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Project AWeSome

Why is it that social media use makes some adolescents feel happy while leaving others feeling blue?

Project AWeSome stands for   Adolescents, Well-being & Social Media. It aims to investigate questions about the relationship between adolescents’ social media use and their well-being.

We investigate these questions through experience sampling studies (AWeSome I), via a 100-day diary study (AWeSome II), and a large-scale data donation project  (AWeSome III). You can find an overview of all publications    here.

Project AWeSome was founded in 2018 by Patti Valkenburg (professor emeritus, University of Amsterdam), Loes Keijsers (professor, Erasmus University Rotterdam) and Ine Beyens (assistant professor, University of Amsterdam). The current team consists of UvA researchers Ine Beyens, Amber van der Wal, Rebecca Godard, Konrad Mikalauskas, and Inga Vondenhof, and Patti Valkenburg and Loes Keijsers serve as advisory members. See the   Team page for an overview of current and past members.

The positive connotation of Project AWeSome is meant to emphasize the potential helpful impact that the result of the project may have on parents, teachers, policy makers, and, last but not least, adolescents themselves.

 

Recent Publications & Project Updates

December 09, 2025

Improving Participation In Data Donation Studies

A new article by Yucan Xiong, Amber van der Wal, and Ine Beyens in Social Science Computer Review sheds fresh light on what drives and discourages participation in data donation research. Their systematic review brings together the existing evidence on…
September 15, 2025

New members joining Team AWeSoMe! 🎉

We’re excited to announce three new team members as part of Project AWeSoMe, who joined the team on 1st of September 2025. The new members are: Rebecca Godard – Postdoctoral Researcher, with a background in psychology and social media use. Konrad…
November 21, 2024

It is time to ensure research access to platform data

Our commentary, published today in Nature Human Behaviour, addresses a critical challenge for academic research: the lack of reliable access to data from online platforms such as social media, streaming services, and search engines. Legal frameworks,…

This project is funded
by a NWO Spinoza Prize awarded to Patti Valkenburg

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