Retweets for Policy Advocates: Tweet Diffusion in The Policy Discussion Space of Universal Basic Income

Abstract

Technological advances have increasingly automated tasks that have hitherto been done by humans. The disruption to the labor market is expected to grow as more and more jobs are lost to automation. Society would benefit from the open discussion of alternative policy approaches, such as Universal Basic Income (UBI), that can alleviate social tensions related to joblessness. In this study, we examine tweets related to the discussion of UBI in an effort to understand the types of messages most likely to spread information about policy innovations, and most likely to bring new voices into the discussion. We find that messages that resonate with users are more likely to reach new audiences and bring new actors into the discussion space. Our work offers prescriptions for policy advocates, and provides insights for social scientists studying Twitter and policy and information diffusion.