- Role
- Faculty
- In the lab
- 2019–present
- Projects
- Bystander Intervention & Online Safety
Misinformation & Community Norms
AI-Mediated Communication
Digital Literacy at Scale - Office
- 328 Building C · 113 Research Drive · Bethlehem, PA 18015
- Links
- difranzo.com
djd219@lehigh.edu
Google Scholar
GitHub
ACM Digital Library
ResearchGate
LinkedIn
CV (PDF)
Assistant Professor, Computer Science & Engineering
I ask how we can design online and AI-mediated systems that support healthier social interaction rather than amplify harm. Modern social media and conversational AI are optimised for scale, engagement, and frictionless participation — and those same design logics intensify cyberbullying, misinformation, manipulation, and shallow coordination.
My work develops prosocial alternatives across three reinforcing lines: design interventions for online communities; methodological infrastructure for studying social behaviour in environments that are realistic but experimentally tractable; and public-facing literacy platforms that carry the research out to scale.
Publications
Published
- 2025
Independently testing prosocial interventions: methods and recommendations from 31 researchers
Grüning, Kamin, Saltz, Acosta, DiFranzo, Goldberg, Leavitt, Menczer, Musgrave, Wang & Wojcieszak · Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences 1550(1), 108–121
- 2025
Young people are willing to intervene against rape myths online: a simulated social media experiment
Nicolla, McKenzie, Lazard, DiFranzo, Aghajari, Mao & Dasgupta · Journal of Adolescent Health 76(5), 839–846
- 2025
Sharing anti-vaping social media messages
Lazard, DiFranzo, Nicolla, Aghajari, Pulido, Mao, Vereen & Dasgupta · Journal of Adolescent Health 77(2), 253–261
- 2023
Artificial intelligence in communication impacts language and social relationships
Hohenstein, Kizilcec, DiFranzo, Aghajari, Mieczkowski, Levy, Naaman, Hancock & Jung · Scientific Reports 13(1), 5487
- 2024
Social Media Co-pilot: designing a chatbot with teens and educators to combat cyberbullying
Zou, Yang, DiFranzo, Chen, Hui & Bazarova · International Journal of Child–Computer Interaction 41, 100680
- 2024
Standing up to problematic content on social media: which objection strategies draw the audience’s approval?
Zhao, Bazarova, DiFranzo, Hui, Kizilcec & Margolin · Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication 29(1), zmad046
- 2023
Exposure and reactions to cancer treatment misinformation and advice: survey study
Lazard, Nicolla, Vereen, Pendleton, Charlot, Tan, DiFranzo, Pulido & Dasgupta · JMIR Cancer 9, e43749
- 2023
The impact of what others do, approve of, and expect you to do: an in-depth analysis of social norms and self-disclosure on social media
Masur, Bazarova & DiFranzo · Social Media + Society 9(1)
- 2022
Shall AI moderators be made visible? Perception of accountability and trust in moderation systems on social media platforms
Ozanne, Bhandari, Bazarova & DiFranzo · Big Data & Society 9(2)
- 2021
Do you care who flagged this post? Effects of moderator visibility on bystander behavior
Bhandari, Ozanne, Bazarova & DiFranzo · Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication 26(5), 284–300
- 2021
Behavioral contagion on social media: effects of social norms, design interventions, and critical media literacy on self-disclosure
Masur, DiFranzo & Bazarova · PLOS ONE 16(7), e0254670
- 2020
Robot-assisted tower construction: a method to study the impact of a robot’s allocation behavior on interpersonal dynamics and collaboration in groups
Jung, DiFranzo, Shen, Stoll, Claure & Lawrence · ACM Transactions on Human-Robot Interaction 10(1)
- 2026
arXiv
Outer Limits: an experimental approach to controlled content manipulation within the Reddit interface
Mao, Shi, Jia, Unguryan, Baumer & DiFranzo · CSS 2026, Santa Fe · camera-ready October 2026
- 2026
Exploring COVID-19 framing across diverse platforms
Shi, Aghajari, DiFranzo, Jia & Baumer · ICWSM 2026, 20(1), 2149–2164
- 2026
Designing for safety in sensitive online spaces: the role of pseudonymity and verification friction
Gallagher, Shi & DiFranzo · ACM Web Science 2026, 381–391
- 2024
Investigating the mechanisms by which prevalent online community behaviors influence responses to misinformation
Aghajari, Baumer, Lazard, Dasgupta, Wang & DiFranzo · CHI 2024
- 2024
Tricky vs. transparent: toward an ecologically valid and safe approach for evaluating online safety nudges for teens
Agha, Park, Wan, Ali, Wang, DiFranzo, Badillo-Urquiola & Wisniewski · CHI 2024
- 2023
Reviewing interventions to address misinformation: the need to expand our vision beyond an individualistic focus
Aghajari, Baumer & DiFranzo · PACM HCI 7(CSCW1)
- 2023
Methodological middle spaces: addressing the need for methodological innovation in experimental studies of AI-mediated communication
Aghajari, Baumer, Hohenstein, Jung & DiFranzo · PACM HCI 7(CSCW1)
- 2023
What’s the norm around here? Individuals’ responses can mitigate the effects of misinformation prevalence
Aghajari, Baumer & DiFranzo · CHI 2023, Hamburg
- 2020
“I just shared your responses”: extending communication privacy management theory to interactions with conversational agents
Sannon, Stoll, DiFranzo, Jung & Bazarova · PACM HCI 4(GROUP)
- 2019
Accountability and empathy by design: encouraging bystander intervention to cyberbullying on social media
Taylor, DiFranzo, Choi, Sannon & Bazarova · PACM HCI 3(CSCW)
- 2019
Social Media TestDrive: real-world social media education for the next generation
DiFranzo, Choi, Purington, Taft, Whitlock & Bazarova · CHI 2019, Glasgow
- 2025
SocialSim: an open source platform for conducting behavioral intervention research on social media
Agha, Martinez, Ali, DiFranzo & Wisniewski · CSCW 2025 Companion, 528–531
- 2025
Unpacking the dilemma: the dual impact of AI instructors’ social presence on learners’ perceived learning and satisfaction
Chen & DiFranzo · ACM Web Science 2025, 22–31
- 2023
A containerization framework for bioinformatics software to advance scalability, portability, and maintainability
Tam, Chua, Gallagher, Omene, Okun, DiFranzo & Chen · ACM-BCB 2023