Nick Hagar
PhD candidate in the Computational Journalism Lab at Northwestern University

I research collective attention problems on digital platforms, with a focus on news media. Iâm concerned with attention inequality and its impact on digital marketplaces, models of collective information retrieval, and algorithmsâ role in shaping attention.
Current projects include simulating collective attention to popular items on Netflix, modeling cumulative advantage in linking behavior on Substack, and building a framework for more robust sampling of news archives, among others. My work uses computational methods, such as simulation, network analysis, and natural language processing.
Before grad school, I worked in audience development and analytics at Fusion Media Group, Digiday, Pacific Standard and the Dallas Morning News. Iâve written for Pacific Standard, the Christian Science Monitor, McSweeneyâs Internet Tendency and others. I graduated from the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University in 2017 and am originally from Fort Wayne, Indiana.
news
Jun 1, 2022 | Iâm starting at Meta later this month, as a Research Engineer Intern on the Core Data Science team. |
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May 12, 2022 | I had two pieces accepted at IC2S2 this year: âDeterminants of Popularity in Online Media Consumptionâ and âAuditing TikTok: An Agent-Based Framework for Examining Algorithmic News Distributionâ. |
Mar 12, 2022 | I just finished up a 3-month research internship at Patreon, working with the great folks on their data science team to understand attention dynamics on a creator-focused platform. |
Mar 1, 2022 | My extended abstract âThe platformization of independent news: From blogging to newslettersâ got accepted to ICA 2022. |
Oct 18, 2021 | We wrote a summary of our recent Digital Journalism paper for Nieman Lab. |