Alex Leavitt, PhD


Expert on the Social Science of
Internet Platforms, Digital Culture,
and Global Trust & Safety
Read More About Me

About Me


Hey there!

My name is Alex Leavitt (they/them), and I'm a social scientist and internet researcher. Most recently, I spent 7 years at Meta Research, leading research for product, policy, and strategy work related to social media's impact on society generally and marginalized populations specifically, across Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, and comparative platform analysis. Most of my projects touched on misinformation, polarization, news & information needs, crisis response (COVID-19/vaccines, Ukraine, LGBTQ+ communities, etc.), and human rights issues (particularly across the Global South/Global Majority).

I currently reside in San Francisco, after having lived in Los Angeles, Kyoto, and Boston.

Background

I frequently work across industry and academia, publishing my research in venues like ACM CSCW and ACM SIGCHI. Spanning my research career, I have been part of a number of data science and user experience research teams with a handful of major social media platform and interactive media companies, like Meta, Sony PlayStation, Disney Interactive, and SocialFlow.

Before going into industry, I received my PhD in Communication from the Annenberg School for Communication & Journalism at the University of Southern California, where I was advised by Henry Jenkins and Dmitri Williams. Previous to that, I worked with danah boyd at Microsoft Research New England; I was also a researcher in the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Comparative Media Studies department, where I worked on the Convergence Culture Consortium project.

Numerous outlets have also featured my research, such as the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg, CNN, and the Huffington Post.

You can find all of my peer-reviewed scientific articles on Google Scholar or in the academic research section of this page.

My Work


   Research Interests

In my professional work, I conduct applied research in Trust & Safety, as well as other product work that impacts online communities, social media platforms, and digital media experiences (ie., video games). I'm particularly passionate about social impact and safety-related research, spanning:

  • misinformation, disinformation, and authoritative information
  • polarization, social conflict, violence, hate speech, and harassment
  • content quality, news, and trust
  • information needs and platform dependency
  • human rights and humanitarian efforts
  • with a focus on the Global South/Majority and marginalized populations (e.g., LGBTQ+ communities)

My research interested have historically focused on participation in and across networked technologies. I am particularly interested in how online platforms facilitate user-generated content production, social network formation, information sharing practices, and group collaboration.

   Teaching

In academia and industry, I'm particularly passionate about research methods and teaching other researchers how to improve and expand their skills.

Currently, I teach courses at Maven as part of the User Research Fundamentals curriculum (which you can read more about at the link below).

   Research Methods

In my work, I'm fairly unique in that I have strong expertise in a variety of mixed research methods.

   Qualitative methods:

  • ethnographic fieldwork
  • participant observation
  • in-depth interviews
  • focus groups & moderation
  • usability, concept testing, & eye tracking
  • design sprints, co-design, & iterative design workshops
  • international fieldwork & research with marginalized/sensitive/risky populations

   Quantitative methods:

  • survey sampling, design, & analysis
  • survey experiments, conjoint experiments, & max-diff
  • content analysis & labeling programs
  • behavioral experiments & randomized-controlled trials
  • social network analysis
  • text analysis & natural language processing
  • statistical modeling & classification (regression, machine learning, etc.)

Product & Policy Research

My portfolio covers a variety of applied product & policy research, particularly to social media platform features in the trust & safety space. Either my original research or my expert consultations with cross-functional teams directly impacted the development of the projects below.
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LGBTQ+ Safety Research/Resources

Global LGBTQ+ risk assessment & user-facing resources

Product Link
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Corporate ESG Strategy

Strategic prioritization for social corporate responsibility assessments

Resource Link
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Foundational Integrity Research Grant Program

Multi-million dollar academic research grant program

Program Link
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Ukraine/Russia War Humanitarian Response

Humanitarian & authoritative information products & company strategy

Product News
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Viewpoints Survey Platform

International expansion of survey program/infrasturcture

Product News
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Australia News Strategy

Regulatory product strategy

Product/Policy News
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Human Rights & Countries At Risk of Violence

Prioritization frameworks, international research fieldwork, cross-org product/operations strategy, & policy development

Product/Policy News News
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Polarization Strategy

Corporate product & research strategy

Research News
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Vaccine Campaign Evaluation

Vaccine messaging & product interventions

Research News   Affiliated Publication
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COVID/Vaccine Trusted Messengers & Misinfo

Pandemic & vaccine authoritative information from trusted messengers & related misinformation products

Product News   Product Expansion
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COVID/Vaccine Content Policies

Research-informed policy development & prioritization around pandemic content trends

Policy Link
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COVID Product Impact Measurement

Cross-org product & impact measurement strategy

Research News
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US State Targeted Vaccine Action/Access Products

Vaccination access & action products

Product News
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COVID Vaccine Profile Frames

Social influence COVID/vaccine messaging & products

Product News
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COVID Mask Wearing Messaging

COVID public health messaging campaigns & authoritative information products

Product News
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COVID-19 Misinformation Messaging

COVID misinformation messaging campaigns & authoritative information products

Product News
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COVID-19 Misinformation Reminders

COVID misinformation targeted intervention products

Product News
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COVID Info Center

COVID authoritative information products & company strategy

Product News
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Ethiopia Risk Assessment

Trust & Safety country risk assessment & international research fieldwork

Product/Policy News
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Trusted Partners Program

Activist & civil society consultation & content reporting program

Product/Policy News
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Sri Lanka Human Rights Assessment

Trust & Safety country risk assessment & international research fieldwork

Policy/Research News
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Polarization Research & Product

Corporate product & research strategy for measurement & inteventions

Research News   Affiliated Publication
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Image Context / Message Friction Products

Severe content risks & misinformation intervention products

Product News
...
Social Media & Conflict (Cameroon)

Trust & Safety country risk assessment & international research fieldwork

Product/Policy/Research News
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Misinformation Community Review

Crowd-driven misinformation evaluation products & infrastructure

Product News   Research News
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Borderline Content

Strategic research & measurement for product strategy & content policies

Product/Policy News
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Hateful Stereotypes Policy

Research-informed policy development & expansion for hate speech content policy

Policy News
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2018 US Midterms Risk Assessment

Cross-organization risk assessments & research strategy for elections

Product/Research News
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Content Quality & Intervention Strategy

Strategic research & measurement for product strategy & content policies

Product/Research News
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Myanmar Product & Policy

Trust & Safety country risk assessment & international research fieldwork, w/ iterative product development

Product/Policy News
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International Fact-Checking Expansion

International research fieldwork & expert workshops for fact-checking program expansion

Product News
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Broadly-Trusted News Ranking

News content strategic research & ranking product interventions

Product News   Patent Link
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Context Button Product

Authoritative information & misinformation intervention product devleopment

Product News   Research News
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Related Articles Product

Authoritative information & misinformation intervention product devleopment

Product Expansion News   Product Launch News
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Informed Sharing Ranking

News content strategic research & ranking product interventions

Product News
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Political Perspectives Product

Civic engagement & authoritative information products for elections

Product News (UK Election)   Product News (France Election)
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Misinformation Labels Product

Authoritative information & misinformation intervention product devleopment

Product News
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Clickbait Analysis & Ranking

Content quality strategic research & ranking product interventions

Product News
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Reactions Products

Content features international expansion & design iteration

Product News
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Conversations Products

Strategic research & iterative product development for conversational products

Research Link

Academic & Industry Publications

My portfolio of academic, peer-review publications span research on social media platforms, online multiplayer video games, and trust & safety (digital harm, information needs, etc.).
...
Mindsets Matter: How Beliefs About Facebook Moderate the Association Between Time Spent and Well-Being

Study of self-reported social media use, well-being, and perspectives on the impact of social media

Methods: international surveys, log data analysis

Article PDF
...
How Well Do People Report Time Spent on Facebook? An Evaluation of Established Survey Questions with Recommendations

Study of self-reported social media use & well-being

Methods: international surveys, log data analysis

Article PDF
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Upvote My News: The Practices of Peer Information Aggregation for Breaking News on reddit.com

Study of collaborative breaking news reporting on a social news platform

Methods: content analysis, ethnographic observation, computational analysis

Article PDF
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Designing New Ways to Give Context to News Stories

Study of iterative authoritative information product development

Methods: international research, interviews, focus groups, concept testing, card sorting, eye tracking, surveys, experiments

Article HTML
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Helping People Better Assess the Stories They See in News Feed with the Context Button

Study of iterative authoritative information product development

Methods: international research, interviews, focus groups, concept testing, card sorting, eye tracking, surveys, experiments

Article HTML
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Beyond Big Bird, Binders, and Bayonets: Humor and Visibility Among Connected Viewers of the 2012 US Presidential Debates

Study of election-related social media content quality trends & user-generated content production

Methods: computational analysis, content analysis, regression

Article PDF
...
The Role of Information Visibility in Network Gatekeeping: Information Aggregation on Reddit during Crisis Events

Study of collaborative breaking news reporting on a social news platform

Methods: content analysis, ethnographic observation, computational analysis

Article PDF
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Jumping for Fun? Negotiating Mobility and the Geopolitics of Foursquare

Study of international users' debates around legitimate participation on location-based social media app, Foursquare

Methods: discourse analysis

Article PDF
...
Producing Hatsune Miku: Concerts, Commercialization, and the Politics of Peer Production

Study of Japanese media subcultures & community politics

Methods: ethnographic participant observation, interviews, historical analysis

Article PDF
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Ping to Win? Non-Verbal Communication and Team Performance in Competitive Online Multiplayer Games

Study of micro-communication features and impact on performance in an online multiplayer game (League of Legends)

Methods: computational analysis, spatial analysis, regression

Article PDF
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Do Men Advance Faster Than Women? Debunkingthe Gender Performance Gap in Two MassivelyMultiplayer Online Games

Study of gender-based differences in online multiplayer video game performance

Methods: computational analysis, regression

Article PDF
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[Dissertation] Upvoting the News: Breaking News Aggregation, Crowd Collaboration, and Algorithm-Driven Attention on reddit.com

Study of collaborative breaking news reporting on a social news platform

Methods: content analysis, ethnographic observation, computational analysis

Dissertation PDF
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Uses of Multiple Characters in Online Games and Their Implications for Social Network Methods

Study of multiple-account use in an online multiplayer game (EVE Online)

Methods: social network analysis, computational analysis

Article PDF
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Throwaway Accounts

Study of anonymity/pseudonymity user practices on reddit

Methods: computational analysis, survey, regression

Article PDF
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Upvoting Sandy

Study of collaborative breaking news reporting on a social news platform

Methods: content analysis, ethnographic observation, computational analysis, regression

Article PDF
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Technology Non-Use

Exploratory analysis of theory around technology non-use

Methods: literature review, theoretical analysis

Article PDF
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Minecraft

Study of players of Minecraft & user-generated content practices

Methods: content analysis, interviews, ethnographic participant observation

Article PDF
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YOLO

Study of historical and empirical content trends related to internet memes on Twitter

Methods: computational analysis, text analysis, social network analysis

Article PDF
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Monkey Activism

Study of Japanese media subcultures & potential for activism in media production

Methods: content analysis, historical analysis, discourse analysis

Article HTML
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Self-Harm & Risks for Teens on Social Media

Review study of social media platform features & policies related to self-harm

Methods: literature review, competitor analysis

Article PDF
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Web Ecology - ChatRoulette

Study of emergent social media platform & anonymity

Methods: content analysis

Article PDF
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Web Ecology - Influence

Study of Twitter messaging production & interaction trends

Methods: computational analysis, data visualization

Article PDF
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Web Ecology - Iran

Study of Twitter data trends around the 2012 Iranian elections

Methods: computational analysis

Article PDF

Creative Projects

Outside of my professional and academic work, I have experimented with a bunch of creative projects, ranging from web apps to in-person interactive experiences, and even things that look a bit more like research (usually about internet culture, media fandoms, or global subcultures).
...
Hearts Legacy

An experimental "legacy" board game developed from the basic card game, Hearts.

Project Page
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Alice Down the Neural Network

An exploration of applying generative deep learning to Alice in Wonderland, as a submission for USC's Wonderland Awards.

Project Page
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College Plays Pokemon

An experimental interactive medai installation, building off of the TwitchPlaysPokemon style of game, but utilizing crowd-dynamics as player-game input.

Project Page
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Twitch Played Pokemon

A lecture and data analysis delivered at GDC about the TwitchPlaysPokemon phenomenon.

Project Video
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Happy Birthday to Us

An experimental web app that allows you to input a friend's name on their birthday, which then generates an infrequently-viewed YouTube video singing the Happy Birthday song with that particular name included.

Project Page
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Global Reddit Meetup Day 2014

Reddit's annual "Global Reddit Meetup Day," organized in Los Angeles 2014.

Project Page
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Connecting America [Hackathon Project]

First-prize winning hackathon project at the Los Angeles 2012 Immigration Journalism Hackathon, which uses open-source immigration data to explore and visualize transnational connections between migrant communities.

Project Page
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The Hidden Value of Punching Trees

"The Hidden Value of Punching Trees: Minecraft & the Future of Game Culture," a research lecture presented at Penny Arcade Expo 2011.

Project Video
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The Cult of Hatsune Miku

An invited research lecture presented in the 2011 Active Cultures series at the USC Pacific Asia Museum.

Project Page

Links & Contact


Feel free to reach out to me on Twitter, Mastadon, or LinkedIn.

       

You can see examples of my publications and code at Google Scholar and GitHub.

   

I teach professional development classes on Maven.com. You can see more about my curriculum offerings and sign up for classes at the link below.

I do some limited mentorship, through the Trust & Safety Professionals Association. You can find my Calendly link for setting up a meeting using the button below.


Let's Chat!

I am also available for consulting, invited keynotes, professional development mentoring, or other business engagements. To inquire or send an invitation, please fill out the email form by clicking the button below.