2025 Working Group Meeting on Assessing The Fragility of Social Media

Background and Aim of the Working Group

Social media platforms connect millions, and, in some cases, billions of people, with use penetrating all aspects of contemporary life. The increasing dependence on social media platforms leads to the expectation that the platform will always be there. Yet, every day brings another example of the fragility of social media: misinformation, anti-social behavior, moderator revolts, advertiser revolts, government censorship, leadership directives, and more. This fragility undermines trust in the platform and brings into question the long-term prospects for the platform. Given the widespread use and dependence on these platforms, an assessment of fragility is overdue.

The concept of reframing “Social Media as Fragile State” was first presented at the 2024 HICSS conference (Haythornthwaite, Mai & Gruzd, 2024). In introducing this new concept last year, the authors also released a set of Social Media Fragility Indicators, aka signals, that can be used to methodically and independently assess a social media platform’s fragility. These indicators were derived from a wide-ranging examination of current social media practices and challenges and the model of The Fund For Peace, Fragile State Index.

The six Social Media Fragility Indicators are as follows:

1. Security, Threats, Protection and Safety Indicator: Technical and social threats to the platform and to participants’ safety and well-being.
2. Fragmentation Indicator: Divisions, separations, and filters existing in and exacerbated by social media platform design and practices.
3. Human Rights and the Rule of Law Indicator: Social media platform awareness, protections, and review procedures for fundamental human rights and freedoms.
4. Demographic Pressures Indicator: Pressures derived from the population using the platform.
5. Economic Indicators: Platform economic viability, stability, ownership, valuation, shareholder confidence, revenue sources, and domestic or global economic climate.
6. External Indicators: Factors outside the social media platform’s control affecting operations, such as pandemics, government laws and bans.

The working group meeting will bring together a small group of scholars from Information Science, Data Science, Information Management, Law, Communication, and Sociology to discuss and critique the six Social Media Fragility Indicators as originally proposed by the authors. Participants will gain insight into the many factors affecting the stability of social media platforms that may inform their work. We also expect this meeting to help participants refine their thinking around social media’s fragility and possible ways of addressing fragilities.

FUTURE COLLABORATIVE OPPORTUNITIES

This is an invitation-only event; however, please check back after the event for details about the resulting publications and opportunities to engage with the group in future research and events on this topic.

ORGANIZERS

• Caroline Haythornthwaite, Professor Emerita, Syracuse University and University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign
• Anatoliy Gruzd, Professor and Co-Director Social Media Lab, Ted Rogers School of Management, Toronto Metropolitan University
• Philip Mai, Senior Researcher and Co-Director Social Media Lab, Ted Rogers School of Management, Toronto Metropolitan University

PARTICIPANTS

• Felipe Soares – Senior Lecturer, University of the Arts, London College of Communication
• Cristina Chueca Del Cerro – Postdoctoral Researcher Associate, Durham University
• Jeeyun (Sophia) Baik – Assistant Professor, University of California at San Diego
• Jennifer Grygiel – Associate Professor, Syracuse University
• Johannes Breuer – Senior Researcher, CAIS and GESIS Leibniz Institute for the Social Sciences
• Katrin Weller – Scientific Director, GESIS Leibniz Institute for the Social Sciences
• William Hollingshead – Postdoctoral Researcher Associate, Social Media Lab, Toronto Metropolitan University