We all know social media platforms can be fun and casual places. Memes, jokes, and witty comments are the norm. But what happens when scientists join the conversation, especially when talking about serious topics like vaccines? That’s what we wanted to find out in this study.

In our study, we asked 484 people to read tweets from a scientist (Dr. Finley Jones, a fictional scientist we created for the purpose of this project). These tweets came in three flavors: no humor, pure humor (think light-hearted jokes), and satire (more biting and sarcastic). We wanted to see how these different styles of humor might influence people’s willingness to engage with the tweet and their attitudes towards mRNA Covid-19 vaccines.

Here’s what we discovered:

1. Humor Can Backfire: Both funny and satirical tweets can make people feel like, “Wait, is a scientist really joking about this?” The unexpected use of humor made them less likely to engage with the tweet and skeptical about the vaccines themselves. It seems people still expect scientists to keep it serious, even on Twitter.

2. Personal Traits Matter: We also looked at how people’s personal traits influenced their reactions. We found that people who think highly of themselves (we called this ‘superiority’) were less surprised and more receptive to the humor. So, a person’s personality can really shape how they react to a joke from a scientist.

Why does this matter? Well, scientists are trying to fight misinformation and share important research, and social media is a powerful tool for reaching a wide audience. But our study shows that they need to be careful with humor. While it can make their messages more engaging, it can also turn people off if it doesn’t match their expectations.