Holstein Colloquium on the impact of social media personalities, April 10

The Department of Social and Cultural Sciences will host the Holstein Colloquium on Friday, April 10, from 2 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. in Lalumiere Hall 272.

Two new sociology faculty will present research on how social media personalities are shaping education and beliefs. No registration is required.

Dr. Hany Zayed, assistant professor of social and cultural sciences, will explore how private tutoring is changing with and adapting to a new digital reality. His talk particularly examines how digital platforms are penetrating the labor of star tutors, restructuring their roles and practices, and amplifying their scale and reach. Using the case of Egyptian secondary education, which features a formidable shadow education industry and an endemic star tutoring phenomenon, his talk shows how traditional star tutors are morphing into education influencers.

Dr. Ken Cai Kowalski, assistant professor of social and cultural sciences, investigates how a burgeoning ecosystem of YouTube content creators produces lifestyle and informational content about self-improvement that targets Millennial and Gen Z audiences. Through qualitative content analysis of 66 popular YouTube videos discussing time management and productivity, he and his co-author found that YouTubers paradoxically portray upward mobility as universally achievable, yet rarely achieved.