Social Media Lab
@SMLabTO
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Research Lab @TRSMTorontoMet |Convener of @SocMediaConf |Dvlpr of @communalytic , @PoliDashboard & | Post by @phmai re: SocMed/Misinfo
Toronto, Canada
Joined September 2010
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Last Seen Profiles
Pinned Tweet
Introducing the New 3D Topic Analyzer Module in
@Communalytic
. It's designed to help researchers discover latent topics and themes in a dataset (i.e., abstract topics that may not be directly observable from just reading the posts).
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🚨This is truely the end of an era & very sad news for the social media research community. Twitter 'll be charging for access to both v1.1 & v2 of the Twitter API. What this will means is that thousands of apps, tools, dasboard & bots will go dark in the coming weeks.
#SMSociety
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When Hate is Professionalized: Twitter Data Has Revealed A Coordinated Campaign Of Hate Against Meghan Markle.
This research tracks well w/ other hate filled campaigns that we've seen in the past. With every pile on, there's always a core group of actors.
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If you are jumping onto
#MastodonSocial
this week, be aware that mentioning someone in a DM on Mastodon will automatically add them to the conversation and that the DMs are NOT private. There's is no end to end encryption.
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And just like that ... The Twitter Academic API is no more. This API has enable a lot of vital research on the spread of mis/disinfo, hate & radicalization. The consequences of this is that society will now 've little to no visibility on things that are happening on the platform.
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There's more to social media research than Twitter.
If you are starting a new social media research project, consider using publicly available data from other platforms such as Telegram, Reddit, Facebook/ Instagram (via CrowdTangle) and YouTube.
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TikTok research API is now available to qualified researchers at US nonprofit academic institutions.
For additional context see also:
There's no info on when the API will be made available to researchers outside of the US.
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The 2nd ed. of the SAGE Social Media Research Methods Handbook is officially out! It contains 49 chapters covering the ins & outs of social media rsrch, including 2 chapters from researchers
@SMLabTO
on how to use
@netlytic
&
@Communalytic
#academictwitter
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Are you looking for social media data for a new academic research project?
We recently added more social media data options to
@communalytic
, our computational social science research tool.
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We are thrilled to announce the release of the Topic Analysis Module in
@Communalytic
. It can automatically identify & group together social media posts that are semantically similar & can be used to spot latent topics in a dataset.
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As eyeballs shift to Telegram, we're thrilled to offer a no-code Telegram data collector for academic researchers. It's designed to provide researchers w/a systematic way to access & study public discourse on one of the fastest growing social media apps.
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Are you starting a new social media research project? Check out our Social Media Research Toolkit. It is a currated list of 50+ social media research tools maintained by researchers at our lab.
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Brilliant ad copy from the creative peeps at
@WWF_Deutschland
"Protect our animal species before it's too late!"
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Social networks are getting less social ... “inspired by TikTok, apps like Facebook increasingly serve a diet of clips selected by artificial intelligence according to a user’s viewing behavior, not their social connections.”
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If you are starting a new
#socialmedia
#research
proj. check out our all-in-one social media research tool.
It's: a data collector (Telegram, Twitter, Reddit, etc.), a toxicity+sentiment analyzer, a bot detector & a networks discovery+analysis tool.
#SNA
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It also means that if you are currently collecting Twitter data for an academic study, your proj. 'll be affected. For ex., if you're using using either of our research tools,
@netlytic
&
@Communalytic
, you might be affected. We 'll be monitoring this situation & keep you posted.
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Are you doing research on the use of
#emojis
in online conversations?
Our new research tool
@Communalytic
has a nifty feature that can automatically find all emojis in your dataset, create an emoji cloud & provide you w/a downloadable .csv w/a tally.
#css
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We are thrilled to announce the release of PoliDashboard v2 – an open-source app for tracking political advertisements on Facebook, Instagram, and other advertising platforms owned by Meta.
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Are you doing
#socialmedia
#research
? Check out our updated Social Media Research Toolkit, a list of 50+ research tools that have been used in peer-reviewed academic studies. Most are free to use and require little or no programming.
#phdchat
#phdlife
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We're delighted to announce the
#CFP
for the Intl. Conf. on Social Media & Society (London, UK Jul 16-18, 2024)
#SMSociety
Important Due Dates:
*Papers (Extended Abstracts): Jan. 21, 2024
*Panels, Workshops & Tutorials: Feb. 11, 2024
Posters: Mar. 1, 2024
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Write-only access to the APIs is useless to social media researchers. To study behaviour patterns of bad actors, what we need is read-only access. W/out it, we'll only know of problems after the damage has already been done or worse, we might never even learn of the manipulation.
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How to collect and analyze Telegram data – No coding required
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Are social media influencers just a fad?
Check out our latest public report (n=1,500), "The Influence of Influencers in Canada: A Census-balanced Survey Re: Social Media Influencers." It's chock full of data re: influencers & their impact
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After last night's disaster with auto suggestions, it looks like Twitter has decided to simply shut down the search autocomplete feature entirely.
🚨Twitter search autocomplete/search suggestions seem to have no guardrails right now ... 🚨
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As part of our research work, we make tools to enable public discourse research. If you're starting a new social media research project, check out
@Communalytic
our newest rsrch tool
for studying online communities/discourse. No coding required.
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"Google has announced an update to its advertising policies that officially bans ads with fake endorsements. The policy, which goes into effect next month, also bans advertising that impersonates a public figure or brand to promote a product or service."
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Enabling Public Discourse Research with Telegram Data – No Coding Required.
"We are thrilled to announce the release of the new Telegram data collector in
@Communalytic
"
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If nothing else, the 4 new social media elections impact studies in
@nature
&
@ScienceMagazine
are a reminder that access research (like it's more famous cousin, access journalism) is problematic. We need to work towards a more transparent and fair system for
#dataaccess
.
#css
A new special issue of Science investigates social media’s impact on elections through a pioneering collaboration between independent academics and Meta researchers.
Learn more:
#SocialMediaAndElections
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Are you skeptical re: the influence of influencers on social media? We were too.
So we set out to find out more.
Our data shows that 65% of adults reported following social media influencers on at least one social media platform.
#InfluencerMarketing
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"Pro-Russian websites network in Europe that serves Russia’s information warfare"
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Are you starting a new social media research project this year? See our new 2021 Social Media Research Toolkit, a curated list of 70+ tools that have been used in peer-reviewed academic studies. Most are free to use & require little or no programming.
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Is misinformation merely a symptom, not a cause? New paper in Nature argues that this is a false dichotomy.
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Another use case killed by the new paywalled Twitter API. To stay in operation, NWS Tsunami Alerts would have to pay Twitter $42,000 a month.
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#Misinformation
is everywhere online. It tends to proliferate and intensify in times of calamities such as wars and natural disasters. It preys on our biases and emotions.
Remember to pause ⏸️ before you post.
#Israel
#Palestine
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We are Hiring Two Postdoctoral Research Fellows in Computational Social Science at the Social Media Lab, Toronto Metropolitan University
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TikTok is the undisputed home for online influencers.
Our new free survey report (n=1,500), "The Influence of Influencers in Canada: A Census-balanced Survey About Social Media Influencers" is chock full of data re: what makes an influencer influential.
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#ICYMI
We're pleased to share our new special issue in
@SocialMedia_Soc
on “Trust & Safety on Social Media: Understanding the Impact of Anti-Social Behavior & Misinformation on Content Moderation & Platform Governance” ed. by
@gruzd
@felipebsoares
&
@PhMai
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Also if you are going to cross post between Mastodon & Twitter, always post from Twitter to Mastodon. This is b/c toots have a longer 500 characters limit and will be truncated if you post from Mastodon to Twitter.
This service allows you to connect a Mastodon account and a Twitter account and enable cross-posting between them.
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We are Hiring a Postdoctoral Research Fellow in Computational Social Science at the Social Media Lab
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"How Online Mobs Act Like Flocks Of Birds. A growing body of research suggests human behavior on social media is strikingly similar to collective behavior in nature."
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Are you doing rsrch on content moderation or antisocial behaviour? See how our AI-powered Toxicity Analysis Module in
@Communalytic
can help you automatically find & highlight toxic & anti-social interactions in your dataset using signed networks.
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Have you noticed how social media platforms are behaving as if they are states?
If you have, check out our latest paper "Social Media as Fragile State." It's a purposeful provocation to recast & reframe social media platforms as "fragile social states."
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Come work with us! We are Hiring two new Postdoctoral Research Fellows. One in
#ComputationalSocialScience
: and a 2nd focusing on mis/disinformation and anti-social narratives re: immigration and migration
#HICSS
#HICSS2024
#CSS
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The end of an era. With the Twitter API behind a paywall, we couldn't see a path forward for this 15+ years old tool. If you're looking for a new tool to collect & analyze social media data, take a look at our newest research tool
@Communalytic
. Avail
at .
🚨 If you're a current user of
@Netlytic
, please note that we will be shutting the system down after May 30, 2024. If you have a dataset you want to keep, plse make a plan to download it. And if you're a user of
@Communalytic
, here's how to bring it over:
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Come work with us! We are looking to hire two new Postdoctoral Research Fellows:
- One in Computational Social Science:
- A 2nd postdoc focusing on mis/disinformation and anti-social narratives re: immigration and migration
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Congrats to
@SMLabTO
Director of Research,
@gruzd
, on receiving an award for "Collaborative Research" from his colleagues
@RyersonU
@RyersonResearch
@TRSMRyersonU
. Given for his outstanding research outreach efforts connecting academia & industry.
#innovation
#leadership
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Political candidates in France are now banned from using Twitter Blue in the 6 months leading up to an election.
A French election commission there has ruled that Twitter Blue, with it algorithmic boosting feature, is a form of “sponsored advertising.”
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Graphs are at the core of the two main social media rsrch platforms,
@Communalytic
&
@netlytic
that
@gruzd
&
@PhMai
've developed.
Here's a nice explainer piece re: "The Concept of Knowledge Graph, Present Uses and Potential Future Applications"
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Hi
#ICA23
, if you've fallen in love w/Toronto, consider staying a bit longer.
We're hiring two Postdoctoral Research Fellows in
#Computational
Social Science at
@SMLabTO
. PS...Positions come w/comprehensive benefits pkg. & yes weather is always this👌😉
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We are pleased to announce the publication of our new special issue in
@SocialMedia_Soc
on “Trust and Safety on Social Media: Understanding the Impact of Anti-Social Behavior and Misinformation on Content Moderation and Platform Governance”
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Here's a preview of a new public report: "The State of Anti-Social Behaviour on Social Media" that we will be releasing on Monday October 30th.
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As part of our research work, we make tools to enable public discourse research. If you're starting a new social media research project, check out
@Communalytic
our newest rsrch tool
for studying online communities/discourse. No coding required.
#AoIR2022
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"Tracking AI-enabled Misinformation: 150 ‘Unreliable AI-Generated News’ Websites (and Counting), Plus the Top False Narratives Generated by Artificial Intelligence Tools"
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Here's a preview of our new Topic Analyzer Module in
@Communalytic
. This AI-powered module is designed to automatically identify, group and label posts that are semantically similar using text embeddings.
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Mastodon Data is Now Available via
@Communalytic
– A no-code computational social science research tool for studying online discourse
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"Disinformation researchers under investigation: what’s happening and why. US researchers have spent years studying how conspiracy theories spread. Now they are accused of helping to suppress conservative opinions."
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And if you are ready to move on from doing Twitter research,
@Communalytic
can also help you to collect data from Reddit, Telegram, YouTube, Facebook/ Instagram (via CrowdTangle), or you can import your own CSV or JSON data files ... No coding required.
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Use this to find your Twitter peeps on Mostodon ... Extract the fediverse handles of your Twitter followings or list members and import them on Mastodon to follow them all at once.
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Our new
@Communalytic
Topic Analysis Module can automatically identify & group together social media posts in a dataset that are semantically similar.
Here's more details on how it generates & visualizes embeddings.
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Confused about where your "toot" will end up? What's the difference between a Home, Local and Federated timeline on
#MastodonSocial
?
Here's a quick flow chart to help you navigate this new world and a list of 10 quick Mastodon tips.
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X is required by the EU's Digital Service Act to provide data to researchers, but it looks like X is skirting that requirement and is using the request for data as a marketing tool to sell paid API access.
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All or nothing? "YouTube will now show a blank homepage if you don’t have watch history on. YouTube is disabling all of its recommendation tools if you don’t have watch history turned on — including its home feed."
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"Twitter’s API Crackdown Will Hit More Than Just Bots. By shutting off its free API, the social network will stop researchers from getting access to crucial data to track hate speech and disinformation."
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"CIA allegedly made fake social media accounts to troll the Chinese government. The operation reportedly began in 2019 and amplified negative news about the Chinese government."
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"If you want to understand why Facebook too often is a cesspool of hate and disinformation" ... It's b/c "most public activity on the platform comes from a tiny, hyperactive group of abusive users. Facebook relies on them to decide what everyone sees."
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The Social Media Lab is Pleased to Announce the Appointment of Dr. Jenna Jacobson (
@jacobsonjenna
) as a Research Fellow
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It's no joke: Across globe, satire morphs into misinformation.
"Imposter content is the evil twin to satire or parody content," Philip Mai, co-director of the Toronto-based Social Media Lab, told AFP.
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Using both quanti/qualitative content analysis, we examined ~1M tweets directed at women of influence on Twitter & identified 3 broad types of
#onlineviolence
directed at women 1) dismissive insults, 2) ethnoreligious slurs, & 3) gendered sexual harassment
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The truth always comes out. In a revealing & damning interview w/
@karaswisher
, Parler's CEO admits that
#Parler
:
- has tools to police porn but not violent or threatening content,
- doesn't have moderators b/c that would be "difficult, & expensive".
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A very useful resource for social media researchers from
@emma_lurie
: "a comparison table of the different platform research API requirements"
Happy that people find the chart useful! Definitely still tweaking and refining (feel free to share suggestions). Here is an updated version (with fewer typos and I also switched a value to better reflect the documentation).
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#SocialMedia
#BigTech
new get out of jail free card: "Changing Facebook’s algorithm won’t fix polarization, new study finds. The massive study of Facebook and Instagram included changing the way posts were fed to hundreds of thousands of users"
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We are Hiring Two Postdoctoral Research Fellows in Computational Social Science at the Social Media Lab, Toronto Metropolitan University
#phdchat
#PhDposition
#phdlife
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Here's a preview of our
@PoliDashboard
v2. Users will soon be able to see the geographic reach of ads by political advertisers on FB/IG, the demographics of users who saw the ads & most frequently-used phrases & ad copy used by political advertisers in their ads. (ETA Jan 2024)
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2020
#SMSociety
Going Virtual!
As a way to support our research community, we're waiving registration fees for the virtual conference & will cover all of the admin/setup cost of hosting the conference virtually as well as publishing & copy-editing costs.
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We're Hiring 2 Postdoc Research Fellows in Computational Social Science at the Social Media Lab, Toronto Metropolitan University. Req. PhD (awarded w/in five years) in a relevant field such as info/comp sci, comms, journalism soc, polisci, psy, stat...
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We are hiring again ... The successful candidate(s) will have an opportunity to work on a variety of ongoing initiatives including: misinfo, migration, anti-social behaviour online, blockchain ....
We are Hiring a Postdoctoral Research Fellow in Computational Social Science at the Social Media Lab.
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🚨🥳 "Social Media as Fragile State" by
@SMLabTO
researchers
@hthwaite
,
@phmai
&
@gruzd
has been nominated for best paper at
#HICSS2024
!
Congrats to the other nominees!
#HICSS57
#HICSS
#platformgovernance
#contentmoderation
#fragilestate
#humanrights
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The new TikTok API is too good to be true. It's impossible for researchers to be in 100% compliance with the current terms and still do independent, rigourous research. Review the terms before proceeding
TikTok research API is now available to qualified researchers at US nonprofit academic institutions.
For additional context see also:
There's no info on when the API will be made available to researchers outside of the US.
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As part of our research work, we make tools to enable public discourse research. If you're starting a new social media research project, check out
@Communalytic
our newest computational rsrch tool
for studying online discourse. - No coding required.
#ICA23
1
11
33
TikTok is here to stay: "Kids now spend nearly as much time watching TikTok as YouTube in U.S., U.K. and Spain."
0
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It's now official. The Twitter Academic Product Track is no more. It'll be replaced with a new $100 a month Basic API plan. There's a possibility that within the Basic plan there will be a lower price tier (< $100) for academics and students. We will know more on February 13.
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Join our listserv for info & updates on our various research & training events such as: "Social Media Research Post-Twitter – Accessing Social Media Data for Quantitative Research." ... We promise not to spam you & you can 👋leave anytime.
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A relative
newcomer to the social media scene
(est. 2017), TikTok is
normally billed as a platform for entertainment. But as our data shows,
about half of TikTok users get news
about the Russia-Ukraine war “sometimes” or more
frequently from the app.
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[New Paper Alert] Falling for Russian Propaganda: Understanding the Factors that Contribute to Belief in Pro-Kremlin Disinformation on Social Media
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New paper alert: "Examining the proliferation of vaccine misinformation on social media."
56 public FB pages in our data sample generated 75% of all the interactions & only a handful of misinformation spreaders were responsible for the spread of misinfo.
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"A series of changes at Twitter has laid bare what the service has become under Elon Musk: a place where speech is anything but free."
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Do you've access to Twitter Academic?
You can now use
@communalytic
to get an est. of the # of tweets that corresponds to your search criteria via a new time series chart. This feature can be used to fine tune your search criteria, ensuring that your dataset is more fullsome.
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31
"Anti-social behaviour is so normalized in our online spaces today," said
@gruzd
, an author of the report. "Left unattended, the normalization of certain types of aggressive anti-social behaviour, such as hate speech, can erode public trust and confidence in democracy itself."
According to a recent report from our lab, The State of Anti-Social Behaviour on Social Media (n= 1500), 31% of Canadians report experiencing at least one type of anti-social behaviour sometimes or more often on social media.
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Are you doing rsrch on platforms content moderation? Our AI-powered toxicity analysis module in
@Communalytic
can automatically find toxic & anti-social interactions in your dataset. It can also visually highlight those interactions in a signed network.
1
13
31
You still have time. Get your resume in this weekend.
@SMLabTO
is Hiring a Postdoctoral Research Fellow to study mis/disinformation and anti-social narratives about immigration and migration.
#PhDposition
#phdchat
#postdocjobs
#AcademicTwitter
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