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2017 #SMSociety Theme: Social Media for Social Good or Evil

Our online behaviour is far from virtual–it extends our offline lives. Much social media research has identified the positive opportunities of using social media; for example, how people use social media to form support groups online, participate in political uprising, raise money for charities, extend teaching and learning outside the classroom, etc. However, mirroring offline experiences, we have also seen social media being used to spread propaganda and misinformation, recruit terrorists, live stream criminal activities, reinforce echo chambers by politicians, and perpetuate hate and oppression (such as racist, sexist, homophobic, and anti-Semitic behaviour).

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Saturday, July 29 • 11:01 - 12:30
Growth And Inequality Of Participation In Online Communities: A Longitudinal Analysis [WIP]

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Authors: Elliot Panek, Connor Hollenbach, Jinjie Yang and Tyler Rhodes

Abstract: The online communities of Reddit provide an ideal testing ground for determining the ways in which growth affect communities. By analyzing comments made on Reddit between 2008 and 2016, we demonstrate that Reddit consists of multiple communities growing at different rates. In several cases, community size is associated with greater inequality of participation in discourse, supporting the notion that members of online communities become less interactive and more passive as communities grow. However, one community, r/TwoXChromosomes, exhibits increasing equality of participation in discourse as it grows.

Saturday July 29, 2017 11:01 - 12:30 EDT
TRS 1-077- 7th Flr Ted Rogers School of Management, Ryerson University 55 Dundas Street West, Toronto, ON M5G 2C19