Using the Lenses of Emotion and Support to Understand Unemployment Discourse on Reddit

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Unemployed individuals experience emotional upheaval and financial constraints, and struggle to share their challenges and obtain support from their family members and social circles. While prior work has shown that social media platforms enable its users to safely share their turmoils, hardships, and emotional upheavals and seek support, little is known about how the unemployed use such platforms. Based on a qualitative analysis of data retrieved from unemployment communities on Reddit, our study reveals that redditors on these communities engage in exchanges that range from queries seeking information about job searching to discussions about sensitive topics such as the health and social implications of unemployment. Also, while redditors use mostly negative emotional tonality in their texts when initiating a new post, the comments in response provide considerable social support in form of esteem, emotional, informational, network, and instrumental support. Based on these findings, we share the theoretical implications of our work and offer design recommendation.