I would like to invite you to submit your research to the issue "Impact of Social Media on Social Cohesion" in the journal Media and Communication. Please find the Call for Paper below.

Kind regards

Stefan Stieglitz

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Call for Papers: Media and Communication

 

Volume 10, Issue 2

Title:

Impact of Social Media on Social Cohesion

Editor(s):

Stefan Stieglitz (University of Duisburg-Essen, Germany), stefan.stieglitz@uni-due.de

Björn Ross (University of Edinburgh, Scotland), b.ross@ed.ac.uk

 

Notification of Intention to Submit: 24 February 2021

Submission of Abstracts: 1-15 June 2021
Submission of Full Papers: 15-30 October 2021
Publication of the Issue: April/June 2022

Information:

In the 21st century, social media such as Facebook, Twitter, Reddit, Instagram, and WhatsApp are used by the majority of the population in many countries. Social media enables users to create and share content and to participate in social networking. Mass media have also entered the digital age and play an active role on social media. Within seconds, any content can be circulated among thousands of people. Due to the large amount of information and the variety of data sources, it has become increasingly difficult for citizens to decide about the trustworthiness of social media content.

In times of global crises such as the Coronavirus pandemic, climate change, or financial crises, societies are in danger of losing stability and social cohesion. The rise of fake accounts, misinformation, social bots, and hidden attempts of manipulation pose additional challenges for democratic societies. On the other hand, social media can help to foster communication among citizens and reinforce shared feelings of identity (e.g., in Europe). It can also enable citizens to communicate across borders and strengthen shared ideologies.

For this thematic issue, we seek articles that contribute to this active area of research. Examples of topics include:

• Social media as an enabler of, or barrier to, social cohesion;
• Transnational social movements on social media;
• Cross-border communication on social media;
• Participation and representation of minorities in social media—inclusiveness of social media;
• Social media as a contributor to social equality or inequality;
• Impact of social media misinformation and disinformation on social cohesion;
• Impact of hate and abusive speech (e.g., misogyny, racism) on social cohesion;
• Crisis communication in social media.

 

Instructions for Authors:

Authors interested in submitting a paper for this issue are asked to consult the journal's instructions for authors and submit their abstracts (maximum of 250 words, with a tentative title) through the abstracts system (here) by 15 June 2021. When submitting their abstracts, authors are also asked to confirm that they are aware that Media and Communication is an open access journal with a publishing fee if the article is accepted for publication after peer-review (corresponding authors affiliated with our institutional members do not incur this fee).

 

Although this is not a mandatory requirement for submission, we request that authors who intend to submit a paper please notify the special issue editors by email no later than 24 February 2021 to assist us in planning the issue (stefan.stieglitz@uni-due.de, b.ross@ed.ac.uk).

Open Access:

The journal has an article publication fee to cover its costs and guarantee that the article can be accessed free of charge by any reader, anywhere in the world, regardless of affiliation. We defend that authors should not have to personally pay this fee and advise them to check with their institutions if funds are available to cover open access publication fees. Institutions can also join Cogitatio's Membership Program at a very affordable rate and enable all affiliated authors to publish without incurring any fees. Further information about the journal's open access charges and institutional members can be found here.

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