Primacy effect of emotions in social stories: User engagement behaviors with breast cancer narratives on Facebook

Amid emerging information and communication technologies with unique affordances for storytelling and story sharing, most studies in narrative communication still focus on narratives delivered through traditional mediums. There has been little research on how emotionally charged stories can be used to engage audiences on social media. This study examined the roles of emotions and emotional shifts on user engagement behaviors on Facebook. Analyzing Facebook narratives by multiple breast cancer organizations (N = 403), we found a primacy effect of emotions in social stories, as negative emotions in the initial segment of a story increased user engagement behaviors. Emotional shift patterns were associated with user engagement behaviors: compared to neutral emotions, a negative-negative emotional shift was more engaging whereas a positive-positive or positive-negative shift was less engaging. Our findings advance narrative communication science in the social media context and offer important implications on how organizations can use social media to tell emotionally engaging stories. •Negative sentiments in the initial position of a cancer story enhance user engagement on Facebook.•Anger in the initial position of a cancer story enhance user engagement on Facebook.•The positive-positive shift in emotions is most prevalent among breast cancer organizations on Facebook.•The negative-negative shift in emotions increases user engagement behaviors on Facebook.•Cancer stories with a positive-positive or positive-negative shift were less engaging than neutral stories.