Research Overview

My research at UC San Diego investigates online mobilization on social media, susceptibility to misinformation, and how personality traits impact online communication dynamics. My most frequently used methods are social network analysis (SNA), text analysis, and experimental design. Upcoming projects investigate how features of social media platforms influence communication patterns, and characterize types of information spreaders among social media users using data-driven personas.

See my CV for full publication list.

Online Political Mobilization using Social Network Analysis (SNA)

  • Haupt, M. R., Xu, Q., Yang, J., Cai, M., & Mackey, T. K. (2021). Characterizing Vaping Industry Political Influence and Mobilization on Facebook: Social Network Analysis. Journal of Medical Internet Research, 23(10), e28069. [PDF]
  • Haupt, M. R., Jinich-Diamant, A., Li, J., Nali, M., & Mackey, T. K. (2021). Characterizing Twitter User Topics and Communication Network Dynamics of the “Liberate” Movement during COVID-19 using Unsupervised Machine Learning and Social Network Analysis. Online Social Networks and Media, 21, 100114. [PDF]

Misinformation Spread on Social Media

  • Haupt, M. R., Chiu, M., Chang, J., Li, Z., Cuomo, R., & Mackey, T. K. (2023). Detecting nuance in conspiracy discourse: Advancing methods in infodemiology and communication science with machine learning and qualitative content coding. PLOS ONE, 18(12), e0295414. [PDF]
  • Kaufman, R. A.*, Haupt, M. R.*, & Dow, S. P. (2022). Who’s in the Crowd Matters: Cognitive Factors and Beliefs Predict Misinformation Assessment Accuracy. Proceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction, 6(CSCW2), 1-18. * co-first author [PDF]
  • Haupt, M. R., Li, J., & Mackey, T. K. (2021). Identifying and characterizing scientific authority-related misinformation discourse about hydroxychloroquine on twitter using unsupervised machine learning. Big Data & Society, 8(1) [PDF]
  • Mackey, T. K., Purushothaman, V., Haupt, M., Nali, M. C., & Li, J. (2021). Application of Unsupervised Machine Learning to Identify and Characterise Hydroxychloroquine Misinformation on Twitter. The Lancet Digital Health, 3(2), e72–e75. [PDF]

Investigating Online Drug Purchasing

  • Haupt, M. R., Cuomo, R., Cui, M., & Mackey, T. K. (2024). Is This Safe? Examining Safety Assessments of Illicit Drug Purchasing on Social Media Using Conjoint Analysis. Substance Use & Misuse, 0(0), 1–13. [PDF]
  • Haupt, M. R., Cuomo, R., Li, J., Nali, M., & Mackey, T. K. (2022). The influence of social media affordances on drug dealer posting behavior across multiple social networking sites (SNS). Computers in Human Behavior Reports, 8, 100235. [PDF]

Data-Driven Personas

  • Haupt, M. R., Weiss, S. M., Chiu, M., Cuomo, R., Chein, J. M., & Mackey, T. (2022). Psychological and situational profiles of social distance compliance during COVID-19. Journal of Communication in Healthcare, 0(0), 1–10. [PDF]