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How Studying Emojis May Prevent Violence

Garry Knight
/
Flickr via Creative Commons

Can social media posts, even hashtags and emojis, be analyzed to prevent violent crime? The victims of gun violence are often young people, and young people are also loyal users of social media. Desmond Patton, an associate professor in the School of Social Work at Columbia University and an affiliate with the research group Data & Society, says social media provides a forum for teens to express pain and grief, but those conversations can escalate into real world violence. 

Sheilah Kast is the host of On The Record, Monday-Friday, 9:30-10:00 am.
Maureen Harvie is Senior Supervising Producer for On the Record. She is a graduate of the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, and joined WYPR in 2014 as an intern for the newsroom. Whether coordinating live election night coverage, capturing the sounds of a roller derby scrimmage, interviewing veterans, or booking local authors, she is always on the lookout for the next story.