This project is led by Dr Scott Rodgers (PI) in collaboration with Dr Susan Moore (Co-I) and Dr Andrea Ballatore (Co-I), funded by a grant from Facebook Research (USD 70,000).
Localizing Content Governance in Place-named Facebook Groups (2020/21) is a systematic study into how Administrators and Moderators govern contributions in Facebook Groups relating to named places (e.g. villages, towns, neighbourhoods). Local Facebook Groups are comparatively open forms of neighbourhood-based social media, in which users can create, join and contribute to multiple Groups, tied to different geographical scales or topics. Such Groups are popular and growing: some have thousands of members with hundreds of daily contributions.
While they can be vibrant arenas of constructive local discourse, local Facebook Groups also often host polarised exchanges, harmful content and even the possibility of offline harm. Focusing on 16 active place-named Facebook Groups in and around London, UK, this study will combine qualitative and data analytics approaches towards an original and focused analysis of how Administrators and Moderators govern content.
Cultural Geo-Analytics 