PUBP 710-005: Social Networks, Blogs and Public Policy
Prepared by Kevin Zhikuan Lin
Blogs
Social Media Studies
Blogs/Social Media in the Political Process
Twitter’s Effect in Politics and Public Policy
Blogs/Social Media and Foreign Governments
Blogs/Social Media and Pornography
Blogs/Social Media and Terrorism
Blogs/Social Media Replacing Print Media
Blogs/Social Media and Revolutions
Blogs/Social Media and Cyber-bullying
Pending Legislation
Blogs/Social Media Lawsuits
Social Media and Marketing and Other Studies
Psychological Studies on Blogs and Social Media
Online Dating
Youth and Blogs/Social Media
Blogs
- Technet (n.d.), Tech Policy Blogs. http://technet.org/media/tech-policy-blogs
- Feedspot (2019, November 12), Top 30 Public Blogs and Websites to Follow in 2019. https://blog.feedspot.com/public_policy_blogs/
- Feedspot (2019, November 12), Top 60 Public Blogs & Websites to Follow in 2019. https://blog.feedspot.com/foreign_policy_blogs/
- Goldstein, P. (2018, November 30). 30 Must-Read Federal IT Blogs 2018. https://fedtechmagazine.com/article/2018/11/30-must-read-federal-it-blogs-2018
Social Media Studies
- Perrin, A., & Anderson, M. (2019, April 10). Share of U.S. adults using social media, including Facebook, is mostly unchanged since 2018. https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2019/04/10/share-of-u-s-adults-using-social-media-including-facebook-is-mostly-unchanged-since-2018/
- Grabmeier, J. (2019, March 27). Social media has remarkably small impact on Americans’ beliefs: Facebook users actually more accurate in 2016 election. https://news.osu.edu/social-media-has-remarkably-small-impact-on-americans-beliefs/
- Hutchinson, A. (2019, October 31). Social Media Across Generations [Infographic]. https://www.socialmediatoday.com/news/social-media-across-generations-infographic/566232/
- The Economist. (2019, November 14). Economics, demography and social media only partly explain the protests roiling so many countries today Single theories struggle to explain the demonstrations around the world. https://www.economist.com/international/2019/11/14/economics-demography-and-social-media-only-partly-explain-the-protests-roiling-so-many-countries-today
- Leetaru, K. (2019, April 27). From Savior To Suppressor: Can Democracy Survive Social Media? https://www.forbes.com/sites/kalevleetaru/2019/04/27/from-savior-to-suppressor-can-democracy-survive-social-media/#35cbd59d2365
- Safi, M. (2019, October 25). Protests rage around the world – but what comes next? https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/oct/25/protests-rage-around-the-world-hong-kong-lebanon-chile-catalonia-iraq
Blogs/Social Media in the Political Process
- Culliford, E. (2019, November 15). Factbox: How social media sites handle political ads. https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-election-advertising-factbox/factbox-how-social-media-sites-handle-political-ads-idUSKBN1XP22G
- Kreiss, D., & Perault, M. (2019, November 16). Four Ways to Fix Social Media’s Political Ads Problem — Without Banning Them How to mitigate the most egregious abuses and instill more confidence in the platforms’ commitments to election integrity. https://www.nytimes.com/2019/11/16/opinion/twitter-facebook-political-ads.html
- Wheeler, T. (2019, November 13). Can social media ‘targetcasting’ and democracy coexist? https://www.brookings.edu/blog/techtank/2019/11/13/can-social-media-targetcasting-and-democracy-coexist/
- Halpern, S. (2019, October 24). The Problem of Political Advertising on Social Media. https://www.newyorker.com/tech/annals-of-technology/the-problem-of-political-advertising-on-social-media
- (2019, November 8). Social media urged to suspend political advertising. https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-50300846
Twitter’s Effect in Politics and Public Policy
- Miller, M., & Rodrigo, C. M. (2019, November 17). Trump makes social media a player in impeachment. https://thehill.com/policy/technology/470751-trump-makes-social-media-player-in-impeachment
- Conger, K. (2019, November 15). What Ads Are Political? Twitter Struggles With a Definitionr. https://www.nytimes.com/2019/11/15/technology/twitter-political-ad-policy.html
- Weninger, T. (2019, November 15). Twitter’s political ad policy is a small step in the fight against disinformation. https://www.cnn.com/2019/11/15/perspectives/twitter-political-ad-policy/index.html
- Feiner, L., & Graham, M. (2019, November 15). Twitter unveils final details for political ad ban, but it’s still looking murky. https://www.cnbc.com/2019/11/15/twitter-unveils-new-political-ad-policy.html
Blogs/Social Media and Foreign Governments
- Kelly, M., & Samuels, E. (2019, November 18). How Russia weaponized social media, got caught and escaped consequences. https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2019/11/18/how-russia-weaponized-social-media-got-caught-escaped-consequences/
- Ingram, D. (2019, November 5). More governments than ever are using social media to push propaganda, report says. https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/tech-news/more-governments-ever-are-using-social-media-push-propaganda-report-n1076301
- Al Jazeera. (2019, November 10). India cracks down on social media after religious-site ruling. https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2019/11/india-cracks-social-media-religious-site-ruling-191110190059008.html
- Bengali, S., & Halper, E. (2019, November 19). Troll armies, a growth industry in the Philippines, may soon be coming to an election near you. https://www.latimes.com/politics/story/2019-11-19/troll-armies-routine-in-philippine-politics-coming-here-next
Blogs/Social Media and Pornography
- Kelly, C. (2019, November 18). Facebook’s Anti-Revenge Porn Tools Failed to Protect Katie Hill. https://www.wired.com/story/katie-hill-revenge-porn-facebook/
- The New York Times. (2019, November 19). Fighting Online Child Sex Abuse. https://www.nytimes.com/2019/11/19/opinion/letters/online-child-sex-abuse.html
- Waterson, J. (2019, October 16). UK drops plans for online pornography age verification system. https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2019/oct/16/uk-drops-plans-for-online-pornography-age-verification-system
- Van Syckle, K. (2019, August 29). 22 Women Say They Were Exploited by Porn Producers. https://www.nytimes.com/2019/08/29/style/girls-do-porn-lawsuit-testimony.html
Blogs/Social Media and Terrorism
- Shortland, N., & McCabe, A. (2019, October 23). Analyzing online posts could help spot future mass shooters and terrorists. https://theconversation.com/analyzing-online-posts-could-help-spot-future-mass-shooters-and-terrorists-122609
- United Nations. (2019, November 18). Anti-terror measures against youngsters’ online posts ‘linked to spike in child detention globally’. https://news.un.org/en/story/2019/11/1051581
- Hymas, C. (2019, November 18). Isil terrorists hack ordinary people’s dormant Twitter accounts to promote jihad. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2019/11/18/isil-terrorists-hack-ordinary-peoples-dormant-twitter-accounts/
- Fidler, D. P. (2019, August 6). Terrorism, Social Media, and the El Paso Tragedy. https://www.cfr.org/blog/terrorism-social-media-and-el-paso-tragedy
Blogs/Social Media Replacing Print Media
- Shearer, E. (2018, December 10). Social media outpaces print newspapers in the U.S. as a news source. https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2018/12/10/social-media-outpaces-print-newspapers-in-the-u-s-as-a-news-source/
- Bercovici, J. (2019, August 20). Facebook will use journalists to curate news, opening itself to more bias allegations. https://www.latimes.com/business/story/2019-08-20/facebook-will-use-journalists-to-curate-news
- Allsop, J. (2019, August 9). Yet another brutal week for American journalism. https://www.cjr.org/the_media_today/pacific-standard-governing-close.php
- Derakhshan, H. (2019, February 22). If news is dying, who will safeguard democracy? https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/feb/22/news-industry-dying-save-democracy-fact-faith
Blogs/Social Media and Revolutions
- Social Media & Brexit
- Blood, D., Elliott, O., & Burn-Murdoch, J. (2019, October 27). ‘Toxic’ tweets aimed at MPs soar after Johnson outburst. https://www.ft.com/content/89096bfa-f8b9-11e9-a354-36acbbb0d9b6
- Waterson, J. (2019, October 23). Tories hire Facebook propaganda pair to run online election campaign. https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2019/oct/23/tories-hire-facebook-propaganda-pair-to-run-online-election-campaign
- (2019, October 30). General Election 2019: The first 24 hours of social media election ads. https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-politics-50239531
- Kirka, D. (2019, November 17). Leaked Report on Russian Interference in Brexit Vote Raises Questions Ahead of U.K. Elections. https://time.com/5731226/report-russian-interference-brexit-uk-elections/
- Social Media & Black Lives Matter
- (2019, October 9). Russian trolls’ chief target was ‘black US voters’ in 2016. https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-49987657
- O’Sullivan, D. (2019, October 24). Zuckerberg said Facebook helped Black Lives Matter. Activists disagree and are bracing for 2020. https://www.cnn.com/2019/10/24/tech/black-lives-matter-facebook-2020/index.html
- Epstein, K. (2019, June 4). Racist posts from police officers’ social media accounts trigger a wave of investigations. https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2019/06/04/racist-posts-police-officers-social-media-accounts-trigger-wave-investigations/
- Beehner, L. (2019, September 6). If things are so bad under President Trump, why aren’t we seeing larger protest movement? https://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2019/09/06/donald-trump-american-carnage-why-no-protest-movement-column/2201094001/
- Social Media & Arab Springs Uprising
- Sullivan, H. (2019, October 29). The Making of Lebanon’s October Revolution. https://www.newyorker.com/news/dispatch/the-making-of-lebanons-october-revolution
- Bowen, J. (2019, October 29). Is a new Arab Spring unfolding in the Middle East? https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-50219821
- Al Jazeera. (2019, November 20). Spinning, downplaying, ignoring: Lebanon protests and the media. https://www.aljazeera.com/programmes/listeningpost/2019/10/spinning-downplaying-ignoring-lebanon-protests-media-191027033939860.html
- Al Jazeera. (2019, October 28). Iran blasts Amnesty protest toll calling it ‘disinformation’. https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2019/11/iran-blasts-amnesty-protest-toll-calling-disinformation-191120195212119.html
- Social Media & Ukraine Revolution
- (2019, April 22). Ukraine election: Comedian Zelensky wins presidency by landslide. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-48007487
- Yaffa, J. (2019, October 25). Ukraine’s Unlikely President, Promising a New Style of Politics, Gets a Taste of Trump’s Swamp. https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2019/11/04/how-trumps-emissaries-put-pressure-on-ukraines-new-president
- Bateson, I. (2019, September 25). Volodymyr Zelensky Plays Himself. https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2019/09/ukraine-volodymyr-zelensky-ubiquity-transparency/598774/
- Kariakina, A. (2019, March 6). Five years on from ‘Maidan’, Ukraine’s small successes are its real revolution. https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/mar/06/five-years-ukraine-maidan-revolution-2014
- Social Media & Occupy Wall Street
- Malchik, A. (2019, May 6). The Problem With Social-Media Protests. https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2019/05/in-person-protests-stronger-online-activism-a-walking-life/578905/
- Fister, B. (2019, October 2). Why the Right Is Better at the Internet. https://www.insidehighered.com/blogs/library-babel-fish/why-right-better-internet
- O’Mara, M. (2019, July 23). How Facebook’s Singular Approach to Data Reshaped Social Connections and Changed the Political Landscape Forever. https://www.newsweek.com/2019/08/02/how-facebooks-singular-approach-data-reshaped-social-connections-changed-political-landscape-1450552.html
- Social Media & Hong Kong Protests
- Friedman, T. L. (2019, September 17). Hong Kong’s Protests Could Be Another Social Media Revolution That Ends in Failure. https://www.nytimes.com/2019/09/17/opinion/hong-kong-protest.html
- Shao, G. (2019, August 15). Social Media has become a battleground in Hong Kong’s protests. https://www.cnbc.com/2019/08/16/social-media-has-become-a-battleground-in-hong-kongs-protests.html
- Diehl, J. (2019, October 27). From Hong Kong to Chile, 2019 is the year of the street protester. But why? https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/global-opinions/from-hong-kong-to-chile-2019-is-the-year-of-the-street-protester-but-why/2019/10/27/9f79f4c6-f667-11e9-8cf0-4cc99f74d127_story.html
- Serhan, Y. (2019, November 19). The Common Element Uniting Worldwide Protests. https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2019/11/leaderless-protests-around-world/602194/
- Banjo, S., & Sebenius, A. (2019, November 3). Trolls Renew Social Media Attacks on Hong Kong’s Protesters. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-11-03/trolls-renew-social-media-attacks-on-hong-kong-s-protesters
- Social Media & Chile Protests
- Johanson, M. (2019, October 29). How a $0.04 metro fare price hike sparked massive unrest in Chile. https://www.vox.com/world/2019/10/29/20938402/santiago-chile-protests-2019-riots-metro-fare-pinera
- Krygier, R. (2019, October 30). Chile’s protesters got a subway fare hike reversed. Now they want a new political system. https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/the_americas/chiles-protesters-got-a-subway-fare-hike-reversed-now-they-want-a-new-political-system/2019/10/30/815c377e-fa7c-11e9-9e02-1d45cb3dfa8f_story.html
- Brunnstorm, D., & Sherwood, D. (2019, October 31). U.S. warns Russian trolls stoking conflict in Chile. https://www.reuters.com/article/us-chile-protests-russia/us-warns-russian-trolls-stoking-conflict-in-chile-idUSKBN1XA2QR
- Vilches, M. J., & Pizarro, M. (2019, November 4). Mass protests expose cracks in Chile’s ‘economic success’ story. https://www.aljazeera.com/ajimpact/mass-protests-expose-cracks-chile-economic-success-story-191104130234269.html
Blogs/Social Media and Cyber-bullying
- Associated Press. (2019, July 26). Cyberbullying is on the rise, and girls report 3 times more harassment than boys. https://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/2019/07/26/harassment-social-media-cyberbullying-reports-rise-among-girls/1835431001/
- Stevens, A. P. (2019, October 4). Social media doesn’t, by itself, make teens unhappy or anxious: Cyberbullying is more to blame for teen unhappiness than is ‘screen time’. https://www.sciencenewsforstudents.org/article/social-media-doesnt-make-teens-unhappy-anxious-cyberbullying
- Mamlok, D., & Chang-Kredl, S. (2019, October 28). Cyberbullying: Help children build empathy and resilience as their identity develops. https://phys.org/news/2019-10-cyberbullying-children-empathy-resilience-identity.html
- Foster, S. (2019, November 12). Suicide, rape threats and gang violence – will the government hold social media to account to protect our teens? https://www.telegraph.co.uk/family/parenting/anti-bullying-week-will-government-legislation-finally-hold/
- Elks, S. (2019, November 10). Hillary Clinton says abuse of female politicians on social media is ‘viral’. https://www.reuters.com/article/us-britain-usa-clinton/hillary-clinton-says-abuse-of-female-politicians-on-social-media-is-viral-idUSKBN1XK0NY
Pending Legislation
- Goodkind, N. (2019, October 29). Katie Hill Could Finally Bring Pending Revenge Porn Bill in Congress to a Vote. https://fortune.com/2019/10/29/katie-hill-revenge-porn-bill-congress/
- Schroeder, P. (2019, October 23). Facebook’s Zuckerberg grilled in U.S. Congress on digital currency, privacy, elections. https://www.reuters.com/article/us-facebook-congress/facebooks-zuckerberg-grilled-in-u-s-congress-on-digital-currency-privacy-elections-idUSKBN1X2167
- Birnbaum, E. (2019, November 20). Dem lawmaker introduces bill to tackle online terrorist activity. https://thehill.com/policy/technology/471226-dem-lawmaker-introduces-bill-to-tackle-online-terrorist-activity
- Levinson, J. (2019, October 24). Facebook has a political fake news problem. Can we fix it without eroding the First Amendment? https://www.nbcnews.com/think/opinion/facebook-has-political-fake-news-problem-can-we-fix-it-ncna1071001
- Propp, K. (2019, October 22). The emerging EU regulatory landscape for digital platform liability. https://www.atlanticcouncil.org/blogs/new-atlanticist/the-emerging-eu-regulatory-landscape-for-digital-platform-liability/
Blogs/Social Media Lawsuits
- Mays, J. C. (2019, July 10). Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Is Sued for Blocking Critics on Twitter. https://www.nytimes.com/2019/07/10/nyregion/aoc-twitter-lawsuit-trump.html
- Barnes, P. (2019, November 1). Lawsuit Against Facebook Uses Public Accommodation Law to Challenge Advertising. https://www.forbes.com/sites/patriciagbarnes/2019/11/01/lawsuit-against-facebook-uses-public-accommodation-law-to-challenge-advertising/#6836e9753d29
- Dobnik, V. (2019, November 19). New York Joins Other States in Suing E-Cigarette Maker Juul. https://time.com/5733647/new-york-sues-juul/
- Stempel, J. (2019, September 9). Judge lets Facebook privacy class action proceed, calls company’s views ‘so wrong’. https://www.reuters.com/article/us-facebook-lawsuit-privacy/judge-lets-facebook-privacy-class-action-proceed-calls-companys-views-so-wrong-idUSKCN1VU2G2
Social Media and Marketing and Other Studies
- Lombardo, C. (2019, November 17). New survey shows 50% of millennials trust social media influencers for brand advice. https://finance.yahoo.com/news/morning-consult-influencer-report-123841051.html
- Wakefield, J. (2019, November 14). Social-media influencers: Incomes soar amid growing popularity. https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-50418807
- Lopez, A. (2019, November 15). Wikipedia’s co-founder takes on Facebook with ad-free social network. https://thenextweb.com/insider/2019/11/14/wikipedias-co-founder-takes-on-facebook-with-ad-free-social-network/
- Nicholl, K. (2019, November 16). Kate and Meghan’s Social Media Influence Can Be Measured in Dollars At least, according to one researcher. https://www.vanityfair.com/style/2019/11/meghan-markle-kate-middleton-influence
- Zialcita, P. (2019, November 5). FTC Issues Rules For Disclosure Of Ads By Social Media Influencers. https://www.npr.org/2019/11/05/776488326/ftc-issues-rules-for-disclosure-of-ads-by-social-media-influencers
Psychological Studies on Blogs and Social Media
- Waterson, J. (2019, March 17). Social media addiction should be seen as a disease, MPs say. https://www.theguardian.com/media/2019/mar/18/social-media-addiction-should-be-seen-as-disease-mps-say
- Haidt, J., & Rose-Stockwell, T. (2019, December). The Dark Psychology of Social Networks Why it feels like everything is going haywire. https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2019/12/social-media-democracy/600763/
- Parsons, J. (2019, November 18). Why TikTok is restoring my faith in social media? https://www.abc.net.au/life/how-tiktok-is-restoring-my-faith-in-social-media/11626132
- Peterson, A. (2019, October 28). When the Prescription for Teens Is More Social Media, not Less. https://www.wsj.com/articles/when-the-prescription-for-teens-is-more-social-media-not-less-11572276260
- Brenner, G. H. (2019, May 20). Do People Use YouTubers to Replace Real Relationships? https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/experimentations/201905/do-people-use-youtubers-replace-real-relationships
Online Dating
- Bonos, L., & Van Dam, A. (2019, June 19). Tinder has more matchmaking power than your BFF. But dating apps aren’t necessarily your friends. https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2019/06/19/tinder-has-more-matchmaking-power-than-your-bff-dating-apps-arent-necessarily-your-friends/
- Tai, C. (2019, October 27). Forget Tinder, DNA matchmaking claims to have love down to a science. https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/lifestyle-culture/article/3034631/forget-tinder-dna-matchmaking-claims-have-love-down
- Brown, A. (2019, June 24). Couples who meet online are more diverse than those who meet in other ways, largely because they’re younger. https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2019/06/24/couples-who-meet-online-are-more-diverse-than-those-who-meet-in-other-ways-largely-because-theyre-younger/
- Thompson, D. (2019, July 21). Why Online Dating Can Feel Like Such an Existential Nightmare. https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2019/07/online-dating-taking-over-everything/594337/
Youth and Blogs/Social Media
- Asmelash, L. (2019, August 14). Social media use may harm teens’ mental health by disrupting positive activities, study says. https://www.cnn.com/2019/08/13/health/social-media-mental-health-trnd/index.html
- Vaughn, E. (2019, October 22). More LOLs, Fewer Zzzs: Teens May Be Losing Sleep Over Social Media. https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2019/10/22/772415313/more-lols-fewer-zzzs-teens-may-be-losing-sleep-over-social-media
- Oakes, K. (2019, March 11). Many of us suspect that the beautiful, often highly-edited images of people we see on social media make us feel worse about our own bodies. But what does the research say? https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20190311-how-social-media-affects-body-image
- (2019, November 13). Kids’ social media app ad banned on health grounds. https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-50404808