Social Media Lab
Social Media Lab
The Stanford Social Media Lab works on understanding psychological and interpersonal processes in social media. The team specializes in using computational linguistics and behavioral experiments to understand how the words we use can reveal psychological and social dynamics, such as deception and trust, emotional dynamics, and relationships.
Older Adults, Social Technologies, and the Coronavirus Pandemic: Challenges, Strengths, and Strategies for Support
With social distancing comes significantly less face-to-face interaction, which may be particularly harmful to older adults given their existing levels of loneliness. While social technologies can be used to provide critical social interaction during this time of necessary physical distancing, older adults tend to either lack access to these technologies or the skills and experience necessary to use them effectively. (from Sage Journals)
Experience with Social Distancing Early in the COVID-19 Pandemic in the United States: Implications for Public Health Messaging
New research from Jeff Hancock and others suggest that public health messages should focus on young people and address their negative affect, refocus their self-orientation by emphasizing the importance of individual behavior to group-level health outcomes, and target the specific rationales that different people have regarding the pandemic to maximize compliance with social distancing. (from MedRxiv Journal)
More on the Social Media Lab
For more on the work of the Social Media Lab including all their recent work, projects, news and publications, including more on the people behind, visit the Social Media Lab website.
Leadership
Jeff Hancock
Director, Social Media Lab
Professor in the Department of Communication
Jeff Hancock is founding director of the Stanford Social Media Lab and is a Professor in the Department of Communication at Stanford University. Professor Hancock and his group work on understanding psychological and interpersonal processes in social media.
Sunny Xun Liu
Associate Director at Stanford Social Media Lab
Social Science Research Scientist
Sunny Xun Liu is a Social Science Research Scientist and Associate Director at Stanford Social Media Lab. Liu earned her Ph.D. in Mass Communication and Media from Michigan State University. Her research focuses on the social and psychological effects of social media and AI, social media and well-being, and how the design of social robots impact psychological perceptions.
