It is officially my first week as a ✨Professor of Digital Communication and DIAS Chair✨ at @ddc-sdu.bsky.social, fulfilling two life goals: living in a different country and becoming a full professor. It has been a whirlwind of a month, but I've never been more excited to resume my research.
Special shout-out also to @smithmarisaa.bsky.social et al. for their much more in-depth work on the politicized discourse around critical race theory:
doi.org/10.1080/1058...
🚨NEW PAPER
The Logic of Connective Faction:
How Digitally Networked Elites and Hyper-Partisan Media Radicalize Politics
w/ @yunkangyang.bsky.social & @mikecowburn.bsky.social
Online radicalization doesn't just affect the public.
It also reshapes how elites & parties behave. doi.org/10.1080/1058...
🚨 New paper drop!
How does a social movement once started out powerful somehow turn into a partisan battle?
In our new publication in @icsjournal.bsky.social, we answer this question by analyzing 83 million #MeToo tweets from 2017–2020. 1/
Had a great time talking with @lseusablog.bsky.social about the use of AI in political communication, particularly during elections, as well as other "traditional" influence strategies such as trading up the chain and platform ownership. #USAPP
People can tell when you're excited about a position (vs. just being desperate for any position). And for you to be excited about a position, it (usually) does have to be a good fit for you, and not just another rung on the ladder.
If you can illustrate that you are excited about a position (somewhere you see your work growing), that's a good sign. Obviously, look at the centers/research. But don't stop at knowing these things--actually think about where you fit in their research ecosystem.
I don't say this because job candidates can be selective about fit (they can't, jobs are scarce). BUT, I do think departments can (sometimes) tell when a candidate thinks they are a good "fit." Campus visits esp. are like first dates. Is there a spark when you meet? Can you both feel it?
But "fit" goes both ways: do you fit with the department, but does the department culture fit what YOU need?
It's hard to know, especially given the hyper-competitive nature of the academic job market (leading to the "I'll take any job" mentality).
1. Do you publish/get grants at or above the (perceived) dept rate?
2. Can you teach classes that the dept needs?
3. Will people vibe with you as a colleague?
1 & 2 can be sussed out before or during an application. 3 feels largely contingent on the campus interview.
One last tip (mostly for R1 jobs): I have been thinking about the word "fit," which is a common thing to say about positions ("it's not about the best pubs/research, but the ✨best fit✨," which is super vague). This seems to boil down into 3 things:
This year, I will not be compiling available job calls, but I encourage folks to check out @polcomm.bsky.social and @aejmc.bsky.social 's newsletters for a list of calls.
There is also a well-maintained wikia for jobs in this area: academicjobs.fandom.com/wiki/Communi...
Many thanks to Christopher Assaf, Bin Chen, @rossdahlke.bsky.social, @zeningduan.bsky.social, @meredithpruden.bsky.social ky.social, & @jiyoun-suk.bsky.social for sharing their materials!
Also, @heesoojang.bsky.social has a great Twitter thread last year about the job market: x.com/HeesooJang2/...
For those on the #polcomm academic job market this year, I am sharing the job market material folder that I put together a few years back.
drive.google.com/drive/folder...
Our incoming colleague @jolukito.bsky.social is welcomed by a *very* enthusiastic room, presenting her research agenda and the challenges of cross-platform data collection.
Welcome Jo! We are so happy to have you with us! 😊❤️
Yes, I'd love to come and visit!
New job ad: Assistant Professor of Quantitative Social Science, Dartmouth College apply.interfolio.com/172357
Please share with your networks. I am the search chair and happy to answer questions!
I am especially thankful to my friends, co-authors, and students. You keep me sane and remind me that our work is more important than ever. At a time when science and democracy are under threat here, your solidarity remains my guiding light. 4/
I AM SO EXCITED FOR THIS NEW ADVENTURE! 🏃♀️
Of course, this news comes with some sadness to be leaving the United States, and the amazing mentors and scholars at the UT Austin I am grateful to folks like @taliastroud.bsky.social and Steve Reese who took me under their wing when I started in 2020, and supported my research.
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My move follows in the footsteps of my mother, who emigrated from Indonesia, and her mother, who emigrated from China. This multi-generational migration is made more meaningful when I reflect on the many people who have helped me on my own academic journey as a first-generation researcher.
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💓I am so (so, so) very excited to be joining @ddc-sdu.bsky.social and @d-ias.bsky.social, starting February 2026, where I will continue my work on computational methods/AI, researcher data access, multi-platform language flows, and political extremism. 💓
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One of my absolute favorite paper titles ❤️
In spite of the many changes to data access, we continue to collect this data.
In 2024, we collaborated with the Algorithmic Transparency Institute, SOMAR, and CTCL to begin Candidata, a more long-term effort to collect and validate social media handles of U.S. politicians:
www.candidata24.org
All citizens should have access to what politicians' (registered candidates & elected officials) say as public figures. But this is easier said than done, and projects like ours, @propublica.org's politwoops, and @osome.iu.edu's 2022 dataset are difficult to maintain w/o consistent data access
Some observations from our experience conducting this research:
1. We tend to focus on the candidates with massive SM presences, but the professionalization of candidates' SM accounts vary a lot
2. You would think this data should be easy to collect and share, but it's not.
We also explore mobilization strategies (e.g., voting, fundraising efforts, online engagement, and event attendance). Our results suggest few differences by party, but highlight how platform modality may be leveraged for different mobilization tactics.
Results suggest a growing asymmetry in SM use, as conservatives grow their presence on alt-tech SM like Truth Social and Gettr (at the time, no Democratic candidates were on alt-tech SM). Republicans who were 2020 election skeptics/deniers were more likely to be on alt-tech platforms.
In this analysis, we collect and study 2022 U.S. midterm candidates' posts from a whopping seven (!!!) social media platforms: Facebook, Twitter, Truth Social, Gettr, Instagram, YouTube, and Rumble.
This is one of the most extensive collections of politicians' social media posts during an election
Major congrats and thanks to my amazing co-authors at the Media & Democracy Data Co-op: @mgmacdonald.bsky.social, Bin Chen, @m-dot-brown.bsky.social , Stephen Prochaska, @yunkangyang.bsky.social, @jasong.bsky.social, @jiyoun-suk.bsky.social, Wei Zhong, @rossdahlke.bsky.social, & @pborah.bsky.social
🚨New publication in Social Media + Society🚨
Candidates Be Posting: Multi-Platform Strategies and Partisan Preferences in the 2022 U.S. Midterm Elections
And it's open access!
journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10....
