Ph.D. student and Librarian Ashley Shea, SML alum Pengfei Zhao, and Lab Manager Isabelle McLeod Daphnis are featured in new publications and articles this Fall 2024.

SML in the Media

October 2025

Our Social Media Lab (SML) members are making waves this fall! The Cornell Chronicle featured two stories highlighting the innovative research coming from our lab members, both written by Tom Fleischman.

Ph.D. student and Librarian Ashley Shea and SML alum Pengfei Zhao (now an assistant professor at Florida State University) were featured in Moral appeals trump hate in tamping down online vitriol. Their research analyzed over 8,500 comment replies on YouTube and X, identifying seven strategies people use to object to online content. While reputational attacks (vinegar) were most common, moral and restorative appeals (honey)which encourage offenders to apologize rather than shaming them were more effective and better received by the online community. Read the article and view Ashley’s paper and Pengfei’s paper.

Next, Isabelle McLeod Daphnis’ research on social virtual reality and pain tolerance was highlighted in Pain tolerance increases during social interaction in VR. Her study found that people tolerate pain better when interacting with others in VR. Read the article and view the paper.

It’s exciting to see our lab’s work reaching the broader community. Stay tuned for more updates!