Networks for good

how communities use digital platforms to shape opinions, politics and governance

This work focuses on understanding patterns of communication, influence, and mobilization of communities through digital platforms in the pursuit of social change. Coordination of social communities involves networks of information and beliefs, as well as monetary resources and other critical aspects of governance. Digital communication has fundamentally shifted the coverage and evolution of opinions, politics and governance.

Featured publications

Behaviour-based dependency networks between places shape urban economic resilience

Takahiro Yabe, Bernardo García Bulle Bueno, Morgan R. Frank, Alex Pentland, Esteban Moro
Nature Human Behaviour
December 23, 2024

Understanding and Addressing Misinformation About Science

Kasisomayajula Viswanath, Nick Allum, Nadine Barrett, David A. Broniatowski, Afua A.N. Bruce, Lisa K. Fazio, Lauren Feldman, Deen Freelon, Ashley R. Landrum, David Lazer, Ezra M. Markowitz, Pamela C. Ronald, David Scales, Brian G. Southwell, Jevin West, Tiffany E. Taylor, Liticia Garcilazo Green, Holly G. Rhodes, Lauren Ryan, Heidi Schweingruber, Paule Joseph
National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine
December 1, 2024

Residential and experienced social segregation: the roles of different transport modes, metro extensions, and longitudinal changes in Hong Kong

Becky P. Y. Loo, Zhuangyuan Fan, Esteban Moro
Nature Humanities and Social Sciences Communications
October 29, 2024

Recent publications

Large language models act as if they are part of a group

Germans Savcisens
Nature Computational Science
January 2, 2025

Behaviour-based dependency networks between places shape urban economic resilience

Takahiro Yabe, Bernardo García Bulle Bueno, Morgan R. Frank, Alex Pentland, Esteban Moro
Nature Human Behaviour
December 23, 2024

The Diffusion and Reach of (Mis)Information on Facebook During the U.S. 2020 Election

Sandra González-Bailón, David Lazer, Pablo Barberá, William Godel, Hunt Allcott, Taylor Brown, Adriana Crespo-Tenorio, Deen Freelon, Matthew Gentzkow, Andrew M. Guess, Shanto Iyengar, Young Mie Kim, Neil Malhotra, Devra Moehler, Brendan Nyhan, Jennifer Pan, Carlos Velasco Rivera, Jaime Settle, Emily Thorson, Rebekah Tromble, Arjun Wilkins, Magdalena Wojcieszak, Chad Kiewiet de Jonge, Annie Franco, Winter Mason, Natalie Jomini Stroud, Joshua A. Tucker
Sociological Science
December 11, 2024

Understanding and Addressing Misinformation About Science

Kasisomayajula Viswanath, Nick Allum, Nadine Barrett, David A. Broniatowski, Afua A.N. Bruce, Lisa K. Fazio, Lauren Feldman, Deen Freelon, Ashley R. Landrum, David Lazer, Ezra M. Markowitz, Pamela C. Ronald, David Scales, Brian G. Southwell, Jevin West, Tiffany E. Taylor, Liticia Garcilazo Green, Holly G. Rhodes, Lauren Ryan, Heidi Schweingruber, Paule Joseph
National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine
December 1, 2024

Residential and experienced social segregation: the roles of different transport modes, metro extensions, and longitudinal changes in Hong Kong

Becky P. Y. Loo, Zhuangyuan Fan, Esteban Moro
Nature Humanities and Social Sciences Communications
October 29, 2024
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Featured news coverage

Featured project

In our project “hashtag activism”, we analyze communities such as #BlackLivesMatter, #GirlsLikeUs, and #Ferguson to understand how Twitter has enabled the injection of counter narratives in political discourse. This work explores how social media facilitates and constrains which voices are included in (re)shaping the public sphere, and by proxy, our democracy. The findings have shed light on the role of technology in creating new spaces for voices that have traditionally been excluded in public debate, and the effects of those influences on community services and the justice system.

Major funders

NSF, ARO, Knight Foundation