Representation in ScienceTok: Communicator Identities, Message Content, and User Engagement on a Short-Form Video Social Media Platform

Abstract

Given the popularity of short-form video platforms such as TikTok, particularly among young women and people of color, representations on these sites may shape beliefs about, identification with, and self-images as scientists. The present study builds on social cognitive theory and schema theory to examine communicator gender and race/ethnicity in TikTok science videos, testing for patterns across these identities in terms of disciplines, topics, features, and engagement. A content analysis of 134 videos from 30 widely followed English-language accounts found that men outnumbered women as communicators and that white communicators were more common than communicators of color. Relatively few associations emerged between communicator identities and disciplines, topics, or features, but videos with male communicators tended to receive higher engagement, a pattern not seen with women communicators. Taken together, these findings provide foundations for studying how TikTok videos may reinforce or counter long-standing demographic disparities in science.