Nicole Ellison is the Karl E Weick Collegiate

professor Professor (commonly abbreviated as Prof.) is an Academy, academic rank at university, universities and other post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, ''professor'' derives from Latin as a "person who pr ...

in the

School of Information This list of information schools, sometimes abbreviated to iSchools, includes members of the iSchools organization. iSchools organization The iSchools organization reflects a consortium of over 100 information schools across the globe. iSchools pro ...

at the

University of Michigan , mottoeng = "Arts, Knowledge, Truth" , former_names = Catholepistemiad, or University of Michigania (1817–1821) , budget = $10.3 billion (2021) , endowment = $17 billion (2021)As o ...

. She is best known for her research in the fields of

computer-mediated communication Computer-mediated communication (CMC) is defined as any human communication that occurs through the use of two or more electronic devices. While the term has traditionally referred to those communications that occur via computer-mediated formats ...

social media Social media are interactive media technologies that facilitate the creation and sharing of information, ideas, interests, and other forms of expression through virtual communities and networks. While challenges to the definition of ''social medi ...

, and

social networking sites A social networking service or SNS (sometimes called a social networking site) is an online platform which people use to build social networks or social relationships with other people who share similar personal or career content, interests, act ...

. Her research has been cited over 63,000 times according to

Google Scholar Google Scholar is a freely accessible web search engine that indexes the full text or metadata of scholarly literature across an array of publishing formats and disciplines. Released in beta in November 2004, the Google Scholar index includes p ...

Education

Nicole Ellison was born in

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

and received her B.A. cum laude in English at

Barnard College Barnard College of Columbia University is a private women's liberal arts college in the borough of Manhattan in New York City. It was founded in 1889 by a group of women led by young student activist Annie Nathan Meyer, who petitioned Columbia ...

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

in 1990. She received her MA from the Annenberg School for Communication at the

University of Southern California The University of Southern California (USC, SC, or Southern Cal) is a Private university, private research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Founded in 1880 by Robert M. Widney, it is the oldest private research university in C ...

in 1998 and her PhD from there in 1999. She was a professor at

Michigan State University Michigan State University (Michigan State, MSU) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in East Lansing, Michigan. It was founded in 1855 as the Agricultural College of the State of Michigan, the fi ...

before joining the

at the

. During the 2019–2020 academic year, Ellison was a fellow at the

Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences The Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences (CASBS) is an interdisciplinary research lab at Stanford University that offers a residential postdoctoral fellowship program for scientists and scholars studying "the five core social a ...

(CASBS) at

Stanford University Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is consider ...

Research, teaching, and service

Ellison has made foundational contributions in the areas of computer-mediated communication, mediated interpersonal interaction, self-presentation, use of social media in organizations, relationship initiation and maintenance in online contexts, and online dating sites. Her 2007 and 2013 articles on social network sites (with

danah boyd danah boyd (stylized in lowercase, born November 24, 1977 as Danah Michele Mattas) She noted her mother added lowercase 'h' in birth name "danah" for typographical balance, reflecting the lowercase first letter 'd' and later changed her last na ...

) have over 23,000 citations. Her work on Facebook relationship maintenance has been cited by and adopted in a variety of scholarly articles, and she is frequently sought as a speaker, advisor, and collaborator in these areas. She received a grant from the

National Science Foundation The National Science Foundation (NSF) is an independent agency of the United States government that supports fundamental research and education in all the non-medical fields of science and engineering. Its medical counterpart is the National I ...

in 2009 to pursue her work on "the role of social network sites in facilitating collaborative processes". She also received a grant from the

Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF), a merging of the William H. Gates Foundation and the Gates Learning Foundation, is an American private foundation founded by Bill Gates and Melinda French Gates. Based in Seattle, Washington, it was l ...

and the College Knowledge Challenge group to explore the potential for social media to address college-going behaviors among low-income and first-generation college students. She was named an

International Communication Association The International Communication Association (ICA) is an academic association for scholars interested in the study, teaching and application of all aspects of human and mediated communication. ICA communicates within the association and with ot ...

Fellow in 2019. From 2016 to 2019, Ellison served as the Director of the Doctoral Program at the

Media

Ellison is frequently sought for expert commentary on social media. She has been quoted in mainstream news articles on popular social media sites like Facebook and Snapchat, on news and social media, and on relationships and social media.

Selected works

* 2006. "Managing impressions online: Self‐presentation processes in the online dating environment". (with Rebecca Heino and Jennifer Gibbs) * 2007. "Social network sites: Definition, history, and scholarship". (with

) * 2008. "Social capital, self-esteem, and use of online social network sites: A longitudinal analysis". (with Charles Steinfeld and

Cliff Lampe Clifford Lampe is a Professor in the School of Information at the University of Michigan. He is best known for his research in the fields of human-computer interaction, social computing, and computer supported cooperative work. Since 2018 he has ...

) * 2007. "The benefits of Facebook "friends:" Social capital and college students’ use of online social network sites". (with

and Charles Steinfeld) * 2011. Connection strategies: Social capital implications of Facebook-enabled communication practices. (with Charles Steinfeld and

) * 2014. Cultivating Social Resources on Social Network Sites: Facebook Relationship Maintenance Behaviors and Their Role in Social Capital Processes. (with

Jessica Vitak Jessica Vitak is an American information scientist who is an associate professor at the University of Maryland. She is faculty in the University of Maryland College of Information Studies (iSchool) and Communication Department. She serves as Dir ...

, Rebecca Gray, and

)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ellison, Nicole 1978 births Living people American information theorists Barnard College alumni People from Los Angeles University of Southern California alumni University of Michigan faculty