Ratio on Twitter – What Does It Mean?

There are two meanings to being ratioed on Twitter, I will be explaining both of the meanings below.

1. Meaning 1

   The vast majority of tweets have more likes than replies or retweets because most users agree with the tweet. However, if you post a tweet that is considered offensive, controversial, or can cause divisive opinions, you might see a response happening that is quite the opposite.

   So a ratio on Twitter refers to a tweet having significantly more replies or retweets than likes. This can happen because the user has left a controversial tweet on Twitter, which causes followers and other users to leave negative replies, but it can also be because the user has got themselves wrapped up in an internet fight.

   Internet fights often happen in stan culture and what will happen is fans of a famous celebrity or brand comment “ratio” on tweets, so followers will leave negative replies on the original tweet. They will often attempt this on tweets from supporters of “opposing” groups, this is based on what the fans perceive to be an opposing group and in reality might not even be the case of such.

   Ratio isn’t only found on Twitter but also on other traditional social media apps and other content-sharing platforms. Except for Reddit, this is because of Reddit’s karma system, where they can upvote or downvote a particular post, there is no need for users to ratio the original post in the first place.

   You also need to look at the actual replies and comments on your tweet that seem to be ratioed as a ratio refers to negative responses and not positive ones. If you see more comments or retweets than likes but you see a significantly large scale of positive comments or retweets then the tweet has not been ratioed.

2. Meaning 2

   Ratio refers also to trying to get more likes than the tweet that was commented on. Users will comment the word “ratio” on tweets when they either want to show off the fact that they have more followers, show the unpopularity of the opinion or because the opinion of the person is considered to be wrong in general.

There are various tweets that have been ratioed and the size of the follower count isn’t of importance as to who gets ratioed or not. Of course the bigger the follower counts the bigger the ratio can end up being compared to someone with a smaller follower count.

1. United Airlines

   

   In April of 2017, an incident happened on one of the airplanes of United airlines. A doctor got violently dragged off the airplane after being chosen to leave the airplane to make room for other passengers, even though he had paid for the tickets. The video of the situation went viral and United airlines made a tweet in response. However, the tweet got a negative response and there were more comments on the post than likes.

2. New York Post

   

   During the Depp vs Heard trial in 2022, the New York Post had several Twitter posts ratioed due to some of their coverage. The New York Post is owned by Murdoch News Corp, the same company that owns The Sun, the same newspaper that Johnny Depp sued in 2020. Several other publications were also ratioed during this time depending on their take on the case.

When you have been ratioed on the internet, you might be wondering what you should do to address this. At first, it may seem you have received engagement on a large scale, but it is not something to be proud of, especially as a big brand or celebrity, as being ratioed is considered a sign of failure. This may cause you to lose respect and some people may even go as far to send you direct messages.

So the best way to go about being ratioed is to make sure you, first of all, think before you tweet, especially if it’s about a topic that can cause divisive opinions. Expressing your opinion that can be offensive just to spark debate is not always the best way to go.

However, if you did spark a debate and find yourself with a high ratio, the best practice might be to own up to the controversy and apologize. This shows your effort and implies you want to do better.

The last resort to stop you from being ratioed is making your social media account private, so no one except for your followers can see what you tweet. Even if a person makes a quote retweet, retweets, or likes your tweet it won’t show up as they aren’t following you.