Social Media | Penn Today

Six maps of the US highlighting Twitter keywords reflected in a word map.

Community concerns about the COVID-19 vaccine tracked by Twitter

A study of vaccine-related Twitter posts reveals significant differences in concerns people have when broken down by age, race, population density, and religious beliefs.

Ball of red and blue prescription drug capsules.

Partisan politics and the opioid epidemic: A social media analysis

Researchers at Penn Medicine explored how partisanship might affect legislative progress on the opioid epidemic by analyzing the content of state legislators’ opioid-related social media posts over time.

Cartoon of a world map with people holding smartphones and magnifying glasses, images of bullhorns and frown faces and stock market signs indicating world news information being disseminated.

From facts to fake news: How information gets distorted

Wharton’s Shiri Melumad on how news becomes increasingly biased when it’s repeatedly retold.

Facebook calls links to depression inconclusive. These researchers disagree

Melissa Hunt of the School of Arts & Sciences questioned Facebook’s argument that the poor mental health outcomes tied to use of their platform can be mitigated with self-discipline. “All of the things that would contribute to these platforms being healthier for people to use, which is basically spend less time, don't follow strangers, don't spend time passively scrolling through this random feed that's being suggested to you," Hunt says. "That completely undermines their whole business model."

Don’t buy into Facebook’s ad-tracking pressure on iOS 14.5

Ron Berman of the Wharton School spoke about how a new Apple feature that allows users to block apps from tracking their online activities might affect Facebook’s revenues. “There are some types of ads, mostly retargeting, that will be harder to display, since now Facebook wouldn’t know who visited an app, put an item in the shopping cart, etc.,” he said.

COVID-19 conspiracy beliefs increased among users of conservative and social media

Belief in conspiracies about the COVID-19 pandemic increased through the early months of the U.S. outbreak among people who reported being heavy users of conservative and social media.

She called out health care misinfo on TikTok. Then, the trolls found her

Jessa Lingel of the Annenberg School for Communication spoke about the history of callout culture on social media. “Cancel culture, callout culture, that really comes from practices on Black Twitter of bringing attention to an issue and saying, hey, this is a thing where we need to align. Whether it’s #MeToo in its early days, that originated on Black Twitter, or whether that’s tied to Black Lives Matter or police brutality. Callout culture originated on Black Twitter,” she said.

Robotic finger pressing a computer key on a laptop.

Twitter bots may not be as influential as you think

A new study from Annenberg School for Communication finds that verified media accounts are more central in the spread of information on Twitter than bots.

Office of Social Equity in Zoom meeting for first event

A conversation on the media, truth telling, and social equity

For the Office of Social Equity & Community’s inaugural event, a group of panelists—including several renowned experts in the media industry—gathered virtually to discuss the past, present, and future of journalism in the U.S.

Dark under-eye circles? The kids say it’s cool

Kathy Peiss of the School of Arts & Sciences commented on a viral social media makeup trend that emphasizes dark under-eye circles. “This seems ephemeral, an aesthetic centered on pandemic tiredness, but not much more than that,” she said.

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