Social Media and Society

Why do some posts go viral on social media and others do not? How can social media analysis be used in business and policy decisions? How do platforms like Facebook change how we live and do business?

This MA programme offers a critical exploration of social media within contemporary networked societies and trains students to work with (big) data in a responsible way. Social media have changed the fabric of everyday life and society. This has had important implications for how we inform ourselves, with whom we connect and in which ways, how we organize our daily lives, and how we perform as citizens. Knowledge of the ways these quickly emerging communication infrastructures are fundamentally transforming society is indispensable. At a time when intensive data-gathering and analysis is key for companies and governments, this MA programme’s theoretical approach to social media and their data-driven impact on society helps students in understanding and reflecting on critical issues in order to respond to current societal transformations. From a practical perspective, students are trained to investigate social media data in the context of social, political and economic change.