Did I decide this? How social media influences our lives

Societal altruism is changing. Increased awareness and use of online social media is providing new ways of inspiring collective action and support for critical societal challenges. What makes some social causes go viral while others never seem to take off? In the era of online social media, network contagion effects allow social causes to reach a large number of interconnected individuals fast, efficiently, and at low cost. Understanding the nature of online altruism and its core behavioural characteristics can help us sustain positive social change.

Socialbots exercise a profound but latent impact on our lives, through social campaigning, political manipulation and diversion tactics. In this talk I will talk about my socialbot research and how it led me to uncover some of the most interesting things about socialbots and their influence on social media.

Many researchers, including myself, have published papers showing that psychological traits like personality and intelligence can be predicted from the digital footprints people leave behind when they use digital services like social media. Should this capability be used in practice, and if so under what conditions? The Facebook Cambridge Analytica scandal clearly demonstrates that the public is uneasy when they feel their data was misused, but on the other hand the public also likes their data to be used to personalise recommendations and services.

As part of the Creative Reactions project, these artists will be presenting their artwork inspired by the research of speakers in this talk series. The artwork will also be on display at our Creative Reactions Exhibition at St Barnabas Church, 24 - 25 May.