Log on to social networking event

Issues around online etiquette, emotions and the information people disclose about themselves will go under the spotlight at the first Social Networking in Cyberspace conference on Friday, 23 April 2010.

The conference at the Light House Media Centre in Wolverhampton has been organised by the University’s Psychology department and will be attended by academics from around the world.

The themes of the conference include online identities, youth networks, security and privacy and individual differences in social networks.

Conference organiser and Senior Lecturer Dr Chris Fullwood, from the University’s School of Applied Sciences, said: “Social networking is a relatively new area in psychology. Online social networking can have a profound impact on the manner in which we conduct our social lives and the conference aims to shed light on this fascinating phenomenon by showcasing a diverse range of research areas.

“The University of Wolverhampton has a number of experts researching this area, and we hope to build on the conference to become a national centre for research in this subject.”

The keynote speakers at the event will be Professor Mike Thelwall, from the University of Wolverhampton, who will talk about detecting and analysing emotion in social networking sites, and Dr Monica Whitty, from Nottingham Trent University, whose presentation is titled “Where can I truly be myself?”

Papers to be presented at the event include the disinhibiting effect of using social networks and the nature of the support provided by specialist online forums for people with illnesses.

The conference has been organised by the University’s Wolverhampton Internet and Technology Society (WITS) and the Statistical Cybermetrics Research Group and is sponsored by the Research Centre in Applied Sciences (RCAS).

The International Journal of Internet Science will publish a peer-reviewed selection of the best papers from the conference.

ENDS

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