Malene Charlotte Larsen is an associate professor of social media at Aalborg University, where she has studied children's and young people's digital lives since the mid-2000s. She leads the research group Digital Media in Everyday Life and heads the SoMeWell project, which investigates how 11-to-17-year-olds decode the design mechanisms platforms use to keep users engaged. As a speaker, she translates current research on algorithms, platform design and digital well-being for parents, teachers and professionals.
Malene Charlotte Larsen has been appointed as a child expert member of the Media Council for Children and Young People for the period 10 November 2025 to 30 April 2029.
She published a peer-reviewed article in Pedagogical Psychological Journal (no. 62, 4, pp. 32-42) about children, young people and social media.
The book 'Social Media Across Everyday Contexts: Digital Childhood and Youth in the Nordics', written together with Stine Liv Johansen, was published by Samfundslitteratur.
The SoMeWell project is underway and investigates how children and young people aged 11-17 years decode the design mechanisms that social media use.
