Researchers at University of Tsukuba have found that emotions expressed in real-time barrage comments on the Chinese video platform Bilibili are directly linked to viewer behavior. Their study shows that positive emotions strongly correlate with purchasing intentions and imitative actions, highlighting the potential for emotional contagion in online environments.

Tsukuba, Japan—The rapid rise of social media has enabled real-time interaction among users, accelerating and complicating the ways emotions influence human behavior. Yet the specific mechanisms through which emotions are transmitted and tied to viewer responses, particularly in settings where video and viewer comments are synchronized, remain poorly understood.

Grounded in the Emotions as Social Information (EASI) theory, which argues that emotional expressions function as vital social signals, the research team examined more than 50,000 barrage comments. These comments, which appear on screen in real time as videos play, were collected from a single promotional video created in collaboration with a specific company and posted on the Chinese video platform Bilibili. By applying emotion analysis and statistical modeling, the researchers investigated how viewers' expressed emotions relate to purchasing decisions and imitative behavior, whether repeating their own actions or mimicking others, across personal and interpersonal dimensions.

The findings revealed a clear link between positive emotional comments and purchasing intent for the featured product. The study also observed synchronized imitation of others' comments in specific video scenes, suggesting the presence of real-time emotional contagion. At the same time, the researchers uncovered subtler dynamics: for example, repeated viewing of the same video showed only a weak connection with expressed emotions, indicating that different types of behavior shape the relationship between emotion and purchasing intention in distinct ways.

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This work was supported by JST SPRING Grant Number JPMJSP2124 and JST-Mirai Program Grant Number JPMJMI23B1, Japan.

Original Paper

Title of original paper:

Dynamic analysis of barrage comments on sentimental influence and behavior

Journal:

Scientific Reports

DOI:

10.1038/s41598-025-12286-y

Correspondence

Associate Professor YOSHIDA Mitsuo
Institute of Business Sciences, University of Tsukuba

Qiao Wang
Doctoral Program in Risk and Resilience Engineering, Degree Programs in Systems and Information Engineering, Graduate School of Science and Technology, University of Tsukuba

Related Link

Institute of Business Sciences

Master's / Doctoral Program in Risk and Resilience Engineering