Social Media Reactions to Open Source Promotions: AI-Powered GitHub Projects on Hacker News
Issued Date
2025-01-01
Resource Type
Scopus ID
2-s2.0-105022475446
Journal Title
Proceedings 2025 IEEE International Conference on Software Maintenance and Evolution Icsme 2025
Start Page
344
End Page
355
Rights Holder(s)
SCOPUS
Bibliographic Citation
Proceedings 2025 IEEE International Conference on Software Maintenance and Evolution Icsme 2025 (2025) , 344-355
Suggested Citation
Meakpaiboonwattana P., Tarntong W., Mekratanavorakul T., Ragkhitwetsagul C., Sangaroonsilp P., Kula R.G., Choetkiertikul M., Matsumoto K., Sunetnanta T. Social Media Reactions to Open Source Promotions: AI-Powered GitHub Projects on Hacker News. Proceedings 2025 IEEE International Conference on Software Maintenance and Evolution Icsme 2025 (2025) , 344-355. 355. doi:10.1109/ICSME64153.2025.00039 Retrieved from: https://repository.li.mahidol.ac.th/handle/123456789/113292
Title
Social Media Reactions to Open Source Promotions: AI-Powered GitHub Projects on Hacker News
Author's Affiliation
Corresponding Author(s)
Other Contributor(s)
Abstract
Social media platforms have become more influential than traditional news sources, shaping public discourse and accelerating the spread of information. With the rapid advancement of artificial intelligence (AI), open-source software (OSS) projects can leverage these platforms to gain visibility and attract contributors. In this study, we investigate the relationship between Hacker News, a social news site focused on computer science and entrepreneurship, and the extent to which it influences developer activity on the promoted GitHub AI projects. We analyzed 2,195 Hacker News (HN) stories and their corresponding comments over a two-year period. Our findings reveal that at least 19 % of AI developers promoted their GitHub projects on Hacker News, often receiving positive engagement from the community. By tracking activity on the associated 1,814 GitHub repositories after they were shared on Hacker News, we observed a significant increase in forks, stars, and contributors. These results suggest that Hacker News serves as a viable platform for AI-powered OSS projects, with the potential to gain attention, foster community engagement, and accelerate software development.