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An analysis of more than a billion tweets suggests that, when it comes to environmental issues, people fit into six distinct online personas. The analysis also found that environmental concern in the US is more broadly shared across the political spectrum than many might assume.

at Pomona College in California and her colleagues started with a list of 1 million Twitter users who followed at least one US-based environmental NGO. After filtering out bots using a well-regarded , the team was left with around 500,000 users from 14 countries who collectively had tweeted 1.3 billion times.

The researchers used a natural language-processing algorithm to discover that environmental discussions fit into at least 21 distinct categories, ranging from climate policy and renewable energy to hiking and gardening. The algorithm also measured whether people’s sentiments skewed positively or negatively towards each issue.

Based on these patterns, the researchers identified six environmental personas: technocrats, the climate-concerned, stewards, generalists, the reserved and smart alecs.

Technocrats, in this scheme, tend to be outspoken on things like policy and renewables, but quiet on things like outdoor recreation and animal welfare. The climate-concerned are laser-focused on decarbonisation. Stewards are traditional conservationists focused on things like birdwatching and public lands, such as national parks. Generalists – the most common persona – are a little concerned about everything. The reserved don’t engage much, but seem to be interested in national parks. Smart alecs are characterised by negative sentiment across the board.

“These personas really differ in how they express themselves online,” says Chang. For instance, technocrats often use terms like “blockchain” and “sustainability”, while stewards frequently use words like “faith” and “property”. “The types of distinct words or phrases that they use really give you a more grounded sense of who these people are,” says Chang.

For users in the US, Chang and the team could also predict political leanings based on the accounts they follow. The researchers were surprised to find that all six personas largely cut across party lines, though, on average, stewards were more right-leaning, while technocrats, the climate-concerned and smart alecs were more left-leaning.

The results could help anyone advocating for environmental issues reach a broader audience by addressing shared concerns wherever possible. For instance, to reach an audience of stewards and generalists, “hammering” on the science behind climate change might be less effective and more polarising than emphasising the tangible effects of a warmer world on things like agricultural production or beloved public lands, says Chang.

“For any kind of environmental priority, there’s almost certainly some way in which local communities are talking about it,” says Chang. “It just might look very specific from one geography to another.”