Social Media

Selling on TikTok and Taobao

Thomas S. Robertson of the Wharton School writes about the growth of online video platforms and explains why consumers are drawn to livestream commerce.

Essential politics: Let’s talk about those White House student loan tweets

Pinar Yildirim of the Wharton School says that the White House’s new direct social media response to conservative politicians is unusual and more effective at capturing attention, though its informality might lead to future debate.

It’s not true that nearly half of pregnant women in Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine trial miscarried

An analysis by Jeffrey Morris of the Perelman School of Medicine disproved a Facebook post claiming a 44% miscarriage rate among pregnant women in Pfizer’s COVID vaccine trial.

Perspective of person who is looking down at a phone with social media on screen.

What makes us share posts on social media?

A new Annenberg School of Communication study reveals that we share the social media posts that we think are the most relevant to ourselves or to our friends and family.

Person sitting on a couch reading a newspaper in front of their face, headline reads FAKE NEWS.

Who is falling for fake news?

New research from Wharton’s Ken Moon and Senthil Veeraraghavan recommends a data-driven solution for social media platforms to deal with fake news.

Musk suit gets a potential boost from Twitter whistleblower

Larry Hamermesh and Jill Fisch of Penn Carey Law speak about how Twitter whistleblower Peiter Zatko’s claims might affect Elon Musk’s case against Twitter.

Iranian woman push back against compulsory hijab

Firoozeh Kashani-Sabet of the School of Arts & Sciences says that Iranian society still struggles with how much of a role religion has played in its pre- and post-revolutionary eras.

Cable news has a more polarizing effect than social media, study finds

A study by Homa Hosseinmardi of the Annenberg School for Communication shows that the TV news audience is being “distilled,” with an overall shrinkage but an increased number of partisans.

Don’t be too quick to blame social media for America’s polarization—cable news has a bigger effect, study finds

A study from Homa Hosseinmardi of the Annenberg School for Communication suggests that television, not the web, is the top driver of partisan audience segregation among Americans.

An illustration of an old television with a person in sunglasses on it. On top sits a laptop computer with an arm reaching out past the screen, holding a rolled up newspaper. Another newspaper lays flat on top of the screen.

TV news top driver of political echo chambers in U.S.

Duncan Watts and colleagues found that 17% of Americans consume television news from partisan left- or right-leaning sources compared to just 4% online. For TV news viewers, this audience segregation tends to last month over month.

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