Yini Zhang
@yinizhang.bsky.social
assistant professor, university at buffalo, social media & computational social science
Reposted by Yini Zhang
🔍 Insightful piece debunking some of the "mythology” behind Big Data:
journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10....
#commsky #polsky #bigdata
journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10....
#commsky #polsky #bigdata
Rethinking Scaling Up Content Analysis: A Reappraisal of Justifications and Practices for Large-Scale Content Analysis - Maximilian Linde, Chung-hong Chan, Paul Balluff, 2025
The use of automated coding procedures to scale up content analysis has risen over the last years. Using a mixed-method approach, we examine researchers’ justif...
journals.sagepub.com
November 27, 2025 at 3:55 AM
🔍 Insightful piece debunking some of the "mythology” behind Big Data:
journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10....
#commsky #polsky #bigdata
journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10....
#commsky #polsky #bigdata
Our latest paper on how #metoo got entangled in partisan discourse, explained in a two-minute AI generated video!
🚨 New paper drop!
How does a social movement once started out powerful somehow turn into a partisan battle?
In our new publication in @icsjournal.bsky.social, we answer this question by analyzing 83 million #MeToo tweets from 2017–2020. 1/
How does a social movement once started out powerful somehow turn into a partisan battle?
In our new publication in @icsjournal.bsky.social, we answer this question by analyzing 83 million #MeToo tweets from 2017–2020. 1/
November 8, 2025 at 12:53 AM
Our latest paper on how #metoo got entangled in partisan discourse, explained in a two-minute AI generated video!
Timely research on news creators and their influence across the globe!
We've just published the most comprehensive study of news creators to date covering 24 countries. Authored by Nic Newman @amyrossarguedas.bsky.social @mitalilive.bsky.social @richardfletcher.bsky.social, it identifies the most mentioned in each country
📱Report buff.ly/bL6y8Hj
🧵6 findings in thread
📱Report buff.ly/bL6y8Hj
🧵6 findings in thread
October 28, 2025 at 8:37 AM
Timely research on news creators and their influence across the globe!
Reposted by Yini Zhang
Open Research (OpenAI-linked research outfit) just put out a new report on using LLMs for public opinion polling that suggests they may improve response rates substantially: www.openresearchlab.org/findings/ai-...
Can Conversational AI Improve Survey Research? | Findings
Early Insights from Testing a Chat-Based Survey
www.openresearchlab.org
August 27, 2025 at 2:35 AM
Open Research (OpenAI-linked research outfit) just put out a new report on using LLMs for public opinion polling that suggests they may improve response rates substantially: www.openresearchlab.org/findings/ai-...
Reposted by Yini Zhang
”It’s a lot easier to blame food dyes, vaccines, or lack of exercise for every health issue your family faces… It makes you think if you eliminate or do that one thing, or take a supplement instead, it will all be fine. It gives you control — a false sense of control.”
Life is Messy
Holding space for complexity in a world that loves certainty
open.substack.com
August 23, 2025 at 1:13 AM
”It’s a lot easier to blame food dyes, vaccines, or lack of exercise for every health issue your family faces… It makes you think if you eliminate or do that one thing, or take a supplement instead, it will all be fine. It gives you control — a false sense of control.”
Reposted by Yini Zhang
🚨New publication in Social Media + Society🚨
Candidates Be Posting: Multi-Platform Strategies and Partisan Preferences in the 2022 U.S. Midterm Elections
And it's open access!
journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10....
Candidates Be Posting: Multi-Platform Strategies and Partisan Preferences in the 2022 U.S. Midterm Elections
And it's open access!
journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10....
Candidates Be Posting: Multi-Platform Strategies and Partisan Preferences in the 2022 U.S. Midterm Elections - Josephine Lukito, Maggie Macdonald, Bin Chen, Megan A. Brown, Stephen Prochaska, Yunkang ...
In this multi-platform, comparative study, we analyze social media messages from political candidates (N = 1,517) running for Congress during the 2022 U.S. Midt...
journals.sagepub.com
July 28, 2025 at 2:20 PM
🚨New publication in Social Media + Society🚨
Candidates Be Posting: Multi-Platform Strategies and Partisan Preferences in the 2022 U.S. Midterm Elections
And it's open access!
journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10....
Candidates Be Posting: Multi-Platform Strategies and Partisan Preferences in the 2022 U.S. Midterm Elections
And it's open access!
journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10....
Reposted by Yini Zhang
🚨New Pub🚨 Media-bashing became an identity. When Trump attacked the news media on social media, how did political influencers on the left and right amplify his rhetoric? Check out our new article (w/ @yinizhang.bsky.social): www.tandfonline.com/eprint/Z8NQW...
How political influencers amplified Trump’s media-bashing rhetoric on Twitter: from synergistic echoing to strategic avoidance, countering, and retooling
Extending existing research on right-wing populism and how the news media handles right-wing populists and their media-bashing rhetoric, this study examines how such rhetoric is amplified by politi...
www.tandfonline.com
May 23, 2025 at 1:33 PM
🚨New Pub🚨 Media-bashing became an identity. When Trump attacked the news media on social media, how did political influencers on the left and right amplify his rhetoric? Check out our new article (w/ @yinizhang.bsky.social): www.tandfonline.com/eprint/Z8NQW...
Reposted by Yini Zhang
📣Call for Papers:
CCR Special Issue on Computational Approaches to Researching Short Videos
co-edited by Jing Zeng, @lrossi.bsky.social, and @rupertkiddle.com
Abstract deadline: 25-Jul-2025
See announcement for more information -
journal.computationalcommunication.org/announcement...
CCR Special Issue on Computational Approaches to Researching Short Videos
co-edited by Jing Zeng, @lrossi.bsky.social, and @rupertkiddle.com
Abstract deadline: 25-Jul-2025
See announcement for more information -
journal.computationalcommunication.org/announcement...
Call for Papers: CCR Special Issue on Computational Approaches to Researching Short Videos
| Computational Communication Research
journal.computationalcommunication.org
May 23, 2025 at 12:00 PM
📣Call for Papers:
CCR Special Issue on Computational Approaches to Researching Short Videos
co-edited by Jing Zeng, @lrossi.bsky.social, and @rupertkiddle.com
Abstract deadline: 25-Jul-2025
See announcement for more information -
journal.computationalcommunication.org/announcement...
CCR Special Issue on Computational Approaches to Researching Short Videos
co-edited by Jing Zeng, @lrossi.bsky.social, and @rupertkiddle.com
Abstract deadline: 25-Jul-2025
See announcement for more information -
journal.computationalcommunication.org/announcement...
Reposted by Yini Zhang
💡 Ever wondered how social media and digital technology shapes our democracy?
Join our team @CSMaP_NYU as a Research Engingeer and help us build the tools that power cutting-edge research on the digital public sphere.
🚀 Apply now!
apply.interfolio.com/165833
Join our team @CSMaP_NYU as a Research Engingeer and help us build the tools that power cutting-edge research on the digital public sphere.
🚀 Apply now!
apply.interfolio.com/165833
May 1, 2025 at 3:32 PM
💡 Ever wondered how social media and digital technology shapes our democracy?
Join our team @CSMaP_NYU as a Research Engingeer and help us build the tools that power cutting-edge research on the digital public sphere.
🚀 Apply now!
apply.interfolio.com/165833
Join our team @CSMaP_NYU as a Research Engingeer and help us build the tools that power cutting-edge research on the digital public sphere.
🚀 Apply now!
apply.interfolio.com/165833
Reposted by Yini Zhang
Reading Careless People makes me appreciative of @bsky.app and the AT Protocol.
The open social web feels like this bright light in a sea of mercurial CEOs.
Seeing teams like @graze.social and @stream.place build on it, solidifies this belief for me.
Grateful to be here 💕
The open social web feels like this bright light in a sea of mercurial CEOs.
Seeing teams like @graze.social and @stream.place build on it, solidifies this belief for me.
Grateful to be here 💕
April 30, 2025 at 1:49 AM
Reading Careless People makes me appreciative of @bsky.app and the AT Protocol.
The open social web feels like this bright light in a sea of mercurial CEOs.
Seeing teams like @graze.social and @stream.place build on it, solidifies this belief for me.
Grateful to be here 💕
The open social web feels like this bright light in a sea of mercurial CEOs.
Seeing teams like @graze.social and @stream.place build on it, solidifies this belief for me.
Grateful to be here 💕
Couldn’t agree more! @shannimcg.bsky.social's amazing talk at UB last Friday and this clip really helped clarify the current presidential-press relationship for me.
I know I’m annoying with this. But the immediate shift to threat and power wielding, to belittling and gaslighting, the lean forward in the posture, the cadence shift when the interviewer says “it was photoshopped” - abuser tactics 101. When he says “you’re not being very nice,” DARVO 101.
This exchange is so very telling.
Trump repeatedly claims the photoshopped MS-13 on Kilmar Abrego Garcia's knuckles is real, Terry Moran keeps telling him it isn't, prompting Trump to say this:
"I never heard of you. I picked you. You’re not being very nice. He had MS-13 tattooed... Just say yes!"
Trump repeatedly claims the photoshopped MS-13 on Kilmar Abrego Garcia's knuckles is real, Terry Moran keeps telling him it isn't, prompting Trump to say this:
"I never heard of you. I picked you. You’re not being very nice. He had MS-13 tattooed... Just say yes!"
April 30, 2025 at 3:30 AM
Couldn’t agree more! @shannimcg.bsky.social's amazing talk at UB last Friday and this clip really helped clarify the current presidential-press relationship for me.
🚨 New paper out in @journalqd.bsky.social! 🚨
How do different social media platforms connect to each other? In our latest study, we propose that social media can be understood as a system made up of differentiated yet interconnected platforms, shaped by how users share information. #socialmedia🧵
How do different social media platforms connect to each other? In our latest study, we propose that social media can be understood as a system made up of differentiated yet interconnected platforms, shaped by how users share information. #socialmedia🧵
April 28, 2025 at 7:26 PM
🚨 New paper out in @journalqd.bsky.social! 🚨
How do different social media platforms connect to each other? In our latest study, we propose that social media can be understood as a system made up of differentiated yet interconnected platforms, shaped by how users share information. #socialmedia🧵
How do different social media platforms connect to each other? In our latest study, we propose that social media can be understood as a system made up of differentiated yet interconnected platforms, shaped by how users share information. #socialmedia🧵
Reposted by Yini Zhang
🌟pub🌟 "Communicative AI in the scientific public sphere" is out in Telematics & Informatics! w/ @yinizhang.bsky.social Jiawei Liu & Yukyung Yang
We examine public discussions on generative AI tools from both cognitive and affective dimensions.
first 50 copies 👇
authors.elsevier.com/a/1kmCI2dUkY...
We examine public discussions on generative AI tools from both cognitive and affective dimensions.
first 50 copies 👇
authors.elsevier.com/a/1kmCI2dUkY...
April 16, 2025 at 1:19 PM
🌟pub🌟 "Communicative AI in the scientific public sphere" is out in Telematics & Informatics! w/ @yinizhang.bsky.social Jiawei Liu & Yukyung Yang
We examine public discussions on generative AI tools from both cognitive and affective dimensions.
first 50 copies 👇
authors.elsevier.com/a/1kmCI2dUkY...
We examine public discussions on generative AI tools from both cognitive and affective dimensions.
first 50 copies 👇
authors.elsevier.com/a/1kmCI2dUkY...
Reposted by Yini Zhang
Over the past two decades, online news headlines have become longer, more negative, and increasingly use features linked to clickbait. This shift is widespread across outlets of all political leanings and journalistic quality.
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
The evolution of online news headlines - Humanities and Social Sciences Communications
Humanities and Social Sciences Communications - The evolution of online news headlines
www.nature.com
April 1, 2025 at 6:42 PM
Over the past two decades, online news headlines have become longer, more negative, and increasingly use features linked to clickbait. This shift is widespread across outlets of all political leanings and journalistic quality.
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Reposted by Yini Zhang
Columbia grad student with a green card and a pregnant US citizen wife, abducted by ICE because of his political organizing, and now his lawyers can't find him.
Hey, @schumer.senate.gov. This is your constituent. Bring him back home.
Hey, @schumer.senate.gov. This is your constituent. Bring him back home.
UPDATE—Mahmoud's attorney says they do NOT know where he is.
They were first told he was sent to an ICE facility in Elizabeth, NJ. But when his 8-month-pregnant wife tried to visit him, she was told he's not there.
They've received reports he may be sent as far away as Louisiana.
They were first told he was sent to an ICE facility in Elizabeth, NJ. But when his 8-month-pregnant wife tried to visit him, she was told he's not there.
They've received reports he may be sent as far away as Louisiana.
March 9, 2025 at 8:32 PM
Columbia grad student with a green card and a pregnant US citizen wife, abducted by ICE because of his political organizing, and now his lawyers can't find him.
Hey, @schumer.senate.gov. This is your constituent. Bring him back home.
Hey, @schumer.senate.gov. This is your constituent. Bring him back home.
Reposted by Yini Zhang
Reminder: When a person or institution you hate is targeted for illiberal persecution by an aspiring authoritarian, you have to defend them EVEN IF you don't like them. It doesn't matter if you don't like campus protestors or Columbia or the law firms. We must defend them or we're all at risk next.
March 9, 2025 at 7:55 PM
Reminder: When a person or institution you hate is targeted for illiberal persecution by an aspiring authoritarian, you have to defend them EVEN IF you don't like them. It doesn't matter if you don't like campus protestors or Columbia or the law firms. We must defend them or we're all at risk next.
This makes our understanding of “trading up the chain” a mockery. Conservative activists have direct access to power via Twitter: www.nytimes.com/2025/02/26/u...
On X, Conservative Activists Find a Direct Pipeline to Musk’s Team
Prominent conservative activists with a presence online have appeared to wield extraordinary access to Elon Musk’s team, and the power to sway policy through it.
www.nytimes.com
February 26, 2025 at 2:16 PM
This makes our understanding of “trading up the chain” a mockery. Conservative activists have direct access to power via Twitter: www.nytimes.com/2025/02/26/u...
Reposted by Yini Zhang
The pool reporter is the eyes and ears of all the press not in the room (because they cannot all be in the room). There's a reason why WHCA journalists choose this person; it depends on being able to trust the source, a basic reporter question.
What favors/obeyances are required to get picked now?
What favors/obeyances are required to get picked now?
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt announces that the White House Correspondents' Association will no longer choose the pool reporter.
"Moving forward, the White House press pool will be determined by the White House press team."
"Moving forward, the White House press pool will be determined by the White House press team."
February 25, 2025 at 7:28 PM
The pool reporter is the eyes and ears of all the press not in the room (because they cannot all be in the room). There's a reason why WHCA journalists choose this person; it depends on being able to trust the source, a basic reporter question.
What favors/obeyances are required to get picked now?
What favors/obeyances are required to get picked now?
Reposted by Yini Zhang
Tiktok boosted Republican messages 11.8% more than Democrat messages during the 2024 U.S. Presidential Race according to this new study that employed bots to view ~394,000 videos.
February 1, 2025 at 8:38 PM
Tiktok boosted Republican messages 11.8% more than Democrat messages during the 2024 U.S. Presidential Race according to this new study that employed bots to view ~394,000 videos.
The social media landscape is shifting so quickly these days that there will be so many things to talk about in my social media class. From Musk’s instrumentalization of Twitter in the 2024 election, Zuckerberg’s sudden turn against fact-checkers, to the TikTok ban and migration to Red Note.
January 15, 2025 at 1:46 PM
The social media landscape is shifting so quickly these days that there will be so many things to talk about in my social media class. From Musk’s instrumentalization of Twitter in the 2024 election, Zuckerberg’s sudden turn against fact-checkers, to the TikTok ban and migration to Red Note.
Reposted by Yini Zhang
🚨New Publication in New Media & Society🚨
Co-First-Authored w/ @m-dot-brown.bsky.social @meredithpruden.bsky.social & @markriedl.bsky.social
Making academia suck less: Supporting early career researchers studying harmful content online through a
feminist ethics of care.
jlukito.com/s/brown-et-a...
Co-First-Authored w/ @m-dot-brown.bsky.social @meredithpruden.bsky.social & @markriedl.bsky.social
Making academia suck less: Supporting early career researchers studying harmful content online through a
feminist ethics of care.
jlukito.com/s/brown-et-a...
January 13, 2025 at 5:29 PM
🚨New Publication in New Media & Society🚨
Co-First-Authored w/ @m-dot-brown.bsky.social @meredithpruden.bsky.social & @markriedl.bsky.social
Making academia suck less: Supporting early career researchers studying harmful content online through a
feminist ethics of care.
jlukito.com/s/brown-et-a...
Co-First-Authored w/ @m-dot-brown.bsky.social @meredithpruden.bsky.social & @markriedl.bsky.social
Making academia suck less: Supporting early career researchers studying harmful content online through a
feminist ethics of care.
jlukito.com/s/brown-et-a...
Reposted by Yini Zhang
New, from me: Four years ago we lived through a pivot point. History could have gone one way, but went another.
Why was Jan. 6 not the end of Trump?
At key moments, key Republicans who knew better protected or resurrected Trump. 🧵
open.substack.com/pub/donmoyni...
Why was Jan. 6 not the end of Trump?
At key moments, key Republicans who knew better protected or resurrected Trump. 🧵
open.substack.com/pub/donmoyni...
Jan. 6 and the path not taken
At key moments, Republicans were unwilling to defend democracy
open.substack.com
January 6, 2025 at 2:09 PM
New, from me: Four years ago we lived through a pivot point. History could have gone one way, but went another.
Why was Jan. 6 not the end of Trump?
At key moments, key Republicans who knew better protected or resurrected Trump. 🧵
open.substack.com/pub/donmoyni...
Why was Jan. 6 not the end of Trump?
At key moments, key Republicans who knew better protected or resurrected Trump. 🧵
open.substack.com/pub/donmoyni...
Reposted by Yini Zhang
My department at the University of Utah is hiring a teaching position (3/3 load; no research expectations) in strategic communication. Great department and SLC is an underrated place to live. I'm on the search committee and am happy to answer questions. Info here: careers.icahdq.org/jobs/view/as...
Recent Jobs - International Communication Association
View jobs available on International Communication Association. Search for and apply to open jobs from International Communication Association.
careers.icahdq.org
January 3, 2025 at 11:13 PM
My department at the University of Utah is hiring a teaching position (3/3 load; no research expectations) in strategic communication. Great department and SLC is an underrated place to live. I'm on the search committee and am happy to answer questions. Info here: careers.icahdq.org/jobs/view/as...
No research that uses social media data can get around questions like “how was your data collected?” and “what did you do to ensure that you got all or most of the data you needed?” Our article provides some ideas and a method for addressing such questions.
✨New article!✨"WordPPR: A Researcher-Driven Computational Keyword Selection Method for Text Data Retrieval from Digital Media" by Yini Zhang (@yinizhang.bsky.social), Fan Chen, Jiyoun Suk (@jiyoun-suk.bsky.social), and Zhiying Yue. Read here: www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
December 21, 2024 at 1:17 AM
No research that uses social media data can get around questions like “how was your data collected?” and “what did you do to ensure that you got all or most of the data you needed?” Our article provides some ideas and a method for addressing such questions.
Reposted by Yini Zhang
Job Alert 🚨 GW’s School of Media & Public Affairs is hiring an asst prof of political communication, focused on digital platforms and tech. The new hire will get to work closely with amazing colleagues in the Institute for Data, Democracy & Politics.
#commsky #polisky
www.gwu.jobs/postings/116...
#commsky #polisky
www.gwu.jobs/postings/116...
Assistant Professor of Media and Public Affairs
The School of Media and Public Affairs at George Washington University invites applications for a tenure-track Assistant Professor position to begin as early as August 2025. We seek scholars with a st...
www.gwu.jobs
December 2, 2024 at 3:47 PM
Job Alert 🚨 GW’s School of Media & Public Affairs is hiring an asst prof of political communication, focused on digital platforms and tech. The new hire will get to work closely with amazing colleagues in the Institute for Data, Democracy & Politics.
#commsky #polisky
www.gwu.jobs/postings/116...
#commsky #polisky
www.gwu.jobs/postings/116...