Research and Publications
Art on the walls of South Delhi in support of the women of Shaheen Bagh (image: VICE) Are social media platforms still relevant spaces for discussing social issues, or have they devolved into a hotbed for trolls and misinformation? It’s a question worth asking, especially when we look at the role these platforms have played during... Continue Reading →
In today's digital age, social media has become our go-to platform for connecting, sharing, and expressing ourselves. However, the impact of these platforms on our well-being can be a mixed bag. While they offer incredible opportunities for connection, they can also lead to stress, anxiety, and misinformation. So, how do we create social media environments... Continue Reading →
Photo by Lidya Nada on Unsplash Written for Beritan Harian by Kokil Jaidka and Taara Muthu Kumar This is a write-up exploring emojis and their impact on language and communications. Profiles: Kokil Jaidka is an Assistant Professor at the National University of Singapore's Department of Communications and New Media as of 2021. Dr. Jaidka's research... Continue Reading →
Written by Subhayan Mukerjee, Kokil Jaidka, Yphtach Lelkes for Nicolas Berube, La Presse CanadaBased on the findings of our paper, recently accepted in Political Communication Image: LaPresse Canada Were you surprised when you realized that politics isn't the main driver of the US Twitterverse?It’s somewhat reassuring to see that people on Twitter aren’t that different... Continue Reading →
Compiled for Romano Santos, Vice. Image: CC Why do you think Vine was so popular, and why do you think it ultimately failed? Vine demonstrated the power of unedited raw video in a social media space saturated with text and touched-up selfies. It created a new genre of fast comedy content that is still nostalgically... Continue Reading →
Comments written for the Channel News Asia, with inputs based on primary research from Dr. Saifuddin Ahmed Parts of the riot were planned online on Facebook etc - why wasn't anything done? This time the call for rioting came from the man himself, from a video posted to social media, so it's not necessary to... Continue Reading →
(by Sean Fischer, Kokil Jaidka, and Yphtach Lelkes) Portland, OR became the object of national attention in July as the standoff between federal agents and protesters reached its climax. National attention to the conflict in Portland was awakened by the New York Times on July 17. Search interest for the topic peaked on July 20th.... Continue Reading →
written for Channel News Asia in October 2020 , with inputs and primary research results provided by Dr. Saifuddin Ahmed How would you describe President Trump's use of social media, has it done more harm than good? Social media is the core communication tool for Trump and the Trump White House. In fact, even since... Continue Reading →
This paper is out! Data collection was intense... four laptops/PCs connected to VPN, nearly three hundred thousand queries, and millions of search results. And, after Sean's expert dplyr munging, we have a Nature Human Behavior paper. Worth it, I say! 🙂 Data collection! Picture taken in April of 2019 The paper is at: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41562-020-00954-0 Fischer,... Continue Reading →
Jaidka, K., Giorgi, S., Schwartz, H. A., Kern, M. L., Ungar, L. H., & Eichstaedt, J. C. (2020). Estimating geographic subjective well-being from twitter: a comparison of dictionary and data-driven language methods. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. In the COVID-19 era that we are living in today, social media posts can help us... Continue Reading →
Dr. Kokil Jaidka 