There's still a lot of talk in the news about Russian meddling in the past presidential election here in the U.S.

The University of Maine at Fort Kent is pleased to announce that Dr. Fanbin Zeng will be giving the presentation, “The Relationship Between Social Media Use and Citizen Participation in the United States,” in Fox Auditorium at 12:30 pm on Thursday, April 19.

Dr. Fanbin Zeng, Ph. D, a Fulbright Scholar from China, is the associate professor in the School of Journalism and Communication at Jinan University in Guangzhou, Guangdong Province, China. Since 2004, Dr. Zeng has worked as an educator and researcher in Jinan University, specializing in the research of new media and political communication.

Dr. Zeng has been awarded several research grants on the relationship between internet use and political participation in China and he has published two books. His lecture at UMFK will explore issues around fake news in social media. Dr. Zeng has spent the past academic year at the Department of Communication Arts at the University of Wisconsin-Madison working on his research project of the same theme.

As well as possessing the world's biggest internet user base (649 million), China also has the world's most active environment for social media. Of the online population of China, 91 percent have a social media account and the Chinese social media landscape has been formed as a result of a dynamic movement. This lecture will introduce the main platforms and history of social media in China, the censorship of social media in China, social media and social relationships in China, as well as social media in China and citizen participation.

“No matter our personal and/or political beliefs, the correlation between social media and civic engagement is of the upmost importance and is most apropos,” said UMFK Associate Professor of History and Education, Dr. Paul Buck. “We at UMFK are extremely fortunate to have a top-level international scholar, such as Dr. Fanbin Zeng, to present under the Fulbright Outreach Lecture program.”

This event is free to the public. For more information, please contact Dr. Paul Buck, UMFK Fulbright campus liaison, at 207-834-7563 or Shawn Graham, UMFK Assistant Professor of Human Services and Coordinator of Behavioral and Social Science Programs, at 207-834-8627.

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