When Science Meets Art on Instagram: Examining the Effects of Visual Art on Emotions, Interest, and Social Media Engagement

Abstract

While artistic representations of scientific subjects, phenomena, and data have gained traction on social media, their effects on audience engagement remain understudied. Using an experiment with Instagram users in the United States ( N = 655), this study found that exposure to artistic representations of COVID-19 information on Instagram significantly increased individuals’ interest and positive emotions compared with exposure to informationally equivalent data graphs. Positive emotions also mediated the relationship of art exposure on one’s liking and sharing of Instagram posts. We discuss the potential roles of visual art and social media in shaping public engagement with science.