Matthew Craig

This work was inspired by Dr. Sandra Petronio’s work in theorizing Communication Privacy Management theory. Sandra unfortunately passed away on April 20, 2024. Without her pivotal original work, this research would not have been possible. (9/9, thanks for reading the whole thread! 🧵)

This study extends Communication Privacy Management (CPM) theory into the human-algorithm context, helping us understand how people negotiate privacy boundaries with machines.

👉 Read the full article here: doi.org/10.1016/j.ch... (8/9)

🎯 Big takeaway: Privacy fatigue doesn't always mean giving up. Sometimes it makes users more guarded—pushing back on the idea that social media surveillance is just "the cost of being online." (7/9)

🔹 …when users are highly aware AND highly fatigued in privacy management with social media algorithms, they lock down even more—granting fewer "co-ownership rights" of their private information to platforms via their algorithms. (6/9)

🔹 The more aware people are of social media algorithms, the less open they are in granting platforms access to their private information via their algorithms.

And here's the twist… (5/9)

🔹 People who like their algorithms (positive affect) are more willing to share private information; those who dislike them (negative affect) pull back. (4/9)

In my new article in Computers in Human Behavior, I surveyed 1,305 Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok users to examine how algorithm awareness and privacy fatigue influence the way they share (or refrain from sharing) private information with these platforms.

Here’s what I found 🔍 : (3/9)

half said they try to "ignore the privacy breakdown, scroll past it, and even express emotional responsiveness, like feeling defeated," what we called "passive coping" (p. 231).

👀But what happens when people feel tired of protecting their privacy on social media? 🥱🔒 (2/9)

📣 New Publication Alert! Last week, I shared a new piece of research I co-authored with Dr. Jeffrey T. Child, published in Human-Machine Communication, examining users' experiences of privacy breakdowns w/ social media algorithms. While recognizing they receive intrusive recommendations… 🧵 (1/9)

Read the article here (#openaccess): doi.org/10.30658/hmc...

This work was heavily inspired by Dr. Sandra Petronio’s work in theorizing CPM theory. While completing this research, which was one part of several studies & analyses, Sandra unfortunately passed away on April 20, 2024. Without her pivotal original work, this research would not have been possible.

By using CPM theory to investigate this privacy dilemma, this work provides insight into privacy mgmt issues with sm platforms via algorithms and how breakdowns lead to certain recalibration practices and inspire future work investigating human-machine communication privacy management (HMCPM).

🎯 Big takeaway: These algorithmic intrusions don’t just annoy users; they shake their sense of privacy, control, and trust in social media platforms.

🔎 In response to these algorithmically driven privacy breakdowns, people shared that they may try to ignore the ad, reset their privacy settings, delete social media apps, or even resigning to the idea that surveillance is “the cost” of being on social media.

🔎 Users encounter a wide array of recommended content and ads on social media that seem eerily related to their personal searches, conversations online and offline, medical or health-related information, and a variety of cmc platforms, despite having taken steps to restrict access to user info.

🚨 New publication! 🚨

Ever had an ad on FB, TikTok, or IG feel way too personal? 😳

In a new pub w/ Dr. Jeffrey T. Child, we studied how sm users (FB, Insta, and TikTok) navigate unsettling moments w/ algorithms seem to know too much via content analysis of their experiences.

Here’s what we found:

2025 Questioning Reality Conference

I’m excited to share that I’ve accepted a position as Assistant Professor in Computer-Mediated Communication at Central Michigan University joining their outstanding team in the School of Communication, Journalism and Media this fall. Thank you to everyone who’ve supported me! Fire Up, Chips! 🔥 ⬆️

New white paper from myself and @matthewjacraig.bsky.social : trace.tennessee.edu/cci_whitepap...

We asked 2,422 U.S. residents if social media platforms should employ third-party fact-checkers. Most agreed that they should.

cat graphic with information about doctoral consortium

PhD students whose work connects with Communication and Technology and/or Mobile Communication theories, methods, and topics are encouraged to apply to the Doctoral Consortium, an #ICA25 pre-conference to be held on Thurs June 12. Thanks!
https://buff.ly/3USZB4A

"consumers had not been aware that the automaker was providing their driving information to data brokers" that's because current surveillance systems go out of their way to hide their existence & obscure information

Scholars Are Supposed to Say When They Use AI. Do They? Journals have policies about disclosing ChatGPT writing, but enforcing them is another matter, according to a new study.

Two years after ChatGPT took the world by storm, academic publishers aren’t universally enforcing their policies about AI writing, because they aren’t willing to or able to. Or both. chroni.cl/3PBJWDL

cat graphic with information about doctoral consortium

PhD students whose work connects with Communication and Technology and/or Mobile Communication theories, methods, and topics are encouraged to apply to the Doctoral Consortium, an #ICA25 pre-conference to be held on Thurs Jun 12.
https://buff.ly/3USZB4A

I feel like Marshall McLuhan might know a thing or two about emerging media and technology.

I’m hiring a (well paid) Ph.D. intern to work with me and the Viva UX research lead on a qualitative research project about employee connection, organizational culture, and Copilot adoption. Based in Cambridge MA. Deadline January 31.

jobs.careers.microsoft.com/global/en/jo...

How Abeba Birhane is cleaning up AI’s dirty data “We are not evaluating systems for some hypothetical, potential risks in the future. These audits are uncovering actual real issues, real problems, whether it's racism, sexism, or encoding of stereoty...

oh, this is out and they make me sound like an angel but a really good read

“We are not evaluating systems for some hypothetical, potential risks in the future,” Birhane says

www.fastcompany.com/91238006/how...

**Black UK PhD students**

Fully funded PhD study - fees and stipend

-Faculty of Arts, Law and Social Sciences
-Faculty of Health and Life Sciences

**Tell everyone**

www.bristol.ac.uk/study/postgr...

The Associated Press @apnews.com 50K followers 0 following 14 posts Advancing the power of facts, globally 🌎

The Associated Press is finally here! (Yes, this is real!. Verified by AP staff.) AP is a nonprofit, working in nearly 100 countries and every U.S. state.

Follow: @apnews.com!

Exploiting Meta’s Weaknesses, Deceptive Political Ads Thrived on Facebook and Instagram in Run-Up to Election Despite Meta's stated commitment to crack down on harmful content, it failed to catch tens of thousands of ads that used false claims and deepfakes of political figures to collect users’ sensitive per...

We uncovered more than 100k deceptive US election/social issues ads across +200 FB pages. The ads used deepfakes of Trump, Biden & others to make false claims about gov subsidies and to hawk Trump merch. Meta earned more than **$25 million** from the ads. Story: www.propublica.org/article/face...

Originally the default wallpaper of Microsoft's Windows XP, this photo shows green rolling hills with a vibrant blue sky and white clouds in the background. Charles O'Rear took the photo in California, USA.

We've always been a fan of blueskies.