Dr. E.J.T. (Esther) Weltevrede
Associate Professor
Faculty of Humanities
Departement Mediastudies
Visiting address
- Turfdraagsterpad 15
Postal address
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Postbus 94550
1090 GN Amsterdam
Contact details
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Profile
Esther Weltevrede is an Associate Professor of New Media and Digital Culture in the Media Studies department at the University of Amsterdam. Her research examines the research affordances of digital media, with a particular focus on conceptual and methodological advancements in studying mobile apps, platforms, and the market dynamics of social media engagements.
Her work has been featured in renowned, peer-reviewed journals such as Theory, Culture & Society, Journal of Cultural Economy, Social Media + Society, New Media & Society, Computational Culture, Platform & Society, and Big Data & Society. Esther is a founding member and co-director of the App Studies Initiative (ASI) and also co-coordinates the Digital Methods Initiative (DMI). In addition, she contributes to the Beyond Verification (BV) research group and Public Data Lab (PDL), and serves on the steering committee for the cross-faculty Digital Citizenship research program at UvA. Her project on Apps and Data Infrastructures has been supported by a research grant from the Dutch Research Council (NWO).
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Publications
2026
- van der Vlist, F. N., Helmond, A., & Weltevrede, E. J. T. (2026). App Ecosystem Analysis. In G. Goggin, & L. Hjorth (Eds.), The Routledge Companion to Mobile Media (2nd ed., pp. 299–310). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003166016-38
2025
- Weltevrede, E. J. T., Helmond, A., van der Vlist, F. N., Duguay, S., & Dieter, M. (in press). Gatekeepers of the mobile ecosystem: Understanding app store moderation. In R. Rogers (Ed.), Content Moderation across Social Media Platforms Amsterdam University Press. https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.5292303
van der Vlist, F. N., Helmond, A., Dieter, M., & Weltevrede, E. (2025). Super-appification: Conglomeration in the global digital economy. New Media & Society, 27(6), 3314-3337. https://doi.org/10.1177/14614448231223419 [details]
2024
- Lindquist, J., & Weltevrede, E. (2024). Authenticity Governance and the Market for Social Media Engagements: The Shaping of Disinformation at the Peripheries of Platform Ecosystems. Social Media + Society, 10(1). https://doi.org/10.1177/20563051231224721 [details]
- Weltevrede, E., & Lindquist, J. (2024). The platformization of the follower factory: Para-platforms, automation, and labor in the market for social media engagements. Platforms & Society, 1. https://doi.org/10.1177/29768624241297751 [details]
- van der Vlist, F., Helmond, A., Weltevrede, E., Dieter, M., Duguay, S., Emsley, I., Zhang, F., Burton, A. G., Dietzel, C., Filice, E., Parry, D. C., & Johnson, C. W. (2024). Exploring Appification. In AoIR2024: Research from the Annual Conference of the Association of Internet Researchers (Selected Papers in Internet Research; Vol. 2024). Association of Internet Researchers. https://doi.org/10.5210/spir.v2024i0.14099 [details]
2023
- Burton, A. G., Chun, W. H. K., Bounegru, L., Devries, M., Harris, A., Holtzclaw, H., Jucan, I., Juhasz, A., Kamish, D. W., Langlois, G., Proctor, J., Tomlinson, C., Vasudevan, R., & Weltevrede, E. (2023). Algorithmic Authenticity. Meson Press. https://doi.org/10.14619/2102 [details]
- van der Vlist, F., Helmond, A., Dieter, M., & Weltevrede, E. (2023). Super-Appification: Conglomeration in the Mobile Ecosystem. In AoIR2023: Research from the Annual Conference of the Association of Internet Researchers (Selected Papers in Internet Research; Vol. 2023). Association of Internet Researchers. https://doi.org/10.5210/spir.v2023i0.13509 [details]
2022
- Bounegru, L., Devries, M., & Weltevrede, E. (2022). The Research Persona Method: Figuring and Reconfiguring Personalised Information Flows. In C. Lury, W. Viney, & S. Wark (Eds.), Figure: Concept and Method (pp. 77-104). Palgrave Macmillan. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-19-2476-7_5 [details]
2021
- Dieter, M., Helmond, A., Tkacz, N., van der Vlist, F., & Weltevrede, E. (2021). Pandemic platform governance: Mapping the global ecosystem of COVID-19 response apps. Internet Policy Review, 10(3). https://doi.org/10.14763/2021.3.1568 [details]
- Weltevrede, E. (2021). Apps and Their Affordances for Data Investigations. In L. Bounegru, & J. Gray (Eds.), The Data Journalism Handbook: Towards A Critical Data Practice (pp. 246-256). (Digital Studies). Amsterdam University Press. https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctv1qr6smr.37, https://doi.org/10.5117/9789462989511_ch34, https://doi.org/10.1017/9789048542079.035 [details]
2020
- Gerlitz, C., & Weltevrede, E. (2020). What happens to ANT, and its emphasis on the socio-material grounding of the social, in digital sociology? In A. Blok, I. Farías, & C. Roberts (Eds.), The Routledge Companion to Actor-Network Theory (pp. 345-356). (Routledge companions). Routledge. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315111667-38 [details]
2019
- Dieter, M., Gerlitz, C., Helmond, A., Tkacz, N., van der Vlist, F. N., & Weltevrede, E. (2019). Multi-Situated App Studies: Methods and Propositions. Social Media + Society, 5(2). https://doi.org/10.1177/2056305119846486 [details]
- Gerlitz, C., Helmond, A., van der Vlist, F. N., & Weltevrede, E. (2019). Regramming the Platform: Infrastructural Relations between Apps and Social Media. Computational Culture, 7. http://computationalculture.net/regramming-the-platform/ [details]
- Weltevrede, E., & Jansen, F. (2019). Infrastructures of Intimate Data: Mapping the Inbound and Outbound Data Flows of Dating Apps. Computational Culture, 7. http://computationalculture.net/infrastructures-of-intimate-data-mapping-the-inbound-and-outbound-data-flows-of-dating-apps/ [details]
2017
- Borra, E., Niederer, S., Preuß, J., & Weltevrede, E. (2017). Mapping troll-like practices on twitter. In L. Bounegru, J. Gray, T. Venturini, & M. Mauri (Eds.), A 'Field Guide' to 'Fake News' and Other Information Disorders: A collection of recipes for those who love to cook with digital methods (pp. 161-196). Public Data Lab. [details]
- Pentzold, C., Weltevrede, E., Mauri, M., Laniado, D., Kaltenbrunner, A., & Borra, E. (2017). Digging Wikipedia: The Online Encyclopedia as a Digital Cultural Heritage Gateway and Site. ACM journal on computing and cultural heritage : JOCCH, 10(1), Article 5. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1145/3012285 [details]
2016
- Gerlitz, C., Helmond, A., van der Vlist, F., & Weltevrede, E. (2016). App Studies: Platform Rules and Methodological Challenges: panel overview. In Selected papers of AoIR 2016: The 17th Annual Conference of the Association of Internet Reseachers: Berlin, Germany, 5-8 October 2016 (Selected Papers of Internet Research; Vol. 2016). Association of Internet Researchers. https://spir.aoir.org/ojs/index.php/spir/article/view/8431 [details]
- Weltevrede, E., & Borra, E. (2016). Platform affordances and data practices: The value of dispute on Wikipedia. Big Data & Society, 3(1). https://doi.org/10.1177/2053951716653418 [details]
2015
- Borra, E., Weltevrede, E., Ciuccarelli, P., Kaltenbrunner, A., Laniado, D., Magni, G., Mauri, M., Rogers, R., & Venturini, T. (2015). Societal Controversies in Wikipedia Articles. In CHI 2015 : Crossings: proceedings of the 33rd annual CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems : April 18-23, 2015, Seoul, Republic of Korea (pp. 193-196). Association for Computing Machinery. https://doi.org/10.1145/2702123.2702436 [details]
2014
- Weltevrede, E., Helmond, A., & Gerlitz, C. (2014). The Politics of Real-time: A Device Perspective on Social Media Platforms and Search Engines. Theory, Culture and Society, 31(6), 125-150. https://doi.org/10.1177/0263276414537318 [details]
2013
- Marres, N., & Weltevrede, E. (2013). Scraping the social? Issues in real-time social research. Journal of Cultural Economy, 6(3), 313-335. https://doi.org/10.1080/17530350.2013.772070 [details]
- Rogers, R., Weltevrede, E., Borra, E., & Niederer, S. (2013). National Web Studies: The Case of Iran Online. In J. Hartley, J. Burgess, & A. Bruns (Eds.), A Companion to New Media Dynamics (pp. 142-166). Blackwell. https://doi.org/10.1002/9781118321607.ch8 [details]
2012
- Weltevrede, E., & Helmond, A. (2012). Where do bloggers blog? Platform transitions within the historical Dutch blogosphere. First Monday, 17(2). https://doi.org/10.5210/fm.v17i2.3775 [details]
2025
- van der Vlist, F., & Weltevrede, E. (2025). Editorial Introduction: Appification in the Age of AI. In F. van der Vlist, & E. Weltevrede (Eds.), Appification in the Age of AI: Exploring AI App Cultures and Economies (pp. 6–24). (ASI Sprint Report; Vol. 2). App Studies Initiative. https://doi.org/10.17605/osf.io/hv34x [details]
- van der Vlist, F., & Weltevrede, E. (Eds.) (2025). Appification in the Age of AI: Exploring AI App Cultures and Economies. (ASI Sprint Report; Vol. 2). App Studies Initiative. https://doi.org/10.17605/osf.io/hv34x [details]
2024
- van der Vlist, F., & Weltevrede, E. (2024). Editorial Introduction: The Nationality of Apps? In F. van der Vlist, & E. Weltevrede (Eds.), The Nationality of Apps: Exploring National App Cultures and Economies (pp. 6-17). (ASI Sprint Report; Vol. 1). App Studies Initiative. https://doi.org/10.17605/osf.io/hv34x [details]
- van der Vlist, F., & Weltevrede, E. (Eds.) (2024). The Nationality of Apps: Exploring National App Cultures and Economies. (ASI Sprint Report; Vol. 1). App Studies Initiative. https://doi.org/10.17605/osf.io/hv34x [details]
2021
- Lindquist, J. (Author), & Weltevrede, E. (Author). (2021). Negotiating Authenticity in the Market for Fake Followers on Social Media. Web publication or website, Items – Insights from the Social Sciences. https://items.ssrc.org/beyond-disinformation/negotiating-authenticity-in-the-market-for-fake-followers-on-social-media/ [details]
2015
- Borra, E., Laniado, D., Weltevrede, E., Mauri, M., Magni, G., Venturini, T., Ciuccarelli, P., Rogers, R., & Kaltenbrunner, A. (2015). A Platform for Visually Exploring the Development of Wikipedia Articles. In Proceedings of the Ninth International Conference on Web and Social Media: ICWSM 2015: University of Oxford, Oxford, UK, May 26-29, 2015 (pp. 711-712). AAAI Press. https://www.aaai.org/ocs/index.php/ICWSM/ICWSM15/paper/view/10565 [details]
2014
- Borra, E., Weltevrede, E., Ciuccarelli, P., Kaltenbrunner, A., Laniado, D., Magni, G., Mauri, M., Rogers, R., & Venturini, T. (2014). Contropedia - the analysis and visualization of controversies in Wikipedia articles. In OPENSYM: proceedings of the 10th International Symposium on Open Collaboration: August 27-29, 2014, Berlin, Germany Article G5 Association for Computing Machinery. https://doi.org/10.1145/2641580.2641622 [details]
- Kaltenbrunner, A., Laniado, D., Ciuccarelli, P., Mauri, M., Rogers, R., Borra, E., Weltevrede, E., & Venturini, T. (2014). Contropedia: Analysis and visualization of controversies within Wikipedia articles . Software https://contropedia.net
2011
- Weltevrede, E. (2011). Digital methods to study digital natives with a cause. In N. Shah, & F. Jansen (Eds.), Digital alternatives with a cause? Book two: to think (pp. 10-23). The Centre for Internet and Society / Hivos. http://cis-india.org/digital-natives/dnbook2/at_download/file [details]
Prize / grant
- Helmond, A., Weltevrede, E. & van der Vlist, F. (2020). COVID-19 App Store and Data Flow Ecologies. https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=ES/V004905/1
- Weltevrede, E. (2019). Data infrastructures: Research affordances of the new socio-technical data of apps. https://www.nwo.nl/en/projects/viveni191c048
2023
- van der Vlist, F., Helmond, A., Dieter, M. & Weltevrede, E. (1-6-2023). Global ‘super-app’ landscape. Open Science Framework. https://doi.org/10.17605/osf.io/fetps
2022
- van der Vlist, F., Helmond, A., Chao, J., Dieter, M., Tkacz, N. & Weltevrede, E. (2022). Historical [COVID-19]-related Android (Google Play) and iOS (App Store) app ecosystems, 2020–2022. Open Science Framework. https://doi.org/10.17605/osf.io/2hbnu
- van der Vlist, F., Helmond, A., Gerlitz, C. & Weltevrede, E. (2022). Social media-related Android (Google Play) and iOS (iTunes Store) app ecosystems. Open Science Framework. https://doi.org/10.17605/osf.io/n3mpj
2021
- van der Vlist, F., Helmond, A., Chao, J., Dieter, M., Tkacz, N. & Weltevrede, E. (2021). [COVID-19]-related Android (Google Play) and iOS (App Store) app ecosystems. Open Science Framework. https://doi.org/10.17605/osf.io/wq3dr
2020
- Helmond, A., Chao, J., Dieter, M., Tkacz, N., van der Vlist, F. & Weltevrede, E. (2020). COVID-19 Apps (Collection). Internet Archive. https://archive.org/details/COVID-19_Apps
2019
- van der Vlist, F., Helmond, A. & Weltevrede, E. (12-1-2019). Historical Google Play and iTunes (App) Store charts, 2010–2019. Open Science Framework. https://doi.org/10.17605/osf.io/t29g8
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Ancillary activities
- No ancillary activities
- No ancillary activities
van der Vlist, F. N., Helmond, A., Dieter, M., & Weltevrede, E. (2025). Super-appification: Conglomeration in the global digital economy. New Media & Society, 27(6), 3314-3337.