Hacking Online Virality
Abstract
As social media have become major channels for the diffusion of news and information, it is critical to understand how the complex interplay between cognitive, social, and algorithmic biases triggered by our reliance on online social networks makes us vulnerable to manipulation and disinformation. We focus on two key factors that contribute to online virality: the structure of the social network and the engagement mechanisms that manage our limited attention. This talk overviews ongoing network analytics, modeling, and machine learning efforts to study the viral spread of misinformation and to develop tools for countering the online manipulation of opinions.
Online (Zoom)
Link to register: https://iu.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_kjcg_saTmi4oQERGNX8Lg#/registration
Short Bio
Filippo Menczer is the Luddy distinguished professor of informatics and computer science and the director of the Observatory on Social Media at Indiana University. He holds a Laurea in Physics from the Sapienza University of Rome and a Ph.D. in Computer Science and Cognitive Science from the University of California, San Diego. His research interests span Web and data science, computational social science, science of science, and modeling of complex information networks. Dr. Menczer was named a Fellow of the ACM for his research on the vulnerability of social media networks to disinformation and manipulation.