Alberto Acerbi | Lightnews

Alberto Acerbi @acerbialberto.com · 2d

I link della settimana (#123)
open.substack.com/pub/albertoa...

(i) Gli autisti di Uber - a Bristol, che qui a Trento non ci sono perché senno chissà i poveri tassisti…- sembravano sempre in effetti abbastanza contenti: questo mi sembra un punto debole generale di...

open.substack.com

Alberto Acerbi @acerbialberto.com · 2d

yes, I guess so...it may be "pure" latex has more specialised options, I would not know myself.

Alberto Acerbi @acerbialberto.com · 2d

You can have Zotero "Group libraries" syncing automatically with your .bib file in overleaf. It works very well for me.

Alberto Acerbi @acerbialberto.com · 2d

@overleaf.com + @zotero.org = 👌
docs.overleaf.com/integrations...

Zotero | Overleaf docs

docs.overleaf.com

Alberto Acerbi @acerbialberto.com · 3d

Come and visit in Trento! :)

Simon Carrignon @carigol.bsky.social · 3d

yesterday we opened up this bottle of marzemino we brought from Trento when I visited @acerbialberto.com. We loved every bottle of marzemino we tried there, this one was no exeption!Glad Alberto introduced us to this grape and the good wine it makes - Trentino is an awesome region for wine and food.

Simon Carrignon @carigol.bsky.social · 3d

yesterday we opened up this bottle of marzemino we brought from Trento when I visited @acerbialberto.com. We loved every bottle of marzemino we tried there, this one was no exeption!Glad Alberto introduced us to this grape and the good wine it makes - Trentino is an awesome region for wine and food.

Alberto Acerbi @acerbialberto.com · 4d

Last week to submit to CS2Italy, the Italian Conference on Computational Social Science.
See you in Torino 19-21 May 2026!
cs2italy.org

CS2Italy

The Microsoft CMT service was used for managing the peer-reviewing process for this conference. This service was provided for free by Microsoft and they bore all expenses, including costs for Azure cl...

cs2italy.org

Alberto Acerbi @acerbialberto.com · 13d

As a former (adopted) Bristolian I wondered a few times why many hotels around the world are called "Bristol". It is not from the town, but from bon-vivant Frederick Hervey, earl of Bristol.
thefirsthotelbristol.blogspot.com

The first Hotel Bristol

thefirsthotelbristol.blogspot.com

Alberto Acerbi @acerbialberto.com · 13d

Tecnopanico 2025: qui un po' di video, recensioni, estratti, ecc. E spero di festeggiare l'inizio del 2026 con la notizia di una traduzione in inglese, stay tuned! :) acerbialberto.com/publication/...

Tecnopanico | Alberto Acerbi

Diffusione di fake news, teorie del complotto, influenza degli algoritmi sulle nostre scelte e sui nostri comportamenti, impatto dei social media sulla salute mentale dei ragazzi e molto altro. Quante...

acerbialberto.com

Alberto Acerbi @acerbialberto.com · 21d

Il video della mia presentazione di "Tecnopanico", grazie a STSTN - Scienza Tecnologia e Società per l'invito.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=P2jy...

A. Acerbi: "Tecnopanico"

YouTube video by scienzaesocieta

www.youtube.com

Alberto Acerbi @acerbialberto.com · 23d

I link della settimana (#122)
open.substack.com/pub/albertoa...

I link della settimana (#122)

(i) “La disinformazione è diffusa nei sistemi biologici a diversi livelli di organizzazione ed [...] è probabilmente una proprietà inevitabile che deriva da vincoli fondamentali dei sistemi di comunic...

open.substack.com

Ian Hussey @ianhussey.mmmdata.io · 24d

Author of “How the phone ban saved high school" clarifies that the article is not meant to imply that the phone ban has saved high school.

There is no way this could cause confusion in this heated space.
¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Alberto Acerbi @acerbialberto.com · 26d

Happy to have feedback - also where should I send this? (Not now, at least in January, potential editors and reviewers do not worry...)

Link again: osf.io/preprints/so...

OSF

osf.io

Alberto Acerbi @acerbialberto.com · 26d

The perspective developed take some inspiration from: www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

The ecological approach to culture

The prevailing view in the literature treats cultural dynamics as fundamentally distinct from other ecological processes—governed by a second system o…

www.sciencedirect.com

Alberto Acerbi @acerbialberto.com · 26d

This view sheds a new light on persistent debates: e.g. for misinformation, instead of asking “why do people believe false content?”, we should ask: “Why is someone producing this, here, now, for this audience?” (Thus suggesting different interventions.)

Alberto Acerbi @acerbialberto.com · 26d

Plus, platforms are ecologies with different selective pressures.
Audience structure, affordances, and metrics matter.
Niches within platforms matter too.
Political clusters reward moralised outrage; professional or hobbyist communities reward expertise or positivity, etc.

Alberto Acerbi @acerbialberto.com · 26d

Transmission is often a by-product rather than a goal.
Much online content succeeds not because is persuasive to consumers, but because it fits with their goals.

Alberto Acerbi @acerbialberto.com · 26d

Online behaviour is better understood from the producer’s standpoint.
People post to manage reputation, mark identity, build coalitions, or maintain social presence, not mainly to transmit information.

Alberto Acerbi @acerbialberto.com · 26d

Most research explains online behaviour considering social media as vehicle of transmission and by focusing on consumers’ biases.
In this paper I take a different perspective:

Alberto Acerbi @acerbialberto.com · 26d

New preprint: "The Cultural Ecology of Social Media"

osf.io/preprints/so...

Thread
⬇️⬇️⬇️

Abstract:
Most research on social media considers them as supports for transmission of information, explaining online success (and pathologies) by focusing on consumers’ biases and interests. This article takes a different perspective, applying ideas from an ecological approach to culture to social media informational dynamics. It argues that success online depends both on the intrinsic appeal of content to receivers and on how well content serves producers’ strategic goals within the constraints and affordances of specific platforms. These goals include reputation management, coalition building and identity management, and coordination or participation in shared activities. Transmission is often a by-product of these motivations, and replication fidelity plays a limited role compared with transformations that adapt content to local incentives. Finally, the article suggests that platforms and communities can be understood as distinct ecological niches, each characterised by different audience structures, affordances, metrics, and algorithmic pressures. This perspective offers novel insight to persistent debates on social media dynamics, such as misinformation, radicalisation and polarisation, and the reasons behind online success.

Alberto Acerbi @acerbialberto.com · 26d

Thank you Ricardo!

The Dissenter @thedissenteryt.bsky.social · 26d

MY FAVORITE NON-FICTION BOOKS OF 2025

(no particular order)

1 - Tecnopanico: Media digitali tra ragionevoli cautele e paure ingiustificate ("Technopanic: Digital Media, Between Reasonable Caution and Unjustified Fears"), by Alberto Acerbi (@acerbialberto.com)

The Dissenter @thedissenteryt.bsky.social · 26d

MY FAVORITE NON-FICTION BOOKS OF 2025

(no particular order)

1 - Tecnopanico: Media digitali tra ragionevoli cautele e paure ingiustificate ("Technopanic: Digital Media, Between Reasonable Caution and Unjustified Fears"), by Alberto Acerbi (@acerbialberto.com)

Alberto Acerbi @acerbialberto.com · 26d

Work (also) with me!

Two years postdoc in the @weaponisedpasts.bsky.social project, based in Edinburgh. Will do transmission chain experiments to understand the spread of heritage-based hostility, online and elsewhere.

More info
⬇️⬇️⬇️

Chiara Bonacchi @chiara-bonacchi.bsky.social · 27d

📣 PDRA JOB (2 Years, full-time) based in Psychology, @schoolofppls.bsky.social: We are hiring a Post-doctoral Research Associate, to work on Strand B (experimental) of our @weaponisedpasts.bsky.social project, generously funded by @leverhulme.ac.uk.

Chiara Bonacchi @chiara-bonacchi.bsky.social · 27d

📣 PDRA JOB (2 Years, full-time) based in Psychology, @schoolofppls.bsky.social: We are hiring a Post-doctoral Research Associate, to work on Strand B (experimental) of our @weaponisedpasts.bsky.social project, generously funded by @leverhulme.ac.uk.

Alberto Acerbi @acerbialberto.com · 27d

Hopefully! I am working on it, but did not get a publisher yet...

Alberto Acerbi @acerbialberto.com · 27d

"Tecnopanico" is the perfect Christmas present! 😀🎄

Alberto Acerbi @acerbialberto.com · 29d

The free version of "Individual-based models of cultural evolution. A step-by-step guide using R" is now here: albertoacerbi.github.io/IBM-cultevo/

Individual-based models of cultural evolution

albertoacerbi.github.io

Alberto Acerbi @acerbialberto.com · 29d

"misinformation is widespread in biological systems spanning levels of organization, and [...] is probably an inevitable property that inherits from fundamental constraints on biological communication systems, rather than a pathology"
royalsocietypublishing.org/rsif/article...