12 Facts About Zeynep Tufekci

Zeynep Tufekci is a Turkish-American sociologist.

Zeynep Tufekci's work focuses on social media, media ethics, the social implications of new technologies, such as artificial intelligence and big data, as well as societal challenges such as the COVID-19 pandemic using complex and systems-based thinking.

Zeynep Tufekci is a professor at Columbia University's Craig Newmark Center for Journalism Ethics and Security and a faculty associate at the Berkman Klein Center for Internet and Society at Harvard University.

Zeynep Tufekci was previously an associate professor at the School of Information and Library Science at the University of North Carolina.

Zeynep Tufekci was born in Istanbul, Turkey, near Taksim Gezi Park in Istanbul's Beyoglu district.

Zeynep Tufekci worked as a computer programmer before becoming an academic and turning her attention to social science.

In 2012, Zeynep Tufekci expressed concern about political campaigns impacted by and driven by big data in the form of "Smart Campaigns".

Also from 2012, Zeynep Tufekci has focused on explaining social contagion and mass shootings and its direct relation to social media.

Zeynep Tufekci has repeatedly urged both online and in op-eds that outlets should avoid repetition of the killer's name and face as well as step-by-step discussions of their methods.

In 2016, Zeynep Tufekci was featured in a special report by The Economist on technology and politics in which she argues that the increasingly individualized targeting of voters by political campaigns is leading to a reduction of the "public sphere" in which civic debate takes place publicly.

In 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic, Zeynep Tufekci was critical of the mainstream media for failing to explain the importance of mask wearing, and is often cited as one of the first to take up the importance of mask wearing in the mainstream media.

Zeynep Tufekci has given a series of TED talks on online social change, technology, the role of artificial intelligence and machine learning, and the role of social media and tech companies.