I am an assistant professor of Business Communication & Digital Media. My research and teaching interests include social media use, online collaboration, and online impression management. Specific topics of study include the social psychology of online communication technology, social and digital media, identity management, social influencers, online dating, IT & organizations, virtual & augmented reality, qualitative and quantitative research methodology.
Besides teaching & research, I developed and initiated the New Media Design track within the Communication and Information Sciences department. I am also the bachelor thesis coordinator. I have practical and management experience at interface of technology, organization, and communication. My research skills include: network analysis, multivariate & multilevel analysis, and structural equation modeling. I know my way around Google Analytics, SEO, Python, SQL, PHP, and basic web development (HTML, CSS, JS).
My research focuses on the social consequences of online communication technologies and social media. Specifically, I investigate the specific design characteristics that define communication technologies. These design characteristics, or affordances, in turn affect how people experience these technologies, how they use them, and how they are affected by them. The specific topics I study are (a) how social media affect communication in professional settings, (b) how influencers present themselves on social media and how this affects their followers’ attitudes and behaviors, (c) the effect of visual versus textual information in online dating profiles, (d) how virtual & augmented reality may change interpersonal communication, and (e) the consequences of online interaction for social development.
I teach courses on online communication technology and digital media, such as Social Media at Work, Business Information Technology, and Social Media Analytics. I have supervised more than a 100 bachelor and master theses and 5 PhD's.
You can download my full CV here. You can download a short resume (in Dutch) here.