Nicole Ellison is the Karl E Weick Collegiate

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

in the School of Information at the

University of Michigan The University of Michigan (U-M, U of M, or Michigan) is a public university, public research university in Ann Arbor, Michigan, United States. Founded in 1817, it is the oldest institution of higher education in the state. The University of Mi ...

. 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 forma ...

social media Social media are interactive technologies that facilitate the Content creation, creation, information exchange, sharing and news aggregator, aggregation of Content (media), content (such as ideas, interests, and other forms of expression) amongs ...

, and

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

. Her research has been cited over 83,000 times according to

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

Education

Nicole Ellison was born in

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

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

Barnard College Barnard College is a Private college, private Women's colleges in the United States, women's Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college affiliated with Columbia University in New York City. It was founded in 1889 by a grou ...

Columbia University Columbia University in the City of New York, commonly referred to as Columbia University, is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Churc ...

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 ...

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

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

before joining the School of Information 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 institution at Stanford University designed to advance the frontiers of knowledge about human behavior and society, and contribute to the resoluti ...

(CASBS) at

Stanford University Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University, is a Private university, private research university in Stanford, California, United States. It was founded in 1885 by railroad magnate Leland Stanford (the eighth ...

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 all 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 l ...

) 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 U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) is an Independent agencies of the United States government#Examples of independent agencies, independent agency of the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government that su ...

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 Gates Foundation is an American private foundation founded by Bill Gates and Melinda French Gates. Based in Seattle, Washington, it was launched in 2000 and is reported to be the third largest charitable foundation in the world, holding $ ...

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 oth ...

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

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) * 2007. "The benefits of Facebook "friends:" Social capital and college students’ use of online social network sites". (with Cliff Lampe and Charles Steinfeld) * 2011. Connection strategies: Social capital implications of Facebook-enabled communication practices. (with Charles Steinfeld and Cliff Lampe) * 2014. Cultivating Social Resources on Social Network Sites: Facebook Relationship Maintenance Behaviors and Their Role in Social Capital Processes. (with Jessica Vitak, Rebecca Gray, and Cliff Lampe)

References

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