21/03/2025
The MACOMM/S Program of DLSU Department of Communication in partnership with the College of Liberal Arts - Office of the Assistant Dean for Research and Advanced
Studies, Department of Political Science and Development Studies, and College of Liberal Arts -Graduate Student Council invites you to a research lecture
"Social Media and the Politics of Exclusion "
Marko M. Skoric,
Associate Professor and Director of Research Degree Programs,
Department of Media and Communication,
City University of Hong Kong
Date: 31 March 2025, Monday, 3:00pm-5:00pm
Venue: Conference Room 3A, Faculty Center
Please register via https://forms.gle/QutWoFyjeaQMqfHj6 or the QR code in the attached event poster.
Abstract
Research shows that social media use can facilitate the creation and maintenance of social capital, i.e. the value that people derive from their relationships with others. Numerous studies have linked the use of various social media platforms with both the bridging social capital (weak ties) and bonding (strong ties), suggesting a positive impact of these platforms on individual citizens and society in general. But social environments that platforms provide are increasingly unlike the ones we experience in the real world—their powerful algorithms are aimed at delivering content and people that we would like and agree with, while avoiding the others. Moreover, platforms offer powerful technological affordances that allow users to carefully select and curate their social contacts and decide on how much or how little they want to interact with them.
Studies show that social media users regularly practice curation and cleansing of their social networks by engaging in a range of filtering, avoidance, and disconnective behaviors such as unfriending, unfollowing, and muting, or are simply staying away
from contentious discussions. This potentially reduces serendipity and exposure to difference (i.e. ethic, gender, social, political) in daily lives of citizens and provides a fertile ground for the dark side of social capital to emerge. In this lecture, I will discuss whether social media platforms facilitate the growth of the exclusionary form of social capital, which has potentially negative consequences including restricting the flows of information, diminishing opportunities for cooperation, reducing the radius of trust, and marginalizing minority groups and communities. The goal is to expand the scope of the
debate about the impact of social media on individuals and society and discuss potential remedial actions that can be taken.
Bio
Marko M. Skoric is Associate Professor at the Department of Media and Communication. He holds a Ph.D. in Communication from the University of Michigan, and a B.Sc. in Psychology from the University College London, UK. Marko’s teaching and research interests are focused on new media and social change, with a particular emphasis on the civic and political implications of new communication technologies. Dr. Skoric chairs the Communication, Technology, and Citizenship Asia conference (CTeC Asia) and New Media and Citizenship in Asia series of International Communication Association (ICA) preconferences. He is a member of the editorial boards of several renowned journals, including Communication Research, Communication Studies, Human Communication Research, International Journal of Public Opinion Research, and New Media & Society.
His research and commentary have been featured in international news media,including, South China Morning Post, The BBC, The Economist and The Washington Post, and his study on video games cited by the Supreme Court of the United States
(Brown v. Entertainment Merchants Assn).
The MACOMM/S Program of DLSU Department of Communication in partnership with the College of Liberal Arts - Office of the Assistant Dean for Research and Advanced
Studies, Department of Political Science and Development Studies, and College of Liberal Arts -Graduate Student Council invites you to a research lecture
"Social Media and the Politics of Exclusion "
Marko M. Skoric,
Associate Professor and Director of Research Degree Programs,
Department of Media and Communication,
City University of Hong Kong
Date: 31 March 2025, Monday, 3:00pm-5:00pm
Venue: Y408 Seminar Room, Don Enrique T. Yuchengco Hall
Please register via https://forms.gle/QutWoFyjeaQMqfHj6 or the QR code in the attached event poster.
Abstract
Research shows that social media use can facilitate the creation and maintenance of social capital, i.e. the value that people derive from their relationships with others. Numerous studies have linked the use of various social media platforms with both the bridging social capital (weak ties) and bonding (strong ties), suggesting a positive impact of these platforms on individual citizens and society in general. But social environments that platforms provide are increasingly unlike the ones we experience in the real world—their powerful algorithms are aimed at delivering content and people that we would like and agree with, while avoiding the others. Moreover, platforms offer powerful technological affordances that allow users to carefully select and curate their social contacts and decide on how much or how little they want to interact with them.
Studies show that social media users regularly practice curation and cleansing of their social networks by engaging in a range of filtering, avoidance, and disconnective behaviors such as unfriending, unfollowing, and muting, or are simply staying away
from contentious discussions. This potentially reduces serendipity and exposure to difference (i.e. ethic, gender, social, political) in daily lives of citizens and provides a fertile ground for the dark side of social capital to emerge. In this lecture, I will discuss whether social media platforms facilitate the growth of the exclusionary form of social capital, which has potentially negative consequences including restricting the flows of information, diminishing opportunities for cooperation, reducing the radius of trust, and marginalizing minority groups and communities. The goal is to expand the scope of the
debate about the impact of social media on individuals and society and discuss potential remedial actions that can be taken.
Bio
Marko M. Skoric is Associate Professor at the Department of Media and Communication. He holds a Ph.D. in Communication from the University of Michigan, and a B.Sc. in Psychology from the University College London, UK. Marko’s teaching and research interests are focused on new media and social change, with a particular emphasis on the civic and political implications of new communication technologies. Dr. Skoric chairs the Communication, Technology, and Citizenship Asia conference (CTeC Asia) and New Media and Citizenship in Asia series of International Communication Association (ICA) preconferences. He is a member of the editorial boards of several renowned journals, including Communication Research, Communication Studies, Human Communication Research, International Journal of Public Opinion Research, and New Media & Society.
His research and commentary have been featured in international news media,including, South China Morning Post, The BBC, The Economist and The Washington Post, and his study on video games cited by the Supreme Court of the United States
(Brown v. Entertainment Merchants Assn).
