Status updates, check-ins, tweets, cookies, our every movement laid bare for anyone to see… the corrosion of privacy that makes some of us cringe sends social scientists like Drew Margolin into gushes of glee. New media technology is providing a treasure trove of data for Margolin to mine in his quest to better understand how modern societies are operating within virtual and real-world networks.
“We are all part of communities that we may or may not be aware of, and they are influencing us,” Margolin said. “Often there is no way for the individual to know what every other individual is doing, but with the kind of data that’s available now, we can extract the bigger picture and see the structures that emerge, and whether those structures are influencing individual behavior.”
Just as mathematicians study economics at the micro and macro level, Margolin studies micro- and macro-behavior among users of social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter. The new assistant professor of communication – and first Geri Gay Sesquicentennial Faculty Fellow - actually has a background in business, graduating from Yale with an economics degree and compiling policy information for investors as chief financial officer at a global firm for six years before changing trajectories to study communication at the University of Southern California, where he got his M.A. in 2009 and Ph.D. in 2012.
One of his projects as a postdoctoral researcher at Northeastern University was studying social media and cell phone use during the Boston marathon bombing, using behavioral data to see how people activated their networks in the time of uncertainty. Another project involves a ready-made, well-established network of like-minded individuals: sports fans. He is monitoring their behavior on Twitter during televised NFL matches, as part of a larger study of “dual screening,” when people use two forms of media simultaneously.
Twitter has been touted as a great equalizer, giving voice to the voiceless and allowing individuals to shine. But this is not necessarily the case, Margolin has found. During the last presidential debates, for instance, Twitter activity skyrocketed. But rather than personal opinion, much of it was retweets, and the people being retweeted en masse were a select few popular pundits, many of whom were already dominating other media outlets such as newspapers and television.
“Everyone’s voice and assessment is not equal,” Margolin said. “What Twitter is useful for showing is that people follow leaders. It’s quite clear.”
Margolin has used communication analysis to gain other insights into politics. By tracking the use of certain 16- and 32-word phrases by members of Congress, he was able to infer social networks, within the institution as a whole, as well as parties.
A set of 16-word phrases, for instance, was used by 200 House members, 90 percent of them Republican, representing 79 percent of all Republicans in Congress. Other phrases tended to be used primarily by Democrats, but not in one big block. This seemed to indicate different factions and less cohesion within the party.
“We were able to see different structures that no one was aware of,” Margolin said. “This could be a useful tool to help understand networks and behavior among communities we know little about.”
Margolin envisions other applications of his research, in the business world – identifying social media audience structure and reach – as well as medicine – determining if social contact influences how we feel and whether it could be harnessed to help with chronic pain, for example. As a member of the CALS community, he is also looking for opportunities to contribute to the college by addressing emerging topics in agriculture or the environment.
“There are so many intuitions about how the world works at the collective level, but how do we test that? Technology is making it possible. The more communication that is public, the more we can study it as a phenomenon.”
