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This longitudinal study examines the evolution of political discourse about the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) among users from primarily US-focused subreddits, as reflected in Reddit discussions between 2015 and 2023. Social media interactions, characterized by anonymity and performativity, can help differentiate between authentic perspectives and misinformation. With its diverse user base and wide-ranging discussions, Reddit provides a valuable data source for analyzing public sentiment. To explore changes in discourse, we investigated linguistic features such as clout, authenticity, emotional expression, and analytical thinking. We used Computer-Mediated Discourse Analysis (CMDA) and Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count (LIWC) software to conduct qualitative content analysis and quantitative goodness-of-fit tests. Analytical thinking reflects how systematically users present political arguments, while clout captures the confidence and authority of discourse, highlighting dominant voices. Authenticity measures the sincerity of discourse, and emotional tone reveals users’ feelings toward KSA. Our findings show an overall increase in analytical discourse and a decrease in negative tone, although emotional sentiment remained largely negative. Peaks in clout, authenticity, and emotional tone corresponded to major political events, indicating how such events shape public attitudes. These results suggest that significant political and social events influence both the content and tone of political discourse and may, in turn, impact public perceptions and emotions.

Abstract Climate change is known to increase the frequency and intensity of hot days (daily maximum temperature ≥30°C), both globally and locally. Exposure to extreme heat is associated with numerous adverse human health outcomes. This study estimated the burden of heat‐related illness (HRI) attributable to anthropogenic climate change in North Carolina physiographic divisions (Coastal and Piedmont) during the summer months from 2011 to 2016. Additionally, assuming intermediate and high greenhouse gas emission scenarios, future HRI morbidity burden attributable to climate change was estimated. The association between daily maximum temperature and the rate of HRI was evaluated using the Generalized Additive Model. The rate of HRI assuming natural simulations (i.e., absence of greenhouse gas emissions) and future greenhouse gas emission scenarios were predicted to estimate the HRI attributable to climate change. Over 4 years (2011, 2012, 2014, and 2015), we observed a significant decrease in the rate of HRI assuming natural simulations compared to the observed. About 3 out of 20 HRI visits are attributable to anthropogenic climate change in Coastal (13.40% [IQR: −34.90,95.52]) and Piedmont (16.39% [IQR: −35.18,148.26]) regions. During the future periods, the median rate of HRI was significantly higher (78.65%: Coastal and 65.85%: Piedmont), assuming a higher emission scenario than the intermediate emission scenario. We observed significant associations between anthropogenic climate change and adverse human health outcomes. Our findings indicate the need for evidence‐based public health interventions to protect human health from climate‐related exposures, like extreme heat, while minimizing greenhouse gas emissions.

Language and Discourse in Social Media: New Challenges, New Approaches. by Massimiliano Demata, Dermot Heaney and Susan C. Herring TEXTS BY: Michael S. Boyd, Paola Catenaccio, Michelangelo Conoscenti, Giuliana Elena Garzone, Ilaria Moschini, Anna Franca Plastina, Alessandra Rizzo, Marianna Lya Zummo

This study explores how male and female users of Voicethread.com, an interactive multimodal web 2.0 platform that allows asynchronous commenting via text, audio, and video, communicate and perform identity through self-expression in different semiotic modes. A quantitative computer-mediated discourse analysis of three public English-language Voicethreads found that in video and audio comments, both genders express more positive attitudes; they are also more self-conscious and ego-focused. The text comments express more neutral and negative attitudes, especially when written by males, but they are also more socially interactive. With few exceptions, female communication patterns resemble those for audio and video, while male communication patterns resemble those for text. We propose explanations for these findings and discuss their implications for identity performances in interactive multimodal environments.

Research is scarce on how direct and indirect support seeking strategies affect support exchange in online health communities. Moreover, prior research has relied mostly on content analysis of forum posts at the post level. In order to generate a more fine-grained analysis of support exchange, we conducted content analysis at the utterance level, taking directness of support seeking, quality of provision, forum type, and seeker gender into account. Our analysis of four popular online support forums for people living with human immunodeficiency virus found that type of support sought and provided, support seeking strategy, and quality of emotional support provision differed in care provider/formal forums versus social/informal forums. Interestingly, indirect support seeking tended to elicit more supportive emotional responses than direct support seeking strategies in all forums; we account for this in terms of type of support sought. Practical implications for online support communities are discussed.