tweets were pulled from an 8-month period through Twitter’s API and coded for the use of different frames. Findings were mostly consistent with past research, however this study found that science organizations are becoming more involved in the climate discussion, more conservative political parties have shifted their framing about climate change away from questioning climate science, and mainstream environmental groups are increasingly considering equity and justice in climate impacts. Overall, the implications of this study provide messengers of climate change opportunities for collaboration and places to fill the gaps in discussion