CFP: International Conference on Social Media and Society (#SMSociety)2020 Theme – “Diverse Voices: Promises and Perils of Social Media For Diversity”

Join us on July 22–24, 2020 for the 11th annual International Conference on Social Media and Society (#SMSociety) https://socialmediaandsociety.us3.list-manage.com/track/click?u=b32270f9582f39e884a4e953b&id=7c50e93645&e=bbbf230fcc. The conference is an interdisciplinary gathering of leading social media researchers, practitioners, and analysts from around the world. The 2020 conference is hosted by the College of Communication https://socialmediaandsociety.us3.list-manage.com/track/click?u=b32270f9582f39e884a4e953b&id=9124de812f&e=bbbf230fcc , Studio Chi https://socialmediaandsociety.us3.list-manage.com/track/click?u=b32270f9582f39e884a4e953b&id=315ecbc111&e=bbbf230fcc and the College of Computing and Digital Media https://socialmediaandsociety.us3.list-manage.com/track/click?u=b32270f9582f39e884a4e953b&id=88c7973fcd&e=bbbf230fcc at DePaul University https://socialmediaandsociety.us3.list-manage.com/track/click?u=b32270f9582f39e884a4e953b&id=acddcdde44&e=bbbf230fcc in Chicago, USA.

Until a decade and a half ago, large media companies and governments lorded over an oligopoly controlling the means for communicating with the masses. That oligopoly was (temporarily?) broken by the introduction of social media with its revolutionary promise to democratize civil discourse and civil society. It has offered diverse groups the opportunity to connect to one another and form communities of practice that ultimately can serve to strengthen their voice. However, in recent years, we have also discovered that connecting the world via social media leads to new challenges. When so many diverse voices are brought together on a massive scale, conflict is common. Interpretation of this conflict is itself diverse: do we see a rise of incivility or freedom from moral policing? Extremism or idealism? Distrust or critique? The very same digital tools that amplify voices of the marginalized can also be used to silence diverse voices online through online harassment, doxing, trolling, and other measures.

In this context, the *International Conference on Social Media & Society* https://socialmediaandsociety.us3.list-manage.com/track/click?u=b32270f9582f39e884a4e953b&id=455462fc73&e=bbbf230fcc invites scholarly and original submissions that explore key questions and central issues related (but not limited) to the 2020 theme of “*Diverse Voices: Promises and Perils of Social Media For Diversity**.*” We welcome research from a wide range of methodological perspectives employing established quantitative, qualitative, and mixed methods as well as innovative approaches that cross disciplinary boundaries and expand our understanding of the current and future trends in social media research, especially research that seeks to explore questions such as:

- Can human society handle the connection of diverse and divergent (often conflicting) voices on social media? Is empowering every voice via social media a net good? - Under what conditions can social media build bridges across difference? When does social media reinforce division? - What social media affordances are good or bad in terms of supporting diversity, including but not limited to: race, class, gender, sexual, cultural, political and linguistic diversity? - What is the role of government regulation? Should social media be limited to activities that help to build strong societies? - Is it naive to think that giving everyone a voice will result in increased democracy? - And what is the role of social media in all of these? And how can social media platforms be used to empower marginalized voices? - Can AI and other automated tools help social media consumers and producers to overcome these challenges and provide online spaces for engagement with diverse voices? If so, how?

*IMPORTANT DATES*

- *Full papers** (6-10 pages) Due: *Jan. 27, 2020* - *WIP papers* (1000-word extended abstract) Due: *Jan. 27, 2020* - *Panels, Workshops, & Posters* Due: *Mar. 16, 2020*

*Full papers presented at the Conference will be published in the conference proceedings by *ACM International Conference Proceeding Series* (ICPS) https://socialmediaandsociety.us3.list-manage.com/track/click?u=b32270f9582f39e884a4e953b&id=ac4c3de425&e=bbbf230fcc and will be available in the ACM Digital Library.

*SUBMISSION DETAILS*:

https://socialmediaandsociety.org/submit/ https://socialmediaandsociety.us3.list-manage.com/track/click?u=b32270f9582f39e884a4e953b&id=321b8aa3b1&e=bbbf230fcc

*ABOUT THE CONFERENCE*

The International Conference on Social Media & Society https://socialmediaandsociety.us3.list-manage.com/track/click?u=b32270f9582f39e884a4e953b&id=c110c1d801&e=bbbf230fcc (#SMsociety) is an annual gathering of leading social media researchers from around the world. It is the premier venue for sharing and discovering new peer-reviewed interdisciplinary research on how social media affects society. Organized by the Social Media Lab https://socialmediaandsociety.us3.list-manage.com/track/click?u=b32270f9582f39e884a4e953b&id=0352cc7aa4&e=bbbf230fcc at Ted Rogers School of Management https://socialmediaandsociety.us3.list-manage.com/track/click?u=b32270f9582f39e884a4e953b&id=3311c6a078&e=bbbf230fcc at Ryerson University https://socialmediaandsociety.us3.list-manage.com/track/click?u=b32270f9582f39e884a4e953b&id=1eeecc4aec&e=bbbf230fcc, #SMSociety provides participants with opportunities to exchange ideas, present original research, learn about recent and ongoing studies, and network with peers.

The conference’s intensive three-day program features hands-on workshops, full papers, work-in-progress papers, panels, and posters. The wide-ranging topics in social media showcase research from scholars working in many fields including Communication, Computer Science, Education, Journalism, Information Science, Management, Political Science, Psychology and Sociology. *TOPICS OF INTEREST (Not Exhaustive)*

SOCIAL MEDIA IMPACT ON SOCIETY

- Privacy - Trust & credibility - Political mobilization & engagement - Extremism & terrorism - Dis/Mis/Mal-information, aka…”Fake news” - Politics of hate and oppression - Health and well-being

SOCIAL MEDIA & BUSINESS

- Brand communities - Influencers and consumer engagement - Consumer behavior & social media marketing - Public & customer relations - Cybervetting and HR

SOCIAL MEDIA & PUBLIC SECTOR

- Government regulations of social media - Government social media management - Adoption, use, strategies and policies - Citizens’ engagement - Citizens’ privacy & security concerns - Public opinions on environmental issues

SOCIAL MEDIA & ACADEMIA

- Alternative metrics - Learning analytics - Teaching with social media - University branding - Knowledge Translation/management

ONLINE/OFFLINE COMMUNITIES

- Online community detection - Influential user detection - Identity and anonymity - Case studies

THEORIES & METHODS

- Qualitative approaches - Quantitative approaches - Mixed methods - Opinion mining & sentiment analysis - Social network analysis - Theoretical models

BIG & SMALL DATA

- Value of small data - Data mining and analytics - Sampling issues - Visualization - Scalability issues - Ethics - Data Access/Scraping - Data Biases

*ORGANIZING COMMITTEE*

- Anatoliy Gruzd, Ryerson University, Canada – Conference Chair - Philip Mai, Ryerson University, Canada – Conference Chair - Raquel Recuero, Universidade Federal de Pelotas (UFPel), Brazil – Full Paper Chair - Ángel Hernández-García, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, Spain – Full Paper Chair - Chei Sian Lee, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore – WIP Chair - James Cook, University of Maine at Augusta, USA – WIP Chair - Jaigris Hodson, Royal Roads University, Canada – Poster Chair

*HOST COMMITTEE at DePaul University*

- Bree McEwan, Communication Studies, Communication & Technology - Jill Hopke, Journalism - Hamed Qahri Saremi, Management Information Systems - Juan Mundel, Advertising - Paul Booth, Digital Communication & Media Arts - Enid Montague, Human Computer Interaction - Samantha Close, Digital Communication & Media Arts - Nur Uysal, Public Relations