A Social Media Lens on the Needs and Concerns of Information Workers

Technological advancements have greatly impacted labor market dynamics, leaving a psychological impact on workers. Although some studies have explored such labor market changes and their effects on workers, they are limited to self-reported data, such as surveys and questionnaires. In this paper, we propose a new approach for identifying information workers’ challenges and their impact on workers’ emotional well-being using large-scale, inexpensive, and near-real-time online social network data. While the research is situated within the broader Future of Work context shaped by technological change, the data collected and analyzed focus specifically on IT-related skills and topics discussed on Reddit, rather than on artificial intelligence itself. Analyzing over 700,000 Reddit posts related to IT occupations, we identify major labor market topics, including education and skill development, job search, and employment concerns, and examine how workers’ emotional expressions vary across gender and age groups. Our findings reveal systematic differences in how workers from different demographic groups disclose their needs and emotional states online. This work demonstrates the value of social media data as a complementary lens for understanding workers’ challenges in the knowledge economy. It highlights the potential of online communities as vehicles for peer support and well-being interventions.