March 1st, 2023, Clifton Mark
YouGov Signal is an online listening tool that monitors 46+ digital sources across 40 markets to give consumer insights. It provides a window onto online discourse that shows not only what people are saying about a given topic, but how they feel about it. “Sentiment” is a measure of whether people’s online comments are positive or negative, and “Emotion” measures what specific emotions are being expressed in the discourse.
A recent report on data from US audiences suggests that online talk about dating and relationships is primarily negative but the concerns that people have may not be what you expect. Slightly more than half (56%) of mentions of relationships are negative. That said, the most common emotion expressed is joy, at 41%, followed by anger/disgust, at 38%. When divided up demographically, there’s a relatively close gender balance, with 53% of the online population discussing relationships being female and 47% being male. Most of the people discussing relationships are between 30 and 40 years old.
YouGov Signal can also identify keywords that are used in the online conversation surrounding a topic. The most popular sub-topics in the discourse about relationships are “healthy relationships,” “romantic relationships,” “toxic relationships,” “abusive relationships,” “parasocial relationships,” and “past relationships.” And for all these topics, women are making more comments than men.
One concerning keyword is “parasocial relationship.” A parasocial relationship, usually discussed in relation to celebrities or online personalities, is a one-sided relationship where one party invests time and interest but the other is unaware of their existence. This is a common relationship between fans and celebrities.
Sentiment regarding parasocial relationships is primarily negative, with 69% registering negative sentiment compared to only 15% positive. The emotions most associated with discussion of parasocial relationships are sadness at 41% and anger/disgust at 32%. Qualitative analysis of the online conversation indicates that there is a prevailing distaste for the normalization of this kind of relationship. However, a lot of the negative comments also come from people being disappointed by parasocial relationships with online celebrities. What little genuine positive sentiment exists is from people being proud of their parasocial relationships with celebrities like Harry Styles.
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Photo by Eric Ward on Unsplash