Brian D. Loader is a political sociologist at the University of York, UK.  His academic interests are focussed around social relations of power in a digitally mediated world including social media and citizenship participation. More specifically his research interest is in young citizens, civic engagement and social media; social movements and digital democracy; community informatics and the digital divide. He is the founding Editor of the international journal Information, Communication and Society. Recent books include Young Citizens in the Digital Age (Routledge, 2007); Social Media and Democracy (Routledge, 2012) and The Networked Young Citizen: social media, political participation and civic engagement, (edited with Ariadne Vromen and Mike Xenos), New York: Routledge. (2014). He can be contacted at brian.loader@york.ac.uk.