Privacy
Social Media
Technology Non Use
Individual Differences
Ethical Research & Design
Human-algorithm interaction
Overview
My work explores psychological and social factors that influence attitudes towards and use (or non use) of social media. My latest research focuses on Privacy, Ethical Privacy Design and Research Practices, Technology Non Use, Human-algorithm interaction, and Individual, Group and Psychosocial Developmental Differences connected to social media use. Several of my current projects are described below.
Bridging Industry and Academia to Tackle Responsible Research and Privacy Practices
I am a primary organizer of a new initiative Bridging Industry and Academia to Tackle Responsible Research and Privacy Practices, supported by Facebook, Future for Privacy Forum, and the Networked Privacy academic community. The inaugural workshop will take place at Facebook in NYC Nov 2-3, 2017. This initiative is inspired by our 2017 CSCW workshop on Ethical Privacy Practices.
The workshop will bring together industry, academia, and civil society to tackle hard issues dealing with responsible research ethics and privacy practices around user-data, as well as ethical design practices and the practicalities of integrating best practices into the corporate environment. I am passionate about this topic and excited to work alongside amazing colleagues to bring together thought leaders across academica, industry, and civil society to effect real change. The Call for Participation will soon go public with travel assistance available for those in need - stay tuned!
Social Media Use
Much of my research deals with user adoption of social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, etc. I focus on multiple aspects of adoption including privacy concerns, privacy management, trait-based influences (e.g. personality, communication style), and the user-interface design. My dissertation focused on adoption of location-sharing social media such as Google Latitude and Foursquare and was recognized as the best comppleted dissertation with the 2015 iSchools Doctoral Dissertation Award and also received a Yahoo! Best Dissertation Fellowship Award.
Life phase and developmental differences also shape social media use. Psychosocial developmental theory describes how one's behavior is shaped by both psychological needs and societal demands. Considering both individual traits and social needs can shed light on various social media behaviors such as need for social affirmation, self-disclosure, and social exchange. As individuals transition to new life phaes, their behaviors also shift. To unpack these various influences, I consider social media behavior from a configurational perspective.
This research has resulted in many publications and has been funded by the National Science Foundation, Disney Research, Samsung, Yahoo! Labs, and the Bentley Research Council.
Social Media Non Use
Much of the social media non use literature focuses on those who do not have access to technology (digital divide) or technical literacy to use it. Other non use literature studies those who voluntarily quit or take breaks from using social media. However, my research focuses on those who are prevented from using because of social barriers. They face social consequences of being on social media, but also suffer social consequences when they are off social media.
Human-Algorithm Interaction
As we increasingly interact with algorithms in a work context and experience how algorithms mediate our social relationships, it is important to understand these new types of human-algorithm relationships. My research looks at how our human relationships are shaped by the algorithms embedded in our social technologies such as social media feeds. I also investigate how workplace dynamics are changing as algorithms are being used for supervisory and other traditionally human workplace roles.