Exploring the Association between Livestreamers’ Self-identified Gender and Their Viewers’ Linguistic Behavior

This study explores how the gender of streamers on the livestreaming platform Twitch is associated with their viewers’ linguistic behavior. Based on prior literature, we specifically examine how Twitch viewers’ use of two contrasting language types—polite words and swear words—varies by their streamer’s gender. We identified eight gender-diverse Twitch streamers who played a video game together and livestreamed their game play separately on their own channels. From these eight channels, 8,296 chat messages were collected and analyzed using automated text analysis. Our results showed that, based on self-identified gender, men streamers’ viewers employed more swear words than women streamers’ viewers. Meanwhile, women streamers’ viewers used more polite words than men streamers’ viewers. Additionally, we found that the use of both polite and swear words differs significantly between viewers of cisgender and non-binary streamers, which underscores the need for researchers to collect self-identified gender information in social media research.