[Commlist] Call for Contributors and Call for Panelists (at 2026 NCA Convention): Social Media and Productive Conflict Resolution Working Group

Call for Contributors and Call for Panelists (at 2026 NCA Convention):

Social Media and Productive Conflict Resolution Working Group


Introduction:


Social media is unavoidable in the world today. It comes with us 
wherever we go, and presents us with the world outside of physical 
reach. Social media has taken over the delivery of news and other 
information. It dominates our social, personal, and political 
engagements. Much has been written about the negative consequences of 
social media on individuals (such as studies on social media addiction 
and its effects on learning and cognition) and on groups in conflict. 
Social media usage has persuasively been shown to exacerbate 
polarization ( Jung, et. al, 2019, Garzon-Velandia and Barretto-Galeano, 
2023), sow division, affirm cultural dividing lines, exacerbate mis- and 
dis-information, and coarsen rhetoric.


The working group project being proposed here will take on social media 
from a perspective that is grounded in communication and peace and 
conflict resolution scholarship. We cannot escape social media, which 
means that it has been and will remain a force in nearly every 
conceivable conflict situation moving forward. Conflict parties will use 
it to communicate their needs with each other, with their opponents, and 
with the world (Lanz and Eleiba, 2018). Social media is used at all 
stages of conflict, to build social cohesion, bond, and integrate 
communities in conflict (Baytiyeh, 2019). So, instead of focusing on the 
negative consequences and uses of social media, we ask “what are the 
potential positive roles that social media could play in conflict 
situations?”


This lens opens a wide variety of practical and scholarly opportunities. 
By focusing our attention on how social media can be used productively, 
we engage scholars and practitioners in the study and development of 
productive conflict practices.


Call for Contributors:


We seek to build a group of scholars and practitioners of communication 
and conflict resolution to join us in a long-term, collaborative, and 
wide-ranging working group endeavor to study the potential positive 
roles that social media can play in conflict resolution processes. 
Though valuable, we are not looking for ways to engage in other forms of 
conflict processes or politics, such as to attack or discredit. Instead, 
our focus will be on the positive elements, the ways that social media 
are and/or could be used to enhance opportunities for positive, 
productive conflict processes.


We will establish a schedule and meet virtually as a group, on an 
ongoing basis, to create, analyze, and organize this scholarly project. 
Our expectation is that over time subgroups will be developed for topic 
exploration, methodological development, testing, and content production.

We anticipate that this work will result in a number of group-generated 
scholarly and practical works, both large- and small-scale, which will 
be applicable or adaptable to many contexts, such as politics, law, 
racial/social, generational, inter- and intra-group (to name only a few).


Call for Panelists at the 2026 NCA Convention:


We seek panelists to join us in a collaborative roundtable conversation 
to explore existing and emerging scholarship and methods related to the 
potential positive roles that social media can play in conflict 
resolution processes. Our focus will be on the positive elements, the 
ways that social media are and/or could be used to enhance opportunities 
for positive, productive conflict processes.


If you are interested in joining us in either the NCA panel and/or group 
project, please email the project organizers. Please briefly describe 
your interest in the project, related ongoing work, and other potential 
collaborators: Mark Finney ((mfinney /at/ emoryhenry.edu) 
<mailto:(mfinney /at/ emoryhenry.edu)>) and/or Garry Bailey 
((garry.bailey /at/ acu.edu) <mailto:(garry.bailey /at/ acu.edu)>). We hope to begin 
working together at the beginning of 2026.


Works Cited:


Baytiyeh, H. (2019). Social Media’s Role in Peacebuilding and 
Post-Conflict Recovery. Peace Review, 31(1), 
74–82.https://doi.org/10.1080/10402659.2019.1613599 
<https://doi.org/10.1080/10402659.2019.1613599>

Garzón-Velandia, D. C., Barreto-Galeano, M. I., & Sabucedo-Cameselle, J. 
M. (2024). When political elites talk, citizens reply. Affective 
polarization through temporal orientation and intergroup emotions. 
Analyses of Social Issues and Public Policy, 24(3), 
621–644.https://doi.org/10.1111/asap.12416 
<https://doi.org/10.1111/asap.12416>

Jung, J., Grim, P., Singer, D. J., Bramson, A., Berger, W. J., Holman, 
B., & Kovaka, K. (2019). A multidisciplinary understanding of 
polarization. The American Psychologist, 74(3), 
301–314.https://doi.org/10.1037/amp0000450 
<https://doi.org/10.1037/amp0000450>

Lanz, D., & Eleiba, A. (2018). The Good, the Bad and the Ugly: Social 
Media and Peace Mediation. 
Swisspeace.https://www.jstor.org/stable/resrep25398 
<https://www.jstor.org/stable/resrep25398>


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