This study investigated portrayals of women in STEM on TikTok focusing on their self-presentation of identity and use of platform features to promote audience engagement. This quantitative content analysis examined TikTok posts ( N = 400) from a 3-month sample of 100 TikTok accounts by individuals identified as women in STEM. Results for STEM-focused posts showed that these content creators provided positive portrayals of their work as women in STEM and frequent displays of their STEM identity, particularly displays of STEM competence and self-recognition. However, findings also indicated that this TikTok community displayed other social group identities less frequently and used relatively few TikTok platform features that would likely enhance audience engagement. Results suggest that positive portrayals of women in STEM on TikTok are helpful for challenging gender-STEM stereotypes, but the dearth of displays of social group identities highlights a need for more diverse women in STEM role models on TikTok. In addition, the infrequent use of popular platform features appears to be a missed opportunity for broader audience engagement. Implications for social media science influencers, science communicators, and informal STEM outreach professionals are discussed.

中文翻译：

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TikTok 上 STEM 中的女性：通过 STEM 身份表达提高知名度和声音


这项研究调查了 TikTok 上 STEM 中女性的形象，重点关注她们自我展示身份以及利用平台功能来提高受众参与度。这项定量内容分析对 TikTok 帖子（N = 400）进行了为期 3 个月的抽样调查，样本中包含 STEM 领域女性的 100 个 TikTok 账户。以 STEM 为重点的帖子的结果表明，这些内容创作者对她们作为 STEM 女性的工作进行了积极的描述，并经常展示她们的 STEM 身份，特别是展示 STEM 能力和自我认可。然而，调查结果还表明，这个 TikTok 社区展示其他社交群体身份的频率较低，并且使用相对较少的 TikTok 平台功能，这些功能可能会提高受众的参与度。结果表明，TikTok 上 STEM 领域女性的积极形象有助于挑战性别 STEM 刻板印象，但社会群体身份展示的缺乏凸显了 TikTok 上的 STEM 榜样需要更加多元化的女性。此外，流行平台功能的不频繁使用似乎错失了更广泛受众参与的机会。讨论了对社交媒体科学影响者、科学传播者和非正式 STEM 外展专业人员的影响。