How Studying Emojis May Prevent Violence

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.