The fourth international conference on Social Media and Society in India conference will take place Monday, April 8 and Tuesday, April 9 from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m at the University of Michigan. It will feature various speakers, including academic scholars, practitioners, artists, storytellers and digital influencers to discuss how social media impacts life in India. 

"The goal of the conference is to bring together a group of practitioners and scholars to discuss the ways social media is changing contemporary society in India," says Joyojeet Pal, UMSI associate professor of information. "We are bringing in not just people who study the effects of social media and society, but also people who are actively involved in creating those effects, such as online influencers." 

In 2021, it was estimated that there were about 448 million social network users in India, a significant increase from 351 million in 2019. This level of online engagement has impacted elections, political advocacy and the economy in India. It also has created opportunities for manipulation. 

"India is numerically the largest social media market, in terms of the installed base of Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp users," Pal said. "Their internet literacy is different, creating a huge market for misinformation. Because of the low cost of mobile connectivity, you have many people who can't afford access to television, but they're on YouTube and WhatsApp." 

The speakers, representing varying points of view, will cover topics such as health care, media, food, travel, misinformation and activism in India. The Social Media and Society in India conference is hybrid. It is the largest academic conference on social media and society in India.  

Speakers include actor and social worker Rajshri Deshpande, poet Hussain Haidry, editor Dhanya Rajendran, surgeon Ambarish Satwik and author journalist Kunal Purohit, as well as industry experts from big tech firms including Microsoft and Google.

"This is the fourth conference on social media and society in India, and the University of Michigan is now the premier institution outside of India where the subject is systematically examined,” Pal says. “This is also an unusual conference in that the focus is always on bringing practitioners and having them drive the symposium through their experiences, such that researchers and students can be listeners to what is going on on the ground.” 

DATE: April 8-9, 2024, from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.

EVENT: Fourth Social Media and Society in India symposium. 

For registration information and a full list of speakers: Social Media and Society in India

SPONSORS: School of Information; Center for South Asia Studies; Wallace House Center for Journalists; Department of Communications and Media; Center for Ethics, Society, and Computing; Digital Studies Initiative; Neely Center, Marshall School, University of Southern California, Department of Film, Television and Media.