About

The International Conference on Social Media & Society(#SMsociety) is a biennial gathering of leading social media researchers from around the world. It is the premier venue for sharing and discovering new peer-reviewed interdisciplinary research on the effects of social media on society. #SMSociety provides participants with opportunities to exchange ideas, present original research, learn about recent and ongoing studies, and network with peers. 

The conference’s intensive program features hands-on workshops, full papers, work-in-progress papers, and panels. The wide-ranging topics in social media showcase research from scholars working in many fields, including Communication, Computer Science, Education, Journalism, Information Science, Management, Political Science, Psychology, Sociology, Social Media and Platform Policy, and AI/Algorithmic Regulation, among others.

The 2026 event is co-organized by the Digital Cultures and Economies Research Hub at the University of the Arts London (UAL), the University of East Anglia (UEA), and the Division of Urban Studies and Social Policy at the University of Glasgow.

The #SMSociety conference was founded in 2010 by Anatoliy Gruzd and Philip Mai, co-founders of the Social Media Lab at Toronto Metropolitan University and developers of a range of social media research tools widely used by researchers worldwide.

2026 Organizing Committee

Reader and the Programme Director for Communications and Media courses at London College of Communication (LCC), University of the Arts London, UK
Associate Professor of Education, School of Education & Lifelong Learning, University of East Anglia, UK
Senior Lecturer and Subject Group Lead of Social and Urban Policy, School of Social and Political Sciences, University of Glasgow, UK
Presidential Fellow City St. George's, University of London, UK
Assistant Professor / Media and Digital Cultures Centre for Media and Journalism Studies University of Groningen, NL
Irida Ntalla Senior Lecturer in Digital Storytelling at London College of Communication (LCC), University of the Arts London, UK
Daniel Jordan    Postgraduate Research Student University of Glasgow, UK
Postgraduate Research Student London College of Communications, University of the Arts London, UK
Postgraduate Research Student London College of Communications, University of the Arts London, UK

Program Committee

The Program Committee for #SMSociety will be authors who have submitted their paper to the conference for consideration. For a submission to be considered, author(s) from each submission is required to peer review (double blind) three other conference submissions.