People across the globe collectively spend thousands of hours each day on social media, but what are the social, interpersonal, and psychological effects of these activities?  In this presentation, Prof. Ellison will summarize some of the research on these topics and present her own work examining the positive social and psychological implications of Facebook use, as well as recent survey data about older adults’ use of social media.

In 2007 Dr. Ellison published one of the first academic articles on the relationship between Facebook use and social capital (which describes the resources we access through social relationships), and she has continued to explore this question.

Please check the OLLI web site for additional lectures in the 6-week series, “Computers, the Internet, and Big Data: Benefits and Dangers”, Thursdays, February 19-April 2:

http://www.olli-umich.org/programs_activities/lectures/4th_Lecture_Series.pdf