Skip to content
People  •  Communication Studies  •  Postdoctoral Teaching Associate

Briana Trifiro

With a passion for teaching and a deep love for the vibrant city of Boston, Briana Trifiro is a dedicated educator and communication scholar. She brings a wealth of knowledge and enthusiasm to the classroom, inspiring students to explore the dynamic field of communication in a variety of ways. As an educator, she focuses on motivating her students to draw connections between the material and their own experiences. In the classroom, Trifiro facilitates learning by initially establishing a strong foundation of knowledge and ensuring that students comprehend course material. Following this, she provides examples from her research, personal experiences, and relevant current events in an effort to provide a safe space where students can apply course concepts to their everyday lives. Her approach to pedagogy ensures that every student who takes her courses leaves with lessons that last long after their final class. Trifiro is a firm believer that learning is a lifelong skill and seeks to connect with every student that walks through her door.

Outside of the classroom, Trifiro’s research is situated at the intersection of media psychology and political communication, with a broad focus on the micro- and macro- level effects of social and digital media consumption. Her research aims to understand the role of media use in how we see ourselves and the world around us. Her work has been published in journals such as Social Media + Society, Mass Communication and Society, and Journal of Communication in Healthcare. During her time at Boston University, she was selected to work as a Research Fellow for the American Heart Association’s Tobacco Center for Regulatory Science (A-TRAC), where she worked alongside her collaborators to research the advertising of synthetic nicotine products on Instagram.

In 2022, Trifiro was awarded the Promising Professor of the Year Award by the Mass Communication and Society Division of the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication. She was also awarded the Excellence in Graduate Teaching Award from Boston University in July 2022, the Excellence in Graduate Research Award from Boston University in July 2021, and the Distinguished Leadership Award from Boston University in July 2020.

Prior to pursuing her doctorate at Boston University, Trifiro received her MA in Communication from Bryant University in August 2018 and her BA in Communication from Bryant University in May 2017 (go Bulldogs!).

Research/Publications Highlights

Mays, K., Paik, S., Trifiro, B., & Katz, J. E. (2023). Coping during COVID-19: How attitudinal, efficacy, and personality differences drive adherence to protective measures. Journal of Communication in Healthcare, 1-14.

Trifiro, B. (2022). Breaking Your Boundaries: How TikTok use impacts privacy concerns among influencers. Mass Communication and Society. doi:10.1080/15205436.2022.2149414

Trifiro, B., Clarke, M., Huang, S., Mills, B., Ye, Y., Zhang, S., Zhou, M, & Su, C. (2022). Media Moments: How media events and business incentives drive Twitter engagement within the small business community. Social Network Analysis and Mining. 12(1),1-11. doi:10.1007/s13278-022-01003-6

Trifiro, B., Upadhyay, A., Liu, S., Zhang, Z., & Prena, K. (2022). Framing Facebook Content: An analysis of how framing strategies drive Facebook engagement. Journal of Promotion Management. doi:10.1080/10496491.2022.2060413

Trifiro, B., Wells, C., & Rochefort, A. (2022). The Disinfectant Diversion: The use of narratives in partisan news media. Mass Communication and Society, 25(6), 764-785. doi:10.1080/15205436.2022.2116719

Upadhyay, A. & Trifiro, B. (2022). Legislative Agenda-Setting Power of Social Media: #BlackLivesMatter and the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act of 2020. The Agenda Setting Journal. doi:10.1075/asj.21006.upa

Zhang, Y., & Trifiro, B. (2022). Who Portrayed it as “The Chinese Virus”? An analysis of the multi-platform partisan framing in US news coverage about China in the COVID-19 pandemic. International Journal of Communication, 16, 1027-1050.

Trifiro, B., Paik, S., Fang, Z., & Zhang, L. (2021). Politics and Politeness: Analysis of incivility on Twitter during the 2020 Democratic presidential primary. Social Media + Society, 7(3), doi:10.1177/20563051211036939

Trifiro, B., & Prena, K. (2021). Active Instagram use and its association with self-esteem and well-being. Technology, Mind, and Behavior, 2(3). doi:10.1037/tmb0000043

Trifiro, B., & Zhang, Y. (2021). Media vs. Candidates and Minorities vs. Majorities: Who sets the public’s agenda in the 2020 Democratic presidential primary?. The Agenda Setting Journal, 5(1), 84-106. doi:10.1075/asj.20009.tri

Trifiro, B. & Gerson, J. (2019). Passive and Active Use: Research note regarding the lack of validated measures within the discipline. Social Media + Society. 5(2). doi:10.1177/2056305119848743

Departments

Communication Studies

Education

  • BA, Communication – Bryant University
  • MA, Communication – Bryant University
  • PhD, Emerging Media Studies – Boston University

Awards

  • 2022 Promising Professor of the Year Award, Mass Communication and Society Division of the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication
  • 2022 Outstanding Teacher of the Year Award, Boston University’s Division of Emerging Media Studies
  • 2021 Excellence in Graduate Student Research Award, Boston University’s Division of Emerging Media Studies
  • 2020 Distinguished Leadership Award, Boston University’s Division of Emerging Media Studies