Towards a general research framework for social media research using big data

Author(s):  
Theodore Lynn ◽  
Philip Healy ◽  
Steven Kilroy ◽  
Graham Hunt ◽  
Lisa van der Werff ◽  
...  
2018 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 205395171880773 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cheryl Cooky ◽  
Jasmine R Linabary ◽  
Danielle J Corple

Social media offers an attractive site for Big Data research. Access to big social media data, however, is controlled by companies that privilege corporate, governmental, and private research firms. Additionally, Institutional Review Boards’ regulative practices and slow adaptation to emerging ethical dilemmas in online contexts creates challenges for Big Data researchers. We examine these challenges in the context of a feminist qualitative Big Data analysis of the hashtag event #WhyIStayed. We argue power, context, and subjugated knowledges must each be central considerations in conducting Big Data social media research. In doing so, this paper offers a feminist practice of holistic reflexivity in order to help social media researchers navigate and negotiate this terrain.


2017 ◽  
Vol 32 (1) ◽  
pp. 37-49 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christian Fuchs

This essay argues for a paradigm shift in the study of the Internet and digital/social media. Big data analytics is the dominant paradigm. It receives large amounts of funding, is administrative and a form of digital positivism. Critical social media research is an alternative approach that combines critical social media theory, critical digital methods and critical-realist social media research ethics. Strengthening the second approach is a material question of power in academia.


2018 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 205630511876829 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mary Elizabeth Luka ◽  
Mélanie Millette

In this article, we seek to problematize assumptions and trends in “big data” digital methods and research through an intersectional feminist lens. This is articulated through a commitment to understand how a feminist ethics of care and Donna Haraway’s ideas about “situated knowledge” could work methodologically for social media research. Taking up current debates within feminist materialism and digital data, including big, small, thick, and “lively” data, the argument addresses how a set of coherent feminist methods and a corollary epistemology is being rethought in the field today. We consider how the “queering” of Hannah Arendt’s concept of “action” could contribute to a critically optimistic and inclusive reflection on the role of ethical political commitments to the subjects/objects of study imbricated in big data. Finally, we use our recent research to pose a number of practical questions about practices of care in social media research, pointing toward future research directions.


2019 ◽  
Vol 74 (3) ◽  
pp. 517-531 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xi Yu Leung ◽  
Jie Sun ◽  
Billy Bai

Purpose The unprecedented growth of social media in the past decade has resulted in an increasing interest on social media research. The purpose of this study is to examine the state-of-the-art developments in social media research and to develop a thematic research framework. Design/methodology/approach The study reviewed 262 social media-related articles published in eight top hospitality and tourism journals between 2007 and 2017. Content analysis was used to code data from the selected articles, and correspondence analysis was then used to compare the characteristics of research conducted on different social media platforms. Findings A thematic framework of social media research was developed based on a thorough review and systematic examination of the articles. The thematic framework consisted of the three key players – hospitality and tourism businesses, social media platforms and consumers – along with four categories of topical areas – marketing, managerial implication, user-generated content and impact – and 19 research topics. Three platform groups were identified to share similar article characteristics and research attributes. Originality/value This study offers a systematic overview of social media research in hospitality and tourism and is the first one to identify triadic relationships of social media platforms in thematic research framework. The innovative findings of correspondence analysis offer insights on future social media research from a platform perspective.


2021 ◽  
pp. 136787792110035
Author(s):  
Mari Lehto ◽  
Susanna Paasonen

This article investigates the affective power of social media by analysing everyday encounters with parenting content among mothers. Drawing on data composed of diaries of social media use and follow-up interviews with six women, we ask how our study participants make sense of their experiences of parenting content and the affective intensities connected to it. Despite the negativity involved in reading and participating in parenting discussions, the participants find themselves wanting to maintain the very connections that irritate them, or even evoke a sense of failure, as these also yield pleasure, joy and recognition. We suggest that the ambiguities addressed in our research data speak of something broader than the specific experiences of the women in question. We argue that they point to the necessity of focusing on, and working through affective ambiguity in social media research in order to gain fuller understanding the complex appeal of platforms and exchanges.


2018 ◽  
Vol 13 (4) ◽  
pp. 452-454 ◽  
Author(s):  
G. Samuel ◽  
W. Ahmed ◽  
H. Kara ◽  
C. Jessop ◽  
S. Quinton ◽  
...  

This article reports on a U.K. workshop on social media research ethics held in May 2018. There were 10 expert speakers and an audience of researchers, research ethics committee members, and research institution representatives. Participants reviewed the current state of social media ethics, discussing well-rehearsed questions such as what needs consent in social media research, and how the public/private divide differs between virtual and real-life environments. The lack of answers to such questions was noted, along with the difficulties posed for ethical governance structures in general and the work of research ethics committees in particular. Discussions of these issues enabled the creation of two recommendations. The first is for research ethics committees and journal editors to add the category of ‘data subject research’ to the existing categories of ‘text research’ and ‘human subject research’. This would reflect the fact that social media research does not fall into either of the existing categories and so needs a category of its own. The second is that ethical issues should be considered at all stages of social media research, up to and including aftercare. This acknowledges that social media research throws up a large number of ethical issues throughout the process which, under current arrangements for ethical research governance, risks remaining unaddressed.


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