Harvard Journalism project highlights recent work by Weeks and Holbert

Today the Nieman Journalism Lab at Harvard profiled Brian and Lance's recent Journalism and Mass Communication Quarterly article, "Predicting dissemination of news content in social media: A focus on reception, friending, and partisanship".  Each month the Journalism Lab publishes a summary of what its editors consider to be the most interesting new research about digital media.  Glad to see this work getting some well deserved attention!

Abstract:
Social media are an emerging news source, but questions remain regarding how citizens engage news content in this environment. This study focuses on social media news reception and friending a journalist/news organization as predictors of social media news dissemination. Secondary analysis of 2010 Pew data (N = 1,264) reveals reception and friending to be positive predictors of dissemination, and a reception-by-friending interaction is also evident. Partisanship moderates these relationships such that reception is a stronger predictor of dissemination among partisans, while the friending-dissemination link is evident for nonpartisans only. These results provide novel insights into citizens’ social media news experiences.

Congrats to former COPS member Lindsay Hoffman

Former -- or actually, founding -- COPS graduate student member Lindsay Hoffman has just received promotion to Associate Professor and tenure in the Department of Communication at the University of Delaware. Lindsay was among the first students in our "new" graduate curriculum that was instituted in 2002, earning first her MA and then PhD here. Lindsay holds a joint appointment in the Department of Political Science and is the Research Coordinator for Politics and Technology at the Center for Political Communication at UD. Lindsay also blogs for the Huffington Post and has published widely, including a recent paper building upon her dissertation work that was published in Communication Research. Congratulations Lindsay!

Post-doc opportunity

This post-doc will be housed in ASU's Sociology program, but applicants from other disciplines are welcome to apply.  If you're interested in youth political engagement, online protest, flash activism, etc., read on. Personally, I think this is a terrific opportunity for someone. I've known Jenn, the project director, for several years; she's great.  

Youth Activism Postdoctoral Fellowship

Job ID: 9300
Institution: University of Arizona
Department: School of Sociology
Title: Youth Activism Postdoctoral Fellowship
Position/Rank: Fellowships/Post-docs - Post-doctoral

The Youth Activism Project, housed in the School of Sociology at the University of Arizona, invites applications for a one-year, renewable postdoctoral fellowship on youth and participatory politics to begin in Fall 2013. The Youth Activism Project, directed by Dr. Jennifer Earl, is part of the MacArthur Network on Youth and Participatory Politics. It is focused on youth engagement in protest, particularly online protest and flash activism.

The postdoctoral fellow will be responsible for working with the PI to design and implement research studies related to overall project themes, including quantitative content coding of protest websites and analysis of this coding as well as interviews and focus groups with youth about online protest. Strong candidates will have research experience in both quantitative and qualitative methods, notable experience working in Stata or R, and be productive working in teams and independently. All candidates must have a Ph.D. in hand by the commencement of the fellowship and would preferably have received their Ph.D. within the past three years.

The School of Sociology at the University of Arizona is one of the best sociology programs in the country, consistently ranked among the top 20 Sociology programs in the United States for the past thirty years. It boasts a lively intellectual community and has played a pivotal role in the careers of many leading sociologists. Situated in the beautiful southwest in Tucson, the University of Arizona offers excellent benefits and Tucson offers a wonderful living experience. Competitive salary will be based on experience.

To apply, visit www.uacareertrack.com and apply for Job Number 52359. In addition to online forms, candidates must upload a letter of interest, c.v., (including the names of three references) and a research statement (see job ad for details).

The University of Arizona is an equal opportunity employer, committed to building a culturally diverse intellectual community, and strongly encourages applications from women and minority candidates. Review of applications will continue until the position is filled. Only complete applications will be considered.  

Forthcoming paper by COPS member

COPS member Jayeon "Janey" Lee and her fellow grad student Young-shin Lim just had a paper accepted at Mass Communication & Society.  Congratulations to both authors!

Lee, J. & Lim, Y. (in press). Who says what about whom? Young voters’ impression formation of political candidates on social-networking sites, Mass Communication & Society.