Beyond Polarization: Social Media, Political Formation, and Collective Meaning-Making

Forget everything you think you know about social media and politics. While traditional commentary fixates on noise, rage-bait, and outrage algorithms, the real story unfolds beneath the surface. For billions of people, digital platforms are the new front lines—where political identities take shape, trust is forged, and movements are born in real time.

Beyond Polarization is a landmark two-day symposium at Yale University uniting academic visionaries, viral creators, investigative journalists, global organizers, and political strategists. Together, we are stepping past tired "good vs. bad" debates to decode how digital influence, culture, and collective political power are actually made today.

View the speaker bios here.
Register at this link: https://forms.gle/3c5uHnSur3V11Dn6A.
If you are traveling to New Haven for the conference, see this page for travel information and building directions.

Day 1: Thursday, October 15, 2026

Location: Loria Center, Room 250; 190 York Street

12:00 PM – 1:00 PM | Registration

1:00 PM – 1:30 PM | Opening Remarks: Welcome and overview from conference co-hosts.

1:30 PM – 3:00 PM | The New Landscape of Social Media and Politics: Content creators, strategists, journalists, and media scholars share real-world examples of how political formation and meaning-making operate across digital platforms today.

Featuring: Alexandra Braxton, Digital Strategist; Judith Nwandu, The Shade Room; Victoria Alexander-Thompson, PhD and Content Creator; Heidi Przybyla, President of Get Real News; Brinda Adhikari, Why I Should I Trust You

3:30 PM – 5:00 PM | How the Right Makes Meaning: Conservative social media influencers and hosts describe how they cultivate trust, build audience identification, and communicate political ideas outside mainstream platforms.

Featuring: Emily Jashinsky, After Party with Emily Jashinsky; Marshall Kosloff, The Realignment Podcast; Danielle Lee Tomson, University of Washington

Day 2: Friday, October 16, 2026

Location: Loria Center, Room 250; 190 York Street

9:00 AM – 10:15 AM | What Are We Getting Wrong? Rethinking Social Media and Politics: Scholars and analysts take on some of the assumptions and myths in their field that need to be rethought.

Featuring: Joan Donovan, Boston University; Reece Peck, College of Staten Island, City University of New York; Whitney Phillips, University of Oregon, Tony Nadler, Ursinus College

10:30 AM – 11:45 PM | How Political Meaning Is Produced Online: Digital creators, journalists, and advocacy strategists share posts, clips, and campaigns to dissect what travels online, why it worked, and how audiences interpret it.

Featuring: Adam Aleksic (@etymologynerd); Alex Beightol (@abaetol); Christina Brown (@msxtinabrown); Elliott Edsall, University of Minnesota; Kate Glavan (@kateglavan)

11:45 PM - 12:30 PM | Break for Lunch (boxed lunches provided for registered attendees)

12:30 PM - 1:30 PM | Conversation with Andrew Bard Epstein, the communications strategist who led the communications effort for Zohran Mamdani's groundbreaking mayoral campaign in New York City.

1:45 PM – 3:00 PM | Global Perspectives on Politics and Social Media: Case studies highlighting innovative international digital campaigns and under-the-radar political formation happening internationally.

Featuring: Arun Chaudhary, Political Strategist; Felipe Heusser, Minuto 90; Jeremy Clancy, Green Party of England and Wales; Nika Kovač, 8th of March Institute

3:20 PM – 4:35 PM | From Insight to Strategy — Where Do We Go From Here?: Scholars, strategists, and funders address what replaces old political playbooks, why institutional mimicry of creator culture fails, and how to build durable narrative trust.

Featuring: Anne Thompson, M+R; Anya Schiffrin, Columbia University School of International and Public Affairs; Dustin Guastella, Center for Working-Class Politics; Sean Morrow, More Perfect Union; Tara McGowan, COURIER

Registration is free, but you must register in advance! Register at this link: https://forms.gle/3c5uHnSur3V11Dn6A