Ohio State researchers to study how social media affects democracy

Researchers at Ohio State University will be among the first to examine private Facebook data to study the effect of social media on democracy.

The university is among 12 recipients of research grants from Social Science One and the Social Science Research Council, Facebook and Ohio State announced Monday.

Ohio State’s research team will focus on “problematic” sharing on Facebook. They’ll use the data to examine behaviors that “may pose harmful influences on what people learn about science, politics and their community,” Ohio State said in a news release Monday.

“We know that rumors and misinformation spread on social media platforms like Facebook can undermine citizens’ ability to make thoughtful decisions that affect their lives,” Kelly Garrett, associate professor of communication at Ohio State and principal investigator for the project, said in the release. “But we can’t stem these problematic behaviors if we don’t understand them. That’s what this study is all about.”

Read more: https://www.dispatch.com/news/20190429/ohio-state-researchers-to-study-how-social-media-affects-democracy
(Columbus Dispatch)