‘We’re women in STEM’: promoting adolescent girls’ engagement with TikTok posts by women STEM content creators

A lack of role models has been identified as a key reason adolescent girls are less likely to consider STEM careers. Social media present significant opportunities for adolescent girls to connect with women STEM role models and learn about STEM careers in an accessible and appealing format because social media are deeply integrated into the everyday lives and media practices of adolescent girls. This case study used reflective thematic analysis to analyze engagement with 303 TikTok posts associated with the #womeninSTEM selected by an adolescent girl when seeking information about women in STEM. Uses and gratifications theory provided a framework to better understand content preferences and motivations that prompted engagement. Positive engagement was found for content centered on inspirational messages and negative engagement for content focused on discouraging messages about challenges working in male-dominated fields or content lacking in trendy design features. Implications for women STEM influencers and content creators seeking to promote engagement with this important audience are considered.