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John McAlaney, Professor in Psychology, Bournemouth University

Rage bait: the psychology behind social media’s angriest posts

Jack_the_sparow/Shutterstock

“Rage bait” has been named the word of the year by the Oxford University Press. It means social media content that is designed to create a strong and negative reaction.

Posting content intended to antagonise people may not seem like a wise strategy for a social media influencer. But people who post content on social media can make more money if their channel has a high level of engagements – regardless of how positively people are responding.

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