He has developed three major lines of inquiry, with his most recent work extending insights and techniques from his prior examinations of the influence of message construction and online interactions on political life to the development and deployment of digital technologies for individual and community health. These programs of research center on: (1) the influence of message construction and processing on social evaluations, judgments and behaviors; (2) the capacity of mass and interpersonal communication, especially in online communities, to shape civic engagement, political participation, and social trust; and (3) the effects of computer-mediated interactions, especially online support expression, on the management of cancer, aging, and addiction (link to CV). Across these domains, he has increasingly applied computational techniques to tackle social science questions, using natural language processing, digital trace data, network mapping, and predictive analytics using natural language processing, digital trace data, network mapping, and predictive analytics to study the role of communication in politics and health.