Study Examines Where Twitter’s Haters Live

The website Abado examined millions of tweets for “slurs and other prejudiced language against black people, Hispanic/Latino people, women, gays and lesbians, transgender people, people with disabilities, and the overweight.” Topping their list for anti-gay tweets was Buffalo. Here’s their overall breakdown by state:

Altogether, Louisiana places first with 1,155 slur-containing tweets out of every 100,000, indicating that approximately 1 in 87 tweets originating from Louisiana over the studied time period contained at least one of these slurs. In second is Nevada with 929, and Texas is nearly tied with 925 such tweets per 100,000.

These high-ranking states are geographically diverse. Not only are Gulf Coast states like Louisiana and Texas represented, but also Northeastern states such as Maryland, Delaware, and Rhode Island, as well as Ohio and Michigan in the Midwest and California on the West Coast.

Not all states were so vocal in their use of slurs and pejorative language. Ranking last in the nation, Wyoming used these terms in only 120 per 100,000 tweets – barely a tenth the rate of top-ranking Louisiana. Neighboring Montana, with 121, is nearly tied for last place.

Other Western and Midwestern states, such as South Dakota (192), Idaho (232), Minnesota (284), North Dakota (290), and Wisconsin (298), appeared among the bottom 10 as well. Southern and Northeastern states like Arkansas (244), Vermont (176), and Maine (288) also had some of the lowest levels of derogatory language use.

Many more charts are at the link.