Technology and Social Media

Researchers in this area study the design, usage, and implications of a range of communication technologies, including social media, mobile phones, virtual reality, virtual conferencing, vlogging, computers, tablets, television, and many more. Using a variety of theoretical lenses and methodological approaches, we examine how these technologies shape and are shaped by communication processes, social relationships, individual and collective behavior, online communities, and society.

Some examples of our current and recent research topics include:

• Interpersonal communication and online social relationships
• Nonverbal behavior in virtual and mixed reality
• Human-robot and human-agent interaction
• Individual, group, and community well-being with communication technologies
• Tools and technologies to support knowledge management and intercultural collaboration
• New television distribution technologies and changing genres and representations
• Solidarity in social media crowds
• Historicizing social media
• Development, use, and ethics of machine learning, artificial intelligence, algorithms, and big data
• The labor of social media creation, distribution, and governance
• Governance through digital communication technologies and governance of the operators of those technologies