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Alberto Acerbi

Alberto Acerbi

@acerbialberto.com

2.8K followers 1.1K following 780 posts

I am an associate professor in the Department of Sociology and Social Research at the University of Trento (Italy): cognitive anthropology / cultural evolution / digital media / cultural analytics
More info in the pinned post. .. more

Sociology 30%

Political science 19%

more

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Alberto Acerbi @acerbialberto.com · Mar 23

Tecnopanico: www.mulino.it/isbn/9788815...

Cultural evolution in the digital age: bit.ly/2McstmR

Individual-based models of cultural evolution. A step-by-step guide using R: bit.ly/3MQBjT4 (free: acerbialberto.com/IBM-cultevo)

Substack (italiano): bit.ly/3lDERMq

web: acerbialberto.com

A. ACERBI, Technopanic. New Media, Reasonable Caution, Unfounded Fear

The spread of fake news, the power of conspiracy theories, the influence of algorithms on our choices and behaviour, the impact of social media on youth’s mental health, and other similar phenomena al...

Alberto Acerbi @acerbialberto.com · 4d

Il video della mia presentazione di "Tecnopanico", grazie a STSTN - Scienza Tecnologia e Società per l'invito.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=P2jy...

A. Acerbi: "Tecnopanico"

YouTube video by scienzaesocieta

www.youtube.com

Alberto Acerbi @acerbialberto.com · 6d

I link della settimana (#122)
open.substack.com/pub/albertoa...

I link della settimana (#122)

(i) “La disinformazione è diffusa nei sistemi biologici a diversi livelli di organizzazione ed [...] è probabilmente una proprietà inevitabile che deriva da vincoli fondamentali dei sistemi di comunic...

open.substack.com

Reposted by Alberto Acerbi

Ian Hussey @ianhussey.mmmdata.io · 7d

Author of “How the phone ban saved high school" clarifies that the article is not meant to imply that the phone ban has saved high school.

There is no way this could cause confusion in this heated space.
¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Alberto Acerbi @acerbialberto.com · 9d

Happy to have feedback - also where should I send this? (Not now, at least in January, potential editors and reviewers do not worry...)

Link again: osf.io/preprints/so...

Alberto Acerbi @acerbialberto.com · 9d

The perspective developed take some inspiration from: www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

The ecological approach to culture

The prevailing view in the literature treats cultural dynamics as fundamentally distinct from other ecological processes—governed by a second system o…

www.sciencedirect.com

Alberto Acerbi @acerbialberto.com · 9d

This view sheds a new light on persistent debates: e.g. for misinformation, instead of asking “why do people believe false content?”, we should ask: “Why is someone producing this, here, now, for this audience?” (Thus suggesting different interventions.)

Alberto Acerbi @acerbialberto.com · 9d

Plus, platforms are ecologies with different selective pressures.
Audience structure, affordances, and metrics matter.
Niches within platforms matter too.
Political clusters reward moralised outrage; professional or hobbyist communities reward expertise or positivity, etc.

Alberto Acerbi @acerbialberto.com · 9d

Transmission is often a by-product rather than a goal.
Much online content succeeds not because is persuasive to consumers, but because it fits with their goals.

Alberto Acerbi @acerbialberto.com · 9d

Online behaviour is better understood from the producer’s standpoint.
People post to manage reputation, mark identity, build coalitions, or maintain social presence, not mainly to transmit information.

Alberto Acerbi @acerbialberto.com · 9d

Most research explains online behaviour considering social media as vehicle of transmission and by focusing on consumers’ biases.
In this paper I take a different perspective:

Reposted by Simon J. Greenhill, Rebecca Sear

Alberto Acerbi @acerbialberto.com · 9d

New preprint: "The Cultural Ecology of Social Media"

osf.io/preprints/so...

Thread
⬇️⬇️⬇️

Abstract:
Most research on social media considers them as supports for transmission of information, explaining online success (and pathologies) by focusing on consumers’ biases and interests. This article takes a different perspective, applying ideas from an ecological approach to culture to social media informational dynamics. It argues that success online depends both on the intrinsic appeal of content to receivers and on how well content serves producers’ strategic goals within the constraints and affordances of specific platforms. These goals include reputation management, coalition building and identity management, and coordination or participation in shared activities. Transmission is often a by-product of these motivations, and replication fidelity plays a limited role compared with transformations that adapt content to local incentives. Finally, the article suggests that platforms and communities can be understood as distinct ecological niches, each characterised by different audience structures, affordances, metrics, and algorithmic pressures. This perspective offers novel insight to persistent debates on social media dynamics, such as misinformation, radicalisation and polarisation, and the reasons behind online success.

Alberto Acerbi @acerbialberto.com · 10d

Thank you Ricardo!

The Dissenter @thedissenteryt.bsky.social · 10d

MY FAVORITE NON-FICTION BOOKS OF 2025

(no particular order)

1 - Tecnopanico: Media digitali tra ragionevoli cautele e paure ingiustificate ("Technopanic: Digital Media, Between Reasonable Caution and Unjustified Fears"), by Alberto Acerbi (@acerbialberto.com)

Reposted by Alberto Acerbi

The Dissenter @thedissenteryt.bsky.social · 10d

MY FAVORITE NON-FICTION BOOKS OF 2025

(no particular order)

1 - Tecnopanico: Media digitali tra ragionevoli cautele e paure ingiustificate ("Technopanic: Digital Media, Between Reasonable Caution and Unjustified Fears"), by Alberto Acerbi (@acerbialberto.com)

Reposted by David W. Lawson

Alberto Acerbi @acerbialberto.com · 10d

Work (also) with me!

Two years postdoc in the @weaponisedpasts.bsky.social project, based in Edinburgh. Will do transmission chain experiments to understand the spread of heritage-based hostility, online and elsewhere.

More info
⬇️⬇️⬇️

Chiara Bonacchi @chiara-bonacchi.bsky.social · 10d

📣 PDRA JOB (2 Years, full-time) based in Psychology, @schoolofppls.bsky.social: We are hiring a Post-doctoral Research Associate, to work on Strand B (experimental) of our @weaponisedpasts.bsky.social project, generously funded by @leverhulme.ac.uk.

Reposted by Alberto Acerbi, Alessandro Nai

Chiara Bonacchi @chiara-bonacchi.bsky.social · 10d

📣 PDRA JOB (2 Years, full-time) based in Psychology, @schoolofppls.bsky.social: We are hiring a Post-doctoral Research Associate, to work on Strand B (experimental) of our @weaponisedpasts.bsky.social project, generously funded by @leverhulme.ac.uk.

Alberto Acerbi @acerbialberto.com · 10d

Hopefully! I am working on it, but did not get a publisher yet...

Alberto Acerbi @acerbialberto.com · 10d

"Tecnopanico" is the perfect Christmas present! 😀🎄

Alberto Acerbi @acerbialberto.com · 12d

The free version of "Individual-based models of cultural evolution. A step-by-step guide using R" is now here: albertoacerbi.github.io/IBM-cultevo/

Individual-based models of cultural evolution

Individual-based models of cultural evolution

albertoacerbi.github.io

Reposted by Hugo Mercier, Rebecca Sear, David W. Lawson

Alberto Acerbi @acerbialberto.com · 12d

"misinformation is widespread in biological systems spanning levels of organization, and [...] is probably an inevitable property that inherits from fundamental constraints on biological communication systems, rather than a pathology"
royalsocietypublishing.org/rsif/article...

A brief natural history of misinformation

Abstract. The idea that organisms benefit by acquiring information through social connections is a cornerstone of our understanding of social evolution and

royalsocietypublishing.org

Alberto Acerbi @acerbialberto.com · 13d

I link della settimana (#121)
open.substack.com/pub/albertoa...

I link della settimana (#121)

(i) Un’altra riflessione critica sul ban dei social media in Australia per i minori di 16 anni, iniziato mercoledì scorso.

open.substack.com

Alberto Acerbi @acerbialberto.com · 13d

Nature agrees.
www.nature.com/articles/d41...

Alberto Acerbi @acerbialberto.com · 14d

Google has always struggled to give me a precise label, but this one ("biographer"??) was certainly unexpected.

Reposted by Olivier Morin

Alberto Acerbi @acerbialberto.com · 14d

US song lyrics have become more negative in the last 50 years, but societal shocks (like 9/11 and COVID) corresponds to *attenuation* of this trend.
www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Societal crises disrupt long-term increases in stress, negativity, and simplicity in US Billboard song lyrics from 1973 to 2023 - Scientific Reports

Scientific Reports - Societal crises disrupt long-term increases in stress, negativity, and simplicity in US Billboard song lyrics from 1973 to 2023

Alberto Acerbi @acerbialberto.com · 17d

This trend was already evident in sociocultural anthropology twenty years ago and it was one of the main reasons I felt the need to move in a different direction.

unherd.com/2025/12/tear...

The therapy-scholar is killing academia

Alberto Acerbi @acerbialberto.com · 18d

bsky.app/profile/acer...

Alberto Acerbi @acerbialberto.com · 18d

Dataset of Youtube "trending" videos on the platform from 104 countries spanning 3 years arxiv.org/abs/2510.23645

Global YouTube Trending Dataset (2022-2025): Three Years of Platform-Curated, Cross-National Trends in Digital Culture

On July 1, 2025, YouTube retired its decade-long public "Trending" pages, ending platform-curated, non-personalized video discovery. The Trending list had long served as a vital lens into algorithmic ...

Alberto Acerbi @acerbialberto.com · 18d

Dataset of Youtube "trending" videos on the platform from 104 countries spanning 3 years arxiv.org/abs/2510.23645

Global YouTube Trending Dataset (2022-2025): Three Years of Platform-Curated, Cross-National Trends in Digital Culture

On July 1, 2025, YouTube retired its decade-long public "Trending" pages, ending platform-curated, non-personalized video discovery. The Trending list had long served as a vital lens into algorithmic ...

Alberto Acerbi @acerbialberto.com · 20d

I link della settimana (#120)
open.substack.com/pub/albertoa...

I link della settimana (#120)

(i) Sono usciti i nuovi dati PEW sull’utilizzo dei social media negli Stati Uniti nel 2025.

open.substack.com

Alberto Acerbi @acerbialberto.com · 21d

Tomorrow I scheduled an interview with Ricardo @thedissenteryt.bsky.social on my book "Tecnopanico". Looking forward to it!
This was five years ago on "Cultural Evolution in the Digital Age", so you will be able to check my hair getting whiter :)
www.youtube.com/watch?v=AX0J...

#369 Alberto Acerbi: Cultural Evolution in the Digital Age

YouTube video by The Dissenter

www.youtube.com

Alberto Acerbi @acerbialberto.com · 22d

Ps: this does not mean, of course, to replace them with a naive optimistic approach, but that overly negative narratives do not hit the target. I wrote a book about that :)
www.amazon.it/Tecnopanico-...

Tecnopanico. Media digitali, tra ragionevoli cautele e paure ingiustificate

Tecnopanico. Media digitali, tra ragionevoli cautele e paure ingiustificate : Acerbi, Alberto: Amazon.it: Books

Alberto Acerbi @acerbialberto.com · 22d

Tracking how alarmist narratives are moving seamlessly from social media to AI (and often from the exact same groups) is an interesting exercise, albeit slightly depressing.