Axel Bruns

@snurb.info

11K followers 2.1K following 3.3K posts

Australian Laureate Fellow and Professor at @qutdmrc, researching news, politics, partisanship, polarisation in digital and social media.

He/his | Progressive Rock | Hannover 96 🖤🤍💚 | 🇦🇺🇩🇪🇪🇺

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🐘 @snurb@aoir.social
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Axel Bruns is a German-Australian media scholar. He is a Professor of Communication and Media Studies at QUT Digital Media Research Centre, Queensland University of Technology in Brisbane, Australia, and a Chief Investigator in the ARC Centre of Excellence for Automated Decision-Making and Society. .. more

Communication & Media Studies 59%

Political science 14%

Posts Replies Media Videos

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Axel Bruns @snurb.info · Apr 25

💡 NEW ARTICLE ALERT 💡

My article with @qutdmrc.bsky.social colleagues @kkasianenko.bsky.social, @vishneww.bsky.social, @essideh.com, and @voddenlaura.bsky.social is now out in Social Media + Society.

We introduce a new analytics method: #PracticeMapping.

journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...

Untangling the Furball: A Practice Mapping Approach to the Analysis of Multimodal Interactions in Social Networks - Axel Bruns, Kateryna Kasianenko, Vish Padinjaredath Suresh, Ehsan Dehghan, Laura Vod...

This article introduces the analytical approach of practice mapping, using vector embeddings of network actions and interactions to map commonalities and disjun...

journals.sagepub.com

Axel Bruns @snurb.info · 5h

🏁 So that’s it then – the final volume of the #SunEater series is over. This has been one of the most epic SF series I’ve ever read, with truly cinematic world-building and a great ear for language. Highly, highly recommended. 🙌

Start with book one though, not book seven. 🤨

Cover of Shadows upon Time, by Christopher Ruocchio.

Axel Bruns @snurb.info · 20h

🕸️ At our wonderful @qutdmrc.bsky.social Summer School last week, I presented a session on 'the' public sphere, and why that concept is increasingly anachronistic in a highly diversified networked communication environment. Slides are online now (more on this topic later):

Revisiting 'the' Public Sphere, Again | Snurblog — Axel Bruns

It's mid-February already, which means that here at the QUT Digital Media Research Centre we've j

snurb.info

Axel Bruns @snurb.info · 1d

And it’s done. That was harder than it needed to be… #H96KSV

Axel Bruns @snurb.info · 1d

Aaaaah. The iceman cometh. 🇮🇸 #H96KSV ⚽️⚽️⚽️

Axel Bruns @snurb.info · 1d

How do you specifically teach a team to play second halves, though ? If you can answer that question, there’s a coaching job in it. #H96KSV

Axel Bruns @snurb.info · 1d

FFS. It’s happening again, isn’t it. 😠 #H96KSV

Axel Bruns @snurb.info · 1d

Why do we always seem to stop playing in the second half ? Come on, forward ! #H96KSV

Axel Bruns @snurb.info · 1d

Right. So far, so good. 😬 #H96KSV

Axel Bruns @snurb.info · 1d

Of course we’re usually at our worst when we seem to have a really safe lead, so… 😬🤨🥴 #H96KSV

Axel Bruns @snurb.info · 1d

Go… no, wait. Go… no, wait. Goooooal, on the third attempt ! #H96KSV ⚽️⚽️

Axel Bruns @snurb.info · 1d

YESSSS. Källmann doing Källmann things. #H96KSV ⚽️

Axel Bruns @snurb.info · 1d

OK then Hannover 96, here we go. Three points, or else. #H96KSV 🖤🤍💚

Reposted by Axel Bruns

Greg Jericho @grogsgamut.bsky.social · 1d

Gonna say that helicopter rescue looks scary AF #Olympics

Axel Bruns @snurb.info · 1d

So perhaps it's just me, but: if you can't even agree how many weeks there are between two fixed points in time, how are you going to agree on a meaningful policy agenda ?

www.abc.net.au/news/...

Highlighted sentence:

Senior Liberal sources say it will be a six-week suspension in total, while a senior Nationals source says it works out at only five weeks.

Axel Bruns @snurb.info · 2d

We have a truly stupid team, and the coaching staff are even worse. #BRIvCCM

Also, the Redcliffe curse is alive and well. Perhaps sooner or (more likely) later the Roar will learn never to play there again.

Axel Bruns @snurb.info · 2d

🆕 Fabulous, ✨fabulous✨ work by our friends at the Social Media Lab, one of the best research centres in our field. A very timely and much-needed intervention to introduce some transparency into online advertising. 🙌

PoliDashboard Unveils 25 New Country-Specific Dashboards, Advancing Global Transparency in Political Advertising on Meta Platform - Social Media Lab

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASEFebruary 4, 2026 Toronto, Ontario — In the wake of recent reports highlighting the prevalence of fraudulent advertisements on Meta-owned platforms (Tech Transparency Project) and perennial concerns about the influence of political advertising on digital platforms more broadly, the Social Media Lab is pleased to announce the addition of 25 new country-specific dashboards […]

socialmedialab.ca

Axel Bruns @snurb.info · 2d

🎪 #Brainticket 105 is out – and this week we’re checking out some of the best new live releases in progressive rock. Featuring music from #Prog luminaries Needlepoint, IQ, Causa Sui, The Utopia Strong, Girón, Big Big Train, and Genesis. 🧠🎫

www.mixcloud.com/LexaSnurb/105/

Brainticket 105: New Lives II

A collection of progressive rock tracks from some of the great new live releases, with music from Needlepoint, IQ, Causa Sui, The Utopia Strong, Girón, Big Big Train, and Genesis.

www.mixcloud.com

Reposted by Axel Bruns, Ann Bartow

Joshua Foust 🪖🎮 @joshuafoust.com · 3d

Even when they do, meekly and without a byline, cover it, they include insulting hedging language like “maybe Trump didn’t know it was racist” as if we were all born yesterday because they are abject cowards afraid of their own shadows.

Reposted by Axel Bruns

Reposted by Tama Leaver

Axel Bruns @snurb.info · 3d

Hot damn. 🔥🔥🔥

Badiucao巴丢草 @badiucao.bsky.social · 4d

Cartoon on Washington Post‘s mass layoffs

Reposted by Axel Bruns

Anthony B, @swearyanthony.bsky.social · 3d

Oh my lord it appears they didn't redact any attachments in the Epstein emails they published. Absolute goddam clown shoes. neosmart.net/blog/recreat...

Recreating uncensored Epstein PDFs from raw encoded attachments

There have been a lot of complaints about both the competency and the logic behind the latest Epstein archive release by the DoJ: from censoring the names of co-conspirators to censoring pictures o…

neosmart.net

Reposted by Axel Bruns, Rodney Benson

Alan Rusbridger @arusbridger.bsky.social · 3d

Bezos could retrieve something from the disaster of his ownership of the @washingtonpost.com by emulating the Scott family in 1932. Give the paper away and endow it with, say, $1.5 bn. And have an independent trust run it in the public interest.

Adam Serwer @adamserwer.bsky.social · 3d

Pour one out for every professional political pundit, writer, consultant whatever that has spent the last decade trying to pretend that the Trump phenomenon was about trade or opiates and not a big chunk of white america losing its mind over having a black president bsky.app/profile/kyle...

Kyle Griffin @kylegriffin1.bsky.social · 3d

A screenshot from a video posted on Trump's Truth Social account: truthsocial.com/@realDonaldT...

Axel Bruns @snurb.info · 3d

J, F, and C. What a mess.

Bruce Highway blocked after excavator strikes Sunshine Coast bridge

Authorities say one southbound lane of the Bruce Highway may reopen tonight after an excavator struck a bridge and then fell onto the road.

www.abc.net.au

Reposted by Axel Bruns

QUT Digital Media Research Centre @qutdmrc.bsky.social · 4d

And that's a wrap on the 2026 Summer School.

Workshops galore on the final day and we ended formal proceedings with a Bake Your Thesis - Cake Decorating, and social activities with a movie night.

Thank you to delegates and presenters for your attendance and contributions. See you again next year!

Reposted by Axel Bruns

Fabio Votta📊🐧 @favstats.eu · 4d

I don't know who needs to hear this but you need to listen to music (more).

I somehow forgot about music. The world is in major suck mode right now and I listen to news every free minute to make sense of the insanity.

If that's you, please listen to music more. It's good for your soul. Take care.

Axel Bruns @snurb.info · 4d

Wait, a leaked recording has sued a university ? Peak headline grammar. 🥴

Reposted by Fabio Giglietto

Axel Bruns @snurb.info · 4d

New: I participated in a roundtable for the #CORIT project at the University of Urbino, led by the great @gboccia.bsky.social, a few weeks ago, and offered some thoughts about #polarisation and its configurations. I've now published that opening statement on my blog, too:

Some Thoughts about Polarisation and Its Configurations | Snurblog — Axel Bruns

A few weeks ago I had the pleasure of participating in a roundtable on "

snurb.info

Reposted by Axel Bruns

QUT Digital Media Research Centre @qutdmrc.bsky.social · 4d

NEW PUBLICATION!

In a new article in Journalism and Media, the DMRC's Aljosha Karim Schapals and colleagues consider communicative traits young people prefer in a "newsfluencer".

Available to read in open access here:

“Talk to Me as a Friend!”: How Teenagers Prefer Their Newsfluencers on Social Media

This study investigates how Portuguese teenagers (aged 13–18) perceive and prefer the communication characteristics of so-called “newsfluencers” on social media platforms such as Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube. Through 20 semi-structured interviews, the research explores how verbal and non-verbal traits shape adolescents’ engagement with news in a media ecosystem increasingly dominated by digital intermediaries. Drawing on literature on brand journalism, the study categorizes preferences into four key elements: character, tone, language, and purpose. The findings reveal that teenagers favor newsfluencers who are inspiring and friendly (character), are honest and direct (tone), use simple and fun speech (language), and aim to educate and inform (purpose). Participants express a desire for journalists who “talk to me as a friend”, emphasizing authenticity, emotional proximity, and conversational clarity over traditional, formal modes of reporting. These insights suggest that effective youth-oriented journalism on social media must balance factual accuracy and emotional engagement, blending education with entertainment. The research contributes to emerging scholarship on social media journalism and youth news consumption by highlighting how relational and affective communication strategies can enhance young audiences’ trust, understanding, and participation in news.

www.mdpi.com

Reposted by Axel Bruns

Badiucao巴丢草 @badiucao.bsky.social · 4d

Cartoon on Washington Post‘s mass layoffs

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