  Social media platforms are revolutionizing the way users communicate by
increasing the exposure to highly stigmatized issues in the society. Sexual
abuse is one such issue that recently took over social media via attaching the
hashtag #metoo to the shared posts. Individuals with different backgrounds and
ethnicities began sharing their unfortunate personal experiences of being
assaulted. Through comparative analysis of the tweets via #meToo on Twitter
versus the posts shared on the #meToo subreddit, this paper makes an initial
attempt to assess public reactions and emotions. Though nearly equal ratios of
negative and positive posts are shared on both platforms, Reddit posts are
focused on the sexual assaults within families and workplaces while Twitter
posts are on showing empathy and encouraging others to continue the #metoo
movement. The data collected in this research and preliminary analysis
demonstrate that users use various ways to share their experience, exchange
ideas and encourage each other, and social media is suitable for groundswells
such as #metoo movement.
