Wonderful to have you around!

This series is part of the @erc.europa.eu-funded project DEMED at @uofglasgow.bsky.social - connecting scholars interested in digital data, democracy & innovative methods.

We hope to see you there! 💬

#SocialMediaResearch #DigitalMethods #Democracy #WebinarSeries

🔗 Register here:
uofglasgow.zoom.us/webinar/regi...

🌐 More info:
University of Glasgow – Social Media as a Research Tool:
www.gla.ac.uk/research/az/...

📅 Nov 11, 3:00 PM (UK)
Restoring the Health of the Election Information Ecosystem
Thessalia Merivaki (Georgetown University) presents the Election Officials’ Communications Tracker, monitoring official social media during the 2024 U.S. elections. 🇺🇸

📅 Nov 4, 3:00 PM (UK)
The Role of Ad Design
Anna Hebel (GESIS) explores how image characteristics & design formats affect recruitment outcomes on social media.

🎨 How visual design shapes who we reach — & what data we get.

📅 Oct 28, 3:00 PM (UK)
Making the Invisible Visible
@philipmai.com (@socialmedialab.ca) introduces PoliDashboard, a real-time tracker for political ads on Meta platforms.

🔍 Transparency in targeted political ads during elections.

📊 The 3-part series showcases innovative tools & methods — from tracking political ads to optimising recruitment strategies & mapping election information ecosystems.

Join us for new insights into digital data & democratic research!

🗓 Schedule below 👇

7/
👉 More details here: democracyinstitute.ceu.edu/articles/drd...

6/
We need to counter this, head on.

Grateful to the convenors & colleagues for the inspiring discussions – and to the Democratic Expeditions project, funded by the Friedrich Ebert Foundation in Vienna, for supporting this vital work.

5/
People must understand what democracy is – and why, despite its flaws, it remains the best political system we have.

Too often, attacks on democratic institutions & processes go undetected, while dictators instrumentalize the normative power of democracy to legitimize themselves.

4/
I had the chance to present our @erc.europa.eu funded research on digital democracy promotion.

My key message:
👉 Authoritarian actors weaponize social media.
👉 We need pro-democracy education campaigns.

3/
Topics ranged from polarization & misinformation to the drivers of far-right support – and, crucially, the question of what works?

The program also included a roundtable with practitioners & civil society representatives.

2/
The workshop, convened by @dafnoukos.bsky.social & Carlos Melendez, brought together comparative insights from Europe & Latin America.

Over two days, participants from ~15 universities exchanged ideas across seven panels.

5/ Democracy isn’t self-sustaining. But our study shows that innovative, scalable tools can help strengthen it. That’s something to celebrate – and act on – this #WorldDemocracyDay.

👉 Full policy brief here: www.gla.ac.uk/media/Media_...

4/ Based on our findings, we recommend:
✔️ Use online platforms strategically
✔️ Tailor messages to context
✔️ Counter polarization
✔️ Reach marginalized groups

3/ Why does this matter? Because such campaigns can be scaled through social media to reach millions, offering a cost-effective way to promote democratic citizenship.

2/ In experiments spanning 33 countries, these videos had consistently positive effects on democratic attitudes – and the impact lasted even two weeks after exposure.