Kylan Rutherford
he/him
Center for Social Media and Politics, New York University
Kylan Rutherford is a postdoctoral fellow at NYU’s Center for Social Media and Politics. He holds a Ph.D. and Master’s degree in Political Science from Columbia University. His research centers on the complex relationship between social media content creators, platform consumers, and the platforms themselves. He studies media in both the US and Asia.
Kylan’s current work focuses on the relationship between platform engagement and content production. He also uses experimental methods and browser extensions to unpack how on-platform experiences can increase and shape what users post. In addition, he is working on projects investigating AI’s impact on search, the political implications of TikTok and Douyin, and the merits of prosocial ranking alternatives. In the wake of the 2024 election, he has also been working with collaborators at NYU to understand gendered media spaces across social media, podcasts, and video games.