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.

Register at this link: https://forms.gle/3c5uHnSur3V11Dn6A

Day 1: Thursday, October 15, 2026

12:00 PM – 1:15 PM | Registration

1:15 PM – 1:30 PM | Opening Remarks: Welcome and overview from conference co-hosts.

1:30 PM – 3:00 PM | Session I: The New Landscape of Social Media and Politics: An opening panel with content creators, strategists, journalists, and media scholars sharing 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

3:30 PM – 5:00 PM | Session II: How the Right Makes Meaning: A facilitated talk and Q&A with conservative social media influencers and hosts describing 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

5:00 PM – 6:00 PM | Opening Reception: Open to all registered attendees, scholars, creators, and guests.

Day 2: Friday, October 16, 2026

9:30 AM – 10:45 AM | Session III: What Are We Getting Wrong? Rethinking Social Media and Politics: An intellectual reset where featured scholars and analysts present one specific assumption or myth in their field that needs to be rethought, followed by a 45-minute moderated roundtable and 30 minutes of audience Q&A.

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

11:00 AM – 12:15 PM | Session IV: How Political Meaning Is Produced Online: A practice-based session featuring digital creators, journalists, and advocacy strategists who walk through specific 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); Elliot Edsall, University of Minnesota; Kate Glavan (@kateglavan)

1:15 PM – 2:30 PM | Session V: Global Perspectives on Politics and Social Media: Rapid-fire case studies highlighting innovative international digital campaigns and under-the-radar political formation happening in "apolitical" subcultures across the globe.

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

2:45 PM – 4:00 PM | Session VI: From Insight to Strategy — Where Do We Go From Here?: A closing strategic discussion with scholars, strategists, and funders addressing 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, Good Information

A Convening Across Disciplines

This symposium brings together a curated mix of voices that rarely share the same stage:

Academic Researchers & Theorists from Yale, Columbia, Harvard, UPenn, University of Washington, BU, and more.

Independent Content Creators & Hosts building digital communities across progressive, conservative, policy, and youth subcultures.

Journalists & Media Innovators pioneering creator-investigative partnerships.

Digital Strategists & Campaign Organizers shaping political communication infrastructure.

Register at this link: https://forms.gle/3c5uHnSur3V11Dn6A