New Books Network Ashleigh Wade on How Black Girls Use Social Media
Sep 29, 2025
In this engaging discussion, Ashleigh Greene Wade, an Assistant Professor at the University of Virginia, explores how Black girls utilize social media for self-expression and agency. She shares insights from her book, highlighting their unique narrative styles and how they navigate digital spaces. Wade discusses the ethical challenges of researching teens and emphasizes the importance of protecting their identities. She also previews her upcoming work on child influencers, shedding light on the evolving nature of childhood in the digital age.
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Black Girls Use Social Media To Self-Author
- Ashleigh Greene Wade frames the book as showing how Black girls use social media to tell stories and express themselves.
- She argues research should balance harms-focused narratives with recognition of creative self-fashioning online.
Teaching Sparked The Research
- Wade began this research after five years teaching high school and noticing Black girls lacked belonging at school.
- That classroom experience motivated her to explore what digital spaces provided that school did not.
Protect Teen Subjects Beyond Minimal Standards
- Go beyond IRB's public-data standard and avoid reproducing teens' public images without consent.
- Protect minors by anonymizing visuals and considering how adolescents' views of posts will change over time.
