Galen Panger (Ph.D. 2017) has been named the winner of the 2018 iSchools Doctoral Dissertation Award for his Berkeley I School dissertation: "Emotion in Social Media."
From Berkeley News
Research finds social media users actually wind down, not up
By Kathleen Maclay, Media relations
Contrary to conventional wisdom, people tend to wind down rather than whip themselves into a frenzy while browsing Facebook and Twitter, according to a prize-winning dissertation by a newly minted Ph.D. from UC Berkeley’s School of Information.
iSchools Inc., a consortium of more than 80 universities and other institutions on five continents, announced this week that its 2018 Doctoral Dissertation Award goes to Galen Panger, who earned his Ph.D. last year.
Reached at his new post at Google, where he researches user experience, Panger explained his findings.
“I think most people wouldn’t associate the word ‘calm’ with social media,” he said. “But one of the more robust findings of the dissertation is that people tend to wind down – feel more relaxed, sleepy, bored – when they browse social media, both Facebook and Twitter.”
