Social Media and Society in India

University of Michigan, Ann Arbor

April 7-8, 2023

Our third event on social media and society at the University of Michigan School of Information focused on India and featured a host of scholars and practitioners in person. The event presented speakers discussed the impact of social media on various aspects of Indian society from food and exercise to journalism and democratic rights. The event was hybrid, in-person attendees had a chance to see the speakers at the venue, while those joining online were provided a zoom link.

Link to full proceedings https://dx.doi.org/10.7302/7881

Speakers

Speakers included academic scholars, practitioners and digital influencers

Munmun De Choudhury is a computer scientist and associate professor at Georgia Tech, known for her research on social media, mental health, and AI ethics.

Associate Professor, Georgia Tech

Vikas Divyakirti is the founder of Drishti IAS, a leading online and offline platform for civil services exam preparation in India, and a former civil servant himself.
Link to talk (YouTube): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=okQ-M30DtDU

Director, Drishti IAS

Joan Donovan is a social scientist and researcher at Harvard University, specializing in online extremism, disinformation, and media manipulation.

Research Director, Shorenstein Center (HKS)

Saurabh Dwivedi is a journalist and the founding editor of Lallantop, a popular Hindi news and opinion website in India, covering politics, society, and culture.
Link to talk (YouTube): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ei5NSPJgEn4

Founding Editor, Lallantop

Apar Gupta is a lawyer and the executive director of the Internet Freedom Foundation, a non-profit organization advocating for digital rights and freedom of expression in India.
Link to talk (YouTube): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eUHXyr-0puY

Executive Director, Internet Freedom Foundation

Rega Jha is an Indian writer and editor, known for her work as the former editor-in-chief of BuzzFeed India, and for her contributions to online media and feminist discourse.
Link to talk (text): http://joyojeet.people.si.umich.edu/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/Rega-Jha-SMSI.pdf

Writer

Kaneez Surka is a leading comedian and improv artist of Indian descent, known for her witty humour and satirical take on her experiences as a women. She has featured in several shows on Netflix, Amazon Prime and YouTube.
Link to talk (YouTube): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u7iKoBD71Uk

Comedian

Harnidh Kaur is a writer, poet, and researcher, known for her works on gender, mental health, and the experiences of the Sikh community, and for her contributions to the Indian literary scene.
Link to talk (YouTube): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q13HrpUelD4

Poet

Arfa Khanum Sherwani is an Indian journalist and news anchor, known for her work at The Wire, covering politics, society, and gender, and for her advocacy for press freedom and independent journalism.
Link to talk (YouTube): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PXKCYTQ_NEE

Senior Editor, The Wire

Sushant Divgikar is an Indian model, actor, singer, columnist, psychologist, motivational speaker, drag queen, pageant director, and video jockey. They were crowned Mr Gay India in 2014.
Link to talk (YouTube): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QGlKBMzKmXs

Model, Actor

Masrat Zahra is Photojournalist/Documentary Photographer from Srinagar, India. She is currently a Knight Wallace Fellow at the University of Michigan.

Photojournalist

Tanu Mitra is a Social Computing researcher and an assistant professor at University of Washington. Her research focusses on understanding and designing defenses against problematic information in online social platforms, using large real-life datasets.

Assistant Professor, University of Washington

Meena Kotwal is the founder of Mooknayak, an online news channel and website focused on social justice for the Dalit minority and marginalised people.
Link to talk (YouTube): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eIb4ecVciNw

Founding Editor, Mooknayak

Srijan Kumar is a computer scientist and assistant professor at Georgia Tech, known for his research on machine learning, data mining, and social network analysis, and for his contributions to the development of algorithms for online platforms.

Assistant Professor, Georgia Tech

Mohak Mangal is an Indian YouTuber, known for his informative journalistic videos on various topics, and for his popular social media presence and YouTube channel.
Link to talk (YouTube): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yzOsrqLikpM

Soch, YouTube

Karuna Nandy is an Indian Supreme Court lawyer and human rights activist, known for her work on gender rights, LGBTQ rights, and child welfare, and for her advocacy for justice and equality.
Link to talk (YouTube): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xTIuPRtkGBc

Supreme Court Lawyer

RJ Sayema is a popular Indian radio jockey, known for her work on the FM station Radio Mirchi, and for her contributions to the promotion of Indian music, culture, and social issues through radio. Her growth on Social Media is also attributed to her storytelling, Urdu poetry recitals and English pronunciation videos.
Link to talk (YouTube): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EkKNsI6Amqw

Radio Jockey, Radio Mirchi

Abhinandan Sekhri is an Indian media personality, writer and filmmaker, known for his work as the co-founder of the news and media critique website Newslaundry, and for his contributions to Indian media and journalism.
Link to talk (YouTube): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VkcVVO5yXJo

CEO and Co-Founder, Newslaundry

Nikhil Taneja is an Indian content creator, producer, and entrepreneur, known for his work with Yuvaa, a digital platform for youth empowerment, and for his contributions to the Indian entertainment industry and youth culture.
Link to talk (YouTube): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RdbefXttEss

Co-Founder and CEO, Yuvaa

Shobha Kapoor is the Director of Media & Communications at Sesame Workshop India. A marketing professional with over 18 years of experience and a winner of the 2022 Kargil Gaurav National Award for her work with women and children.
Link to talk (YouTube): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g0qog_1qUPU

Director of Media & Communications, Sesame Workshop India

Richa Chadda is an Indian actress, known for her powerful performances in movies like Gangs of Wasseypur and Masaan, and for her activism on social and political issues.
Link to chat (YouTube): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FCoqL9bGZnU

Actor, Producer

Dr. Cyriac Abby Philips (aka TheLiverDoc) is a multi-award winning Clinician-Scientist and liver-diseases specialist who has actively used disruptive peer-reviewed publications and social media to debunk medical disinformation online.
Link to talk (YouTube): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EhiA6nxMq1s

Health Misinformation Debunker

Dr Tanaya Narendra (DrCuterus) is a registered doctor, author and a multi-award winning social media influencer known for work on sexual health education in India.
Link to talk (YouTube): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AGW5F8-4Lmg

Reproductive Health Physician

Bezwada Wilson is the National Convenor of the Safai Karmachari Andolan (SKA), campaigning for the eradication of manual scavenging, the construction, operation and employment of manual scavengers.
Link to talk (YouTube): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IAJZW8MX4sw

National Convenor, Safai Karmachari Andolan (SKA)

Dr Madri Kakoti (DrMedusa) is an assistant professor of linguistics at the University of Lucknow, who has pioneered the use of social media and a satirical take on current affairs to spread grammar literacy.
Link to talk (YouTube): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0v8G9NneRe0

Satirist

ROFLGandhi is a hugely popular faceless Twitter account that posts humorous and satirical content on politics and society.
Link to talk (YouTube): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YmELfPmNSNk

Satirist

Jacinta Kerketta is an Indigenous women's rights activist from Jharkhand, India, working to empower Adivasi women and raise awareness on issues related to their social, economic, and political rights.
Link to talk (YouTube): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E_E6k04hKxA

Poet, Freelance Journalist

Monojit Choudhury is a Principal Scientist at Microsoft, Turing, India, working on natural language processing, machine learning, and their applications in multilingual settings.
Link to talk (YouTube): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CIORGTl8BUk

Principal Data and Applied Scientist, Turing India (Microsoft)

Ravi Iyer is an academic, moral psychologist and ex-Meta Civic Integrity data science and research manager.
Link to talk (YouTube): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3CHn4ukfZGg

Managing Director, Psychology of Technology Institute

Ashique KhudaBukhsh is a computational social scientist and an assistant professor at Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT), and develops methods for studying social media across linguistically diverse regions.

Assistant Professor, Rochester Institute of Technology

Kuhu Tanvir is a professor and researcher at Michigan State University specialising in film and media studies of the Global South.

Assistant Professor, Michigan State University

Ramaswami Mahalingam is a professor of psychology at the University of Michigan, specializing in cultural psychology, ethnic identity, and mental health in diverse populations.

Professor, University of Michigan (LSA)

Link to talk (YouTube): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CXhJlZ6vR9E

General Secretary, Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee

Student Papers

Links to all accepted student papers, included in the conference proceedings:

Swasti Acharya: Folling (F)instagrams: Delineating Social Boundaries Online (umich.edu)
Mridula Muralidharan, Sumra Alam: You would not believe what we saw!: A sociological analysis of performativity and everydayness in family-vlogs in India. (umich.edu)
Shivangi Garg: Unpacking the impact of the TikTok ban on local content creators and the rise of Indianized social media apps. (umich.edu)
Akrit Rastogi: Back to the future: Return of the star as influencer. (umich.edu)
Shambhavi Gupta: Blurred lines in social media influencing: Exploring the consequences of using personhood as a platform. (umich.edu)
Vaishnavi Kollimarla: The sassy Hindu Naari: Caste and the making of popular feminism in India. (umich.edu)
Isha Bhallamudi, Lakshita Malik: Influence as method and method as influence: Collaborative platform work in Mumbai and Delhi. (umich.edu)
Sheyril Agarwall: #BoycottBollywood: Camouflaging misogyny and Islamophobia in a movement. (umich.edu)
Kirthana Singh Khurana: Finfluencers as investment advisors - Time to rein them in? (umich.edu)
Maanas Singh, Drishti Anil Khatri: Rational by design: The effects of social media algorithms on human behaviour and self-identity in India. (umich.edu)
Rishita Chaudhary: Raw and real: How travel influencers package the nation. (umich.edu)
Krithi D. Ramaswamy Finfluencers in India: New paradigms of financial trust and authority. (umich.edu)
Nishtha Khunteta, Qudsia Rahman: That’s cringe: How aesthetics and algorithms affect monetisation. (umich.edu)
Ananay Koushal: Consuming cringe: A sensorial understanding of humorous men on Instagram. (umich.edu)

Organisers

Joyojeet Pal is a professor of information at the University of Michigan, working on issues related to technology and development, social media focusing on the Global South.

Associate Professor, University of Michigan (UMSI)