Nazanin Andalibi will be the keynote speaker at the Third Annual Reddit Mod Summit on September 17, 2022. The virtual event brings together moderators on the popular social media site Reddit to discuss what’s new on the platform and interact with each other and the company’s leadership.

Andalibi's talk, “The Promises and Perils of Online Communities for Social Support and Wellbeing,” will highlight her work on how social media can facilitate both social support and community as well as harm and exclusion for marginalized people.

“I am excited about the opportunity to share key insights from my research with an audience that is so well-positioned to make practical changes for improving online communities,” says Andalibi. “To me, this invitation is a signal of my work's broader impact beyond the academic community.”

Andalibi hopes that her talk inspires Reddit moderators, designers, and decision-makers to “consider how, where, and for whom inequities manifest in subreddits, and how to foster and sustain more explicitly and meaningfully inclusive and compassionate online spaces supportive of diverse, marginalized life experiences and identities.”

She adds, “If Reddit as a platform decides to implement some of my design recommendations, then all the better!”

This summit is being held online and is open only to invited participants.

Read the announcement from the U-M School of Information