A study investigates how classical rhetorical appeals of ethos and pathos resonate within the interpretations of a silent social media audience that does not explicitly engage with posts.
- Researchers analyzed a dataset of social media sentences paired with human-written interpretations, labeling both for ethos and pathos to assess preservation.
- Interpretations diverged from original sentences in 30% of cases, with rhetorically charged content showing greater variability than neutral content.
- The presence of ethos and pathos in original messages was found to predict audience attitudes toward the author.
The findings underscore how rhetoric shapes perception beyond visible engagement, highlighting the influence on the universal audience that remains silent.