Public sentiment and engagement on cybersecurity: Insights from Reddit discussions
Cyber insecurity is recognized amongst the top severe global risks by the World Economic Forum.This study addresses a significant gap in our understanding of the social dynamics of public perception and online discourse related to cybersecurity, with a particular focus on how social media platforms...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Elsevier
2025-03-01
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| Series: | Computers in Human Behavior Reports |
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| Online Access: | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2451958824002069 |
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| author | Krishnashree Achuthan Sugandh Khobragade Robin Kowalski |
| author_facet | Krishnashree Achuthan Sugandh Khobragade Robin Kowalski |
| author_sort | Krishnashree Achuthan |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Cyber insecurity is recognized amongst the top severe global risks by the World Economic Forum.This study addresses a significant gap in our understanding of the social dynamics of public perception and online discourse related to cybersecurity, with a particular focus on how social media platforms shape and reflect public engagement. We employ sentiment analysis, topic modeling, and zero-shot text classification to analyze 33,893 news and user posts, along with the corresponding 194,591 news and user comments, across five subreddit discussion forums between 2012 and 2022. Through the lens of the Social Amplification of Risk Framework (SARF) and Protection Motivation Theory (PMT), we uncover patterns in topic engagement, emotional responses, community support, and the interplay of sentiment and comment types. Our findings reveal a complex landscape of public engagement with cybersecurity news, characterized by high interest in government surveillance, cyber warfare, and software vulnerabilities. Comments vary across topics, with technical advice dominating discussions, while skepticism and concern are prevalent in privacy-related areas. Community reactions tend towards critical engagement, with comments expressing concern, disappointment, and anger receiving high upvotes. Post sentiment weakly correlates with comment types, where more negative posts elicit increased expressions of concern, anger, and skepticism. The community's dynamic engagement with cybersecurity issues underscores the need for tailored communication strategies that acknowledge both emotional responses and the desire for practical solutions. This study contributes to an understanding of public engagement with cybersecurity issues on social media while offering insights for stakeholders seeking to foster informed, resilient, and engaged online communities. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-199d96ebbb2546f78f57d55b6f5a25fb |
| institution | DOAJ |
| issn | 2451-9588 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-03-01 |
| publisher | Elsevier |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Computers in Human Behavior Reports |
| spelling | doaj-art-199d96ebbb2546f78f57d55b6f5a25fb2025-08-20T02:54:58ZengElsevierComputers in Human Behavior Reports2451-95882025-03-011710057310.1016/j.chbr.2024.100573Public sentiment and engagement on cybersecurity: Insights from Reddit discussionsKrishnashree Achuthan0Sugandh Khobragade1Robin Kowalski2Center for Cybersecurity Systems and Networks, Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham, Amritapuri, Kollam, 690525, Kerala, India; Corresponding author.Center for Cybersecurity Systems and Networks, Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham, Amritapuri, Kollam, 690525, Kerala, IndiaCollege of Arts and Humanities, Clemson University, 105 Sikes Hall, Clemson, SC, 29634, United StatesCyber insecurity is recognized amongst the top severe global risks by the World Economic Forum.This study addresses a significant gap in our understanding of the social dynamics of public perception and online discourse related to cybersecurity, with a particular focus on how social media platforms shape and reflect public engagement. We employ sentiment analysis, topic modeling, and zero-shot text classification to analyze 33,893 news and user posts, along with the corresponding 194,591 news and user comments, across five subreddit discussion forums between 2012 and 2022. Through the lens of the Social Amplification of Risk Framework (SARF) and Protection Motivation Theory (PMT), we uncover patterns in topic engagement, emotional responses, community support, and the interplay of sentiment and comment types. Our findings reveal a complex landscape of public engagement with cybersecurity news, characterized by high interest in government surveillance, cyber warfare, and software vulnerabilities. Comments vary across topics, with technical advice dominating discussions, while skepticism and concern are prevalent in privacy-related areas. Community reactions tend towards critical engagement, with comments expressing concern, disappointment, and anger receiving high upvotes. Post sentiment weakly correlates with comment types, where more negative posts elicit increased expressions of concern, anger, and skepticism. The community's dynamic engagement with cybersecurity issues underscores the need for tailored communication strategies that acknowledge both emotional responses and the desire for practical solutions. This study contributes to an understanding of public engagement with cybersecurity issues on social media while offering insights for stakeholders seeking to foster informed, resilient, and engaged online communities.http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2451958824002069Public sentimentCybercrimeBERTopic modelingText classificationReddit social mediaArtificial intelligence |
| spellingShingle | Krishnashree Achuthan Sugandh Khobragade Robin Kowalski Public sentiment and engagement on cybersecurity: Insights from Reddit discussions Computers in Human Behavior Reports Public sentiment Cybercrime BERTopic modeling Text classification Reddit social media Artificial intelligence |
| title | Public sentiment and engagement on cybersecurity: Insights from Reddit discussions |
| title_full | Public sentiment and engagement on cybersecurity: Insights from Reddit discussions |
| title_fullStr | Public sentiment and engagement on cybersecurity: Insights from Reddit discussions |
| title_full_unstemmed | Public sentiment and engagement on cybersecurity: Insights from Reddit discussions |
| title_short | Public sentiment and engagement on cybersecurity: Insights from Reddit discussions |
| title_sort | public sentiment and engagement on cybersecurity insights from reddit discussions |
| topic | Public sentiment Cybercrime BERTopic modeling Text classification Reddit social media Artificial intelligence |
| url | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2451958824002069 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT krishnashreeachuthan publicsentimentandengagementoncybersecurityinsightsfromredditdiscussions AT sugandhkhobragade publicsentimentandengagementoncybersecurityinsightsfromredditdiscussions AT robinkowalski publicsentimentandengagementoncybersecurityinsightsfromredditdiscussions |