Published on January 14 2019 – On Thursday January 10, Hanneke Hendriks, in collaboration with the Faculty of Social and Behavioral Sciences, organized a Spui25 event about the unhealthy side of social media. Research has shown that posts on Facebook and Instagram about certain topics, such as pictures with laughing people who are drinking, can lead to harmful effects, such as increased alcohol use. Furthermore, recent research shows that the upcoming phenomenon of influencers can strongly influence their audience (for example by advertising for certain products) and that this can have harmful effects as well (e.g., if they advertise for alcohol-brands). In this Spui25 event four speakers addressed this issue. Hanneke Hendriks elaborated on her research on alcoholposts on social media. Jules Ruijs and Eva van Reijmersdal talked about influencers and sponsored content, and Nicolaas Veul (who made the documentary #Followme) discussed how fake the Instagramworld is. For more information about this event, see: http://www.spui25.nl/gedeelde-content/evenementen/evenementen/2019/01/hoe-ongezond-is-ons-social-media-gebruik.html.
On Wednesday January 9, Hanneke Hendriks was interviewed about this event. This Radio 1 interview (Focus) can be found here:https://www.nporadio1.nl/radio-focus/onderwerpen/486474-hoe-ongezond-is-ons-sociale-mediagebruik