How Information Spreads on Social Media

Date/Time
Date(s) - 19/03/2018
2:30 am

Location
OECD

Categories No Categories

SOCIAL MEDIA: HOW IT WORKS AND HOW TO MAKE IT WORK BETTER FOR EVERYONE
Organised by the the Complex Systems Institute of Paris, the European Commission and
New Approaches to Economic Challenges (NAEC) Unit
19 March 2018 – OECD Conference Centre, Room CC4

Keynote on “How Information Spreads on Social Media”

Workshop rationale

There were 3.2 billion active social media users worldwide in January 2018, up 13% since a year before. As well as scale, social media present a number of characteristics and challenges that are fundamentally different from traditional media and previous forms of societal interaction, including quality, reach, frequency, immediacy, and transmission models. Despite the growing influence of social media on society, the economy and policymaking, the structures and the incentives underlying and shaping these media are not fully understood. Like other disruptive mass media in the past, social media have become a means to solve all problems for some, and the root cause of all evil for others. This conference will analyse the mechanisms that underpin the functioning of social media and how they shape its role and use. Participants from policy, industry, international organisations and researchers with pertienten insights in social media ill assess so ial edia s positi e a d egati e influence on the judgements, decisions and actions of citizens, companies, policymakers and civil society.There were 3.2 billion active social media users worldwide in January 2018, up 13% since a year before. As well as scale, social media present a number of characteristics and challenges that are fundamentally different from traditional media and previous forms of societal interaction, including quality, reach, frequency, immediacy, and transmission models. Despite the growing influence of social media on society, the economy and policymaking, the structures and the incentives underlying and shaping these media are not fully understood. Like other disruptive mass media in the past, social media have become a means to solve all problems for some, and the root cause of all evil for others. This conference will analyse the mechanisms that underpin the functioning of social media and how they shape its role and use. Participants from policy, industry, international organisations and researchers with pertienten insights in social media ill assess so ial edia s positi e a d egati e influence on the judgements, decisions and actions of citizens, companies, policymakers and civil society.