Videos
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Rappler Talk: Sinan Aral and social media's Hype Machine
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Thinkers50 2021 Digital Thinking Award: Sinan Aral | #IdeasWithPurpose
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Laurie Segall, David Droga & Sinan Aral on Using Tech to Connect | Global Citizen NOW
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AI Doc Short
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The Truth About False News with Sinan Aral, MIT
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EXCLUSIVE: Latest On Elon Musk's Twitter Acquisition Deal With MIT Expert Sinan Aral
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Debunking Election & Social Media Myths | WIRED
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Sinan Aral: How we can protect truth in the age of misinformation
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Quick takes: Sinan Aral
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Influence in Social Media Networks: Sinan Aral at TEDxColumbiaEngineering
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Elon Musk may have ‘an escape hatch’ yet in Twitter saga: Professor
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The Future of Work Conference 2018: The Truth About False News
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Sinan Aral: Social Contagion
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ADS*CON 2014: Humans Are Noisy : Sinan Aral
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15 Sinan Aral Social Analytics
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NExTWORK: Sinan Aral
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Data Gotham 2012 - Sinan Aral, NYU Stern School of Business
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TEDxNYU - Sinan Aral - Influence In Social Media
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MIT Sloan Experts Series – Sinan Aral: The Truth About Fake News
Learn More About Sinan Aral
In order to successfully compete in today’s rapidly changing digital marketplace, organizations must have a deep understanding of business analytics – which is why companies like Microsoft, Facebook and WeChat tap the expertise of award-winning researcher, data scientist and MIT professor Sinan Aral (seh-NAHN ah-RAHL). Since he is also a successful entrepreneur and venture capitalist, Aral offers organizations both a scientific and real-world perspective on how to gain a competitive edge using information acquired through digital networks.
Aral is the David Austin Professor of Management, IT, Marketing and Data Science at MIT. As an advisor and speaker, he teaches organizations how to read and leverage analytics to build business, make better decisions and plan forward – whether they are selling products or services, promoting causes or trying to prevent hacking, disinformation, fraud or election interference.
“The key to effectively interpreting and acting on the data is rigor,” says Aral. “I focus on the rigorous scientific work which is really the engine of everything else.”
In his role as Director of the MIT Initiative on the Digital Economy (IDE) and its Social Analytics Lab, Aral is immersed in analyzing patterns of online behavior, from social media platforms to online retail sites. He has helped leading Fortune 500 firms, including Twitter, Yahoo, Air BnB, Jet.com, IBM, Intel, Cisco, Oracle and SAP realize business value from big data analytics, social media and IT investments. He also helps leaders understand the relationship between humans and machines and how artificial intelligence can play a role in advancing innovation.
Much of Aral’s shapeshifting work and insights are shared in his bestselling book, “The Hype Machine: How Social Media Disrupts Our Elections, Our Economy, and Our Health–and How We Must Adapt” (Penguin Random House, September 2020). Named one of 2020’s 8 Best Books About Artificial Intelligence by WIRED, a 2020 Porchlight “Best Big Ideas and New Perspectives” book award winner, and among the Best New Technology Books and Best New Economy Books to Read in 2021 by BookAuthority, “The Hype Machine” became an instant classic. Twenty years in the making, the book discusses – among other timely topics – the insidious ways social media is disrupting our lives and what we can do about it. In this 2018 TED Talk, which has over 2 million views, Aral gave audiences a preview of the research he would later share in “The Hype Machine.” Before and after the book’s release, he was interviewed by hundreds of media outlets around the world who were eager to hear him discuss solutions to the growing problems surrounding social media. In 2021, Aral’s important work was futher recognized by Thinkers50 when he won the Digital Thinking Award and was named among the top 50 management thinkers in the world. He was recognized again in 2023 as a top thinker.
Aral’s work reaches far beyond business applications to societal issues, like the effects of social media on a child’s brain, how social media is disrupting society and ways to combat fake news. The common thread weaving through all of Sinan Aral’s work is problem-solving – and his belief in the power of analytics to reveal the answers is unwavering.
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Sinan Aral is a scientist, entrepreneur, investor and founding partner at Manifest Capital. He was the Chief Scientist at SocialAmp, one of the first social commerce analytics companies (until its sale to Merkle in 2012) and at Humin, a social platform that the Wall Street Journal called the first “Social Operating System” (until its sale to Tinder in 2016). He is currently on the Advisory Boards of the Alan Turing Institute, the British National Institute for Data Science in London, the Centre for Responsible Media Technology and Innovation in Bergen, Norway and C6 Bank, one of the first all-digital banks of Brazil.
Aral’s research and teaching have won numerous awards including the Microsoft Faculty Fellowship, the PopTech Science Fellowship, an NSF CAREER Award, a Fulbright Scholarship, the Jamieson Award for Teaching Excellence (MIT Sloan’s highest teaching honor) and more than ten best paper awards conferred by his colleagues in research. In 2014, he was named one of the “World’s Top 40 Business School Professors Under 40” and the year before he was the Scholar-in-Residence at the New York Times.
In 2018, Aral became the youngest ever recipient of the Herbert Simon Award of Rajk László College in Budapest, Hungary. In that same year his article on the spread of false news online ended up on the cover of Science magazine, a piece Altmetrics called the second most influential publication of the year.
Aral is a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Northwestern University, holds Master’s degrees from the London School of Economics and Harvard University and received his PhD from MIT.
Sinan Aral is available to advise your organization via virtual and in-person consulting meetings, interactive workshops and customized keynotes through the exclusive representation of Stern Speakers & Advisors, a division of Stern Strategy Group®.
Using Generative AI to Extend Creativity and Scale Human Thought
Sinan Aral, award-winning scientist, entrepreneur, venture capitalist and director of the MIT Initiative on the Digital Economy and the MIT Social Analytics Lab, says emerging technology will continue to offer vast opportunities for businesses, especially when it comes to reaching audiences and driving growth. Author of the critically acclaimed book, “The Hype Machine” (2020), he helps organizations understand how ChatGPT and similar technologies could impact the job market and employee skills.
“Block and Tackle” Digital Marketing
There’s a science and a strategy to engineering a successful digital marketing campaign, says Sinan Aral. He is continuously engaged in rigorous studies around the use of data to produce desired outcomes online. As for his strategy, he uses what he calls a “block and tackle” approach when helping organizations interpret and leverage their analytics so their brands stand out, their messages are heard and they can position themselves to outpace competition. During this presentation, Aral enthusiastically shares his masterful tactics and high-level insights, some of which he covers in his critically acclaimed book, “The Hype Machine” (Penguin Random House, September 2020), which is a must-read for organizational leaders in every sector.
Leveraging the Science Behind Business Analytics
Successful business operations rely on the accurate interpretation and strategic usage of analytics, and no one is more of an expert at reading and leveraging data than Sinan Aral. Even some “digital specialists” struggle to understand the deeper workings of business analytics, the importance of interpreting them correctly and the value that can be uncovered by looking at the data from different angles – all of which helps set up the next move in a business plan or digital campaign. Much like a boxer, Aral’s strategic approach involves making that move at just the right time, after reading and optimizing findings. This lively discussion offers participants the opportunity to work with the “Floyd Mayweather” of business analytics.
The Hype Machine: Adapting to Disruptions Brought on By Social Media
The initial excitement around digital technologies and all the opportunities they offer has been tempered by increasing concerns about Internet hacking and online crime. The potential dangers are highly consequential, from identity theft and election interference to system-wide crashes within companies, institutions and even global financial markets. Despite such concerns, however, technology continues to offer vast opportunities, especially when it comes to reaching audiences and driving growth. So how do we leverage the best of what technology has to offer while protecting businesses, governments and individuals from unwanted infiltration? Based on his critically acclaimed book, “The Hype Machine” (Penguin Random House, September 2020), Sinan Aral outlines the challenges and offers solutions to some of the biggest problems facing society, especially businesses and governments.
Media Giants and Anti-Trust Laws: What Should be Done
Companies like Facebook and Amazon have been under intense scrutiny due to their size, power and influence. Yet it is difficult to control the activities of such digital giants with current anti-trust laws, most of which were written before the Internet went mainstream. Sinan Aral has a deep understanding of the digital media business. During this presentation, he will discuss existing and potential regulations and why it makes sense to break up some companies but not others.
7 With Ties to MIT Sloan Honored at Thinkers50 Awards
November 17, 2021
Breaking Up Facebook Won’t Fix Social Media
September 30, 2020
Inside the Hype Machine (Audio)
September 15, 2020
Can We Amplify the Good and Contain the Bad of Social Media?
September 14, 2020
MIT Has a Plan to Measure the Impact of 2016 Election Interference
September 7, 2019
Truth Disrupted
July, 2018
The Hype Machine: How Social Media Disrupts Our Elections, Our Economy, and Our Health—and How We Must Adapt
(Penguin Random House, September 2020)
Providing Normative Information Increases Intentions to Accept a COVID-19 Vaccine
(Nature Communications, January 2023)
What (Exactly) Is Novelty in Networks? Unpacking the Vision Advantages of Brokers, Bridges, and Weak Ties
(Management Science, October 2021)
Providing Normative Information Increases Intentions to Accept a COVID-19 Vaccine
(PsyArXiv, February 2021)
Information Technology, Repeated Contracts, and the Number of Suppliers
(Management Science, March 2017)
“Eminently relevant now….[The Hype Machine] offers hope that we can reengineer social media to better serve society.”
“Top 10 Business and Economics Books for Fall 2020!”
“Aral’s arguments are clear and stimulating, and as the presidential election nears, the book could hardly be timelier. A useful, data-rich analysis of how we use social media—and how it uses us.”
“The most important book of the year! Our friendships, economy, and society now depend on billions of social media connections around the world and no one on the planet understands them better than Sinan Aral….[A] lively, engaging masterpiece, drawing on his 20 years of pioneering research, Sinan separates hype from reality, clarifies our most pressing challenges and explains how we must respond.”
“In a sea of books about social media, this is the one to read. Sinan Aral understands the new social age like no one else and ‘The Hype Machine’ offers the single best examination of how social media works, what it does to us and how we can make it better for consumers, citizens and democracies. In short, it offers solutions for making social media ‘social’ again.”
“Is social media a force for good or evil? Sinan Aral deconstructs ‘The Hype Machine’ and takes us on a breathtaking journey through the economics, technology and behavioral psychology that shape it. When lies spread faster than facts, how do we ensure the integrity of markets and elections? If you want to understand how we can capture the promise of social media and avoid its peril, read this!”
“Everyone has a theory about social media, but Sinan Aral brings the science — and the storytelling. ‘The Hype Machine’ is an immensely interesting, informative, and provocative look at the driving forces of some of the biggest technological questions of our time, and how they’ll play out in the future of our democracy.”
“’The Hype Machine’ is a riveting story of social media’s impact on how we vote, date and shop—and thus how we live. With our democracy in the crosshairs, and tech companies controlling our screens, leading expert Sinan Aral pulls back the curtain on the digital tools used to direct the flow of influence in society. Part spy novel and part science thriller, it is an essential guide to ensuring our digital future.”
“Full of rigor and insight, ‘The Hype Machine’ tackles some of the most pressing policy questions of the Digital Age while keeping you on the edge of your seat (an unlikely combination). It’s a “must read” for policymakers, business executives and parents alike.”
“’The Hype Machine’ is a meticulous dissection of social media and how it affects our lives. Aral gives us a much-needed framework for what happened in the 2016 election, and what will likely happen again if nothing changes.”
“With his precision science and rollicking narrative storytelling, Sinan Aral, the director of MIT’s Initiative on the Digital Economy, takes us on his fascinating 20-year-journey as one of the first and most prescient scholars of social media. He explains how social media impacts our democracy, disseminates truth and lies, propagates hate and makes people fall in love, hooks us neurologically and emotionally, and connects us all for better or worse. Is social media a boon for society or a curse? The answer is complex and you’ll have to read The Hype Machine to find out.”
“Brilliant! Aral’s masterful integration of science, business, law, and policy presents a powerful, accessible explanation of how social media affects all of us. Whether you simply want to understand the how and why, or need to make business or policy decisions, this is a must read!”
“Sinan Aral is a scientist and entrepreneur, and his unique perspective makes him the perfect guide to the world we live in today. From ads to fake news, ‘The Hype Machine’ is the best critical foundation for understanding the connected world and how we might navigate through it to a better future.”
“It reads like a thriller, but it’s all too true. A thoughtful, well-researched and timely look at how the structure of media changes the structure of our lives. It’s time we took action and amplified the ideas that truly matter.”
“If you want the truth about falsehoods, real information about misinformation, and rigorous analysis of hype, this is the book for you. Nobody knows better than Sinan how ideas spread online, and in these pages he’s distilled a brilliant career into a fascinating read. Don’t miss it if you care about how the Internet is changing our world.”
“In this book, Sinan Aral, one of the world’s leading computational social scientists, tackles one of the great challenges of our time: how to reengineer digital technology to better serve society. Authoritative, comprehensive, nuanced, and engaging, ‘The Hype Machine’ is essential reading for anyone who wants to understand how we got here and how we can get somewhere better.”
“Sinan Aral’s ‘Hype Machine’ explains how social media changes who we know, what we do, and even how we think. As the world relies even more heavily on social media during the Covid-19 pandemic and the upsurge against racism and police violence, he helps us understand how digital technology will change our future, and what individuals, companies, and society should do differently to adapt and thrive.”
