Tau Beta Pi–Michigan Gamma

2017 MLK, Jr. Luncheon Series III

Event Type: Professional Development

The MLK Luncheon is part of the Annual MLK Luncheon series sponsored by the College of Engineering and Tau Beta Pi.

Topic: "Positive Outcomes of Social Media Use"
Speaker: Nicole B. Ellison, Professor and Director of Doctoral Program, University of Michigan School of Information

Social media platforms like Facebook and Snapchat are often critiqued in the popular press for their allegedly deleterious effects on social interaction, attention, and other social processes. However, empirical research has identified many positive outcomes of social media use. In this talk Professor Ellison will share communication-focused research that examines the extent to which Snapchat interactions are experienced as positive, supportive, and enjoyable by college students, how certain Facebook behaviors can help individuals maintain and access social capital, and recent research on the benefits of anonymous interaction via ask.fm for adolescents.

Nicole B. Ellison is a Professor in the School of Information at the University of Michigan where she serves as director of the doctoral program. She has a PhD in Communication Theory and Research from the Annenberg School for Communication at the University of Southern California. Her research addresses issues of social capital, relationship development, self-presentation, and identity in online environments such as Facebook and online dating sites. Her research on social media has been funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and the National Science Foundation. Most recently, she has studied the relationship between Facebook use and social capital processes, the use of social media in organizations, online dating participants’ self-presentational strategies, and the role of social media for supporting college-going activities among low-income and first-generation youth.

Project Leaders: Ilkka Kovanen (ilkka), John Fan (jxfan), and David Mark (dhmark)