New center to promote social media responsibility, tackle fake news

By | March 7, 2018

School of Information experts are sounding the alarm on a potential information apocalypse, a state when fake news and altered videos on social media and elsewhere effectively end social reality as we know it. To address this growing concern and bring some of the brightest minds together to brainstorm creative solutions, U-M has formed the School of Information Center for Social Media Responsibility, and hired one of President Barack Obama’s former social media managers as its executive director. The center will build upon the school’s strong global leadership in social media research. “The Center for Social Media Responsibility is really a response to a unique challenge and opportunity,” said Garlin Gilchrist II, executive director of the center. “Social media has become the way so many people across the world have conversations. It is as diverse as humanity—there are usages of it that are positive and there are uses that can be for more nefarious purposes.”