Social technologies are the systems, interfaces, features, infrastructures, and architectures that allow people to interact with each other online. These technologies dramatically shape the fabric of our everyday lives, from the information we consume to the people we interact with to the foundations of our culture and politics. While the benefits of social technologies are well-documented, the harms, too, have cast a long shadow. To address widespread problems like harassment, disinformation, information access, and mental health concerns, we need to rethink the foundations of how social technologies are designed, sustained, and governed. This report is based on discussions at the Computing Community Consortium (CCC) Workshop “The Future of Research on Social Technologies” that was held November 2-3, 2023 in Washington, DC. The visioning workshop came together to focus on two questions: What should we know about social technologies, and what is needed to get there? The workshop brought together over 50 information and computer scientists, social scientists, communication and journalism scholars, and policy experts (see Appendix A). We used a discussion format, with one day of guiding topics and a second day using an “unconference” model where participants created discussion topics. The interdisciplinary group of attendees discussed gaps in existing scholarship and the methods, resources, access, and collective effort needed to address those gaps. We also discussed approaches for translating scholarship for various audiences—including citizens, funders, educators, industry professionals, and policymakers. As part of this, we worked with a graphic recorder who produced artwork in real-time that highlights many key points of workshop discussions (see Appendix B). This report presents a synthesis of major themes during our discussions. The themes presented are not a summary of what we know already; they are an exploration of what we do not know enough about, and what we should spend more effort and investment on in the coming years.
◗ The first theme focuses on rethinking the design of social platforms and infrastructures, and explores alternative models involving decentralization, distributed moderation, governance, and monitoring and measurement of a platform/ community’s “health.”
◗ The second theme reflects on opportunities at the intersection of social technologies and democracy—including community, corporate, and regulatory layers of governance, and how technology and regulation might protect and defend democratic principles across these layers.
◗ The third theme focuses on new challenges for social technologies and AI, including authenticity, ranking, and social training data.
◗ The fourth theme focuses on current challenges for research access and practice, which has changed significantly in recent years.
◗ The final theme addresses impact and translation. It calls attention to the importance of training computing researchers to translate work for broader audiences and incentives to do translation work. Similar to other societally important areas of computing, pursuing these opportunities requires thinking beyond individual papers; we should explore cross-institutional collaborative models, fund alternative approaches to platforms, and shift academic incentives to high-impact work.