Social Media | Penn Today

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.

drawing of a large computer “bot” placing a text bubble on a giant smartphone and a human seated beneath the phone placing a text bubble below it on the smartphone.

How researchers scrub Twitter for health data from real humans—not bots

For more than 10 years, Graciela Gonzalez-Hernandez has been studying natural language across social media to inform clinical care, carefully sifting through language to determine which voices qualify as patient experiences.

computer rendering of two people working at a computer

A new way to connect with like-minded students

Penn students reimagine relationships with a virtual platform called Magic Connects.

Does Twitter’s ban violate Trump’s free-speech rights? Likely not, but it raises questions about social media platforms, Philly experts say

Diana Mutz of the Annenberg School for Communication and School of Arts & Sciences said social media hasn’t enriched the quality of elected leaders’ communication with the public. “What gains traction on social media is outrageousness,” she said. “It incentivizes precisely what we don’t want in political discourse.”

Cartoon of a human person in a suit with a television for a head with waves implying wavelengths in the background.

Rahul Mukherjee’s life in the screen

In two classes, the Dick Wolf Associate Professor of Television and New Media Studies looks at the big picture of our digital life.

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