scholarly journals Digital Methods for Hashtag Engagement Research

2020 ◽  
Vol 6 (3) ◽  
pp. 205630512094069
Author(s):  
Janna Joceli Omena ◽  
Elaine Teixeira Rabello ◽  
André Goes Mintz
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Online Activity ◽  
Online Engagement ◽  
Digital Methods ◽  
Media Research ◽  
Social Media Research ◽  
Corpus Selection ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Digital Research

This article seeks to contribute to the field of digital research by critically accounting for the relationship between hashtags and their forms of grammatization—the platform techno-materialization process of online activity. We approach hashtags as sociotechnical formations that serve social media research not only as criteria in corpus selection but also displaying the complexity of the online engagement and its entanglement with the technicity of web platforms. Therefore, the study of hashtag engagement requires a grasping of the functioning of the platform itself (technicity) along with the platform grammatization. In this respect, we propose the three-layered (3L) perspective for addressing hashtag engagement. The first contemplates potential differences between high-visibility and ordinary hashtag usage culture, its related actors, and content. The second focuses on hashtagging activity and the repurposing of how hashtags can be differently embedded into social media databases. The last layer looks particularly into the images and texts to which hashtags are brought to relation. To operationalize the 3L framework, we draw on the case of the “impeachment-cum-coup” of Brazilian president Dilma Rousseff. When cross-read, the three layers add value to one another, providing also difference visions of the high-visibility and ordinary groups.

scholarly journals From digital positivism and administrative big data analytics towards critical digital and social media research!

2017 ◽  
Vol 32 (1) ◽  
pp. 37-49 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christian Fuchs
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Big Data ◽  
Data Analytics ◽  
Big Data Analytics ◽  
Critical Realist ◽  
Alternative Approach ◽  
Digital Methods ◽  
Media Research ◽  
Social Media Research ◽  
Critical Social

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.

scholarly journals The Role of Subjective Construals on Reporting and Reasoning about Social Media Use

2021 ◽  
Vol 7 (3) ◽  
pp. 205630512110353
Author(s):  
Angela Y. Lee ◽  
Roberta Katz ◽  
Jeffrey Hancock
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Qualitative Analysis ◽  
Media Effects ◽  
Media Use ◽  
Social Media Use ◽  
Media Research ◽  
Social Media Research ◽  
Survey Methodologies ◽  
The Relationship

The ways people estimate and make sense of the time they spend with social media should be influenced by the subjective construals that they draw on to guide their perceptions and behaviors on social media. Through qualitative analysis of 60 interviews, we identify how subjective construals of social media can influence two distinct processes relevant to the study of social media effects. First, we find that the process of estimating and self-reporting time spent on social media is influenced by differences in how people construed “social media” in field-standard questions. Conceptual variability in definitions of “social media,” aggregated time spent across multiple sessions and platforms, and perceived norms about use affected their responses. Second, we find that participants’ reasoning about the role of social media in their lives revolved around two key construals about the valence of its effects (positive vs negative) and their perceived agency relative to social media (being in control vs subject to control). People who felt in control of their use also viewed social media more positively, and those who felt controlled by social media viewed it more negatively. These conceptualizations of the nature and effects of social media use—which we discuss as social media mindsets—were closely tied to behaviors and outcomes. These two findings have fundamental implications not only for survey methodologies in social media research but also for how we conceptualize the relationship between social media use and psychological outcomes.

scholarly journals What Is “Publicly Available Data”? Exploring Blurred Public–Private Boundaries and Ethical Practices Through a Case Study on Instagram

2019 ◽  
Vol 15 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 40-45 ◽  
Author(s):  
Signe Ravn ◽  
Ashley Barnwell ◽  
Barbara Barbosa Neves
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Research Ethics ◽  
Family Life ◽  
Ethical Challenges ◽  
Ethical Practices ◽  
Media Research ◽  
Social Media Research ◽  
Digital Research

This article adds to the literature on ethics in digital research by problematizing simple understandings of what constitutes “publicly available data,” thereby complicating common “consent waiver” approaches. Based on our recent study of representations of family life on Instagram, a platform with a distinct visual premise, we discuss the ethical challenges we encountered and our practices for moving forward. We ground this in Lauren Berlant’s concept of “intimate publics” to conceptualize the different understandings of “publics” that appear to be at play. We make the case for a more reflexive approach to social media research ethics that builds on the socio-techno-ethical affordances of the platform to address difficult questions about how to determine social media users’ diverse, and sometimes contradictory, understandings of what is “public.”

scholarly journals ‘I feel the irritation and frustration all over the body’ Affective ambiguities in networked parenting culture

2021 ◽  
pp. 136787792110035
Author(s):  
Mari Lehto ◽  
Susanna Paasonen
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Media Use ◽  
Research Data ◽  
The Body ◽  
Social Media Use ◽  
Working Through ◽  
Media Research ◽  
Social Media Research ◽  
Study Participants

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.

scholarly journals Is It Time to Re-Evaluate the Ethics Governance of Social Media Research?

2018 ◽  
Vol 13 (4) ◽  
pp. 452-454 ◽  
Author(s):  
G. Samuel ◽  
W. Ahmed ◽  
H. Kara ◽  
C. Jessop ◽  
S. Quinton ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Research Ethics ◽  
Ethical Issues ◽  
Real Life ◽  
Ethics Committees ◽  
Research Ethics Committees ◽  
Media Ethics ◽  
Research Institution ◽  
Media Research ◽  
Social Media Research

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.

scholarly journals Navigating Big Data dilemmas: Feminist holistic reflexivity in social media research

2018 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 205395171880773 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cheryl Cooky ◽  
Jasmine R Linabary ◽  
Danielle J Corple
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Big Data ◽  
Institutional Review Boards ◽  
Social Media Data ◽  
Institutional Review ◽  
Slow Adaptation ◽  
Private Research ◽  
Media Research ◽  
Social Media Research ◽  
Media Data

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.

scholarly journals EASY DATA, USUAL SUSPECTS, SAME OLD PLACES? A SYSTEMATIC REVIEW OF METHODOLOGICAL APPROACHES IN DIGITAL ACTIVISM RESEARCH BETWEEN 1995-2019

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Suay Melisa Ozkula ◽  
Paul Reilly ◽  
Jennifer Hayes
Keyword(s):  
Systematic Review ◽  
Digital Activism ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
Online Platforms ◽  
Traditional Research ◽  
Digital Methods ◽  
Media Research ◽  
Social Media Research ◽  
Methodological Approaches ◽  
The Arab Spring

Burgess and Bruns (2015) have linked the computational turn in social media research to a rise in studies that focus exclusively on ‘easy’ data, such as the ‘low hanging fruit’ provided by Twitter hashtags. This paper set out to explore whether this preponderance of easy data and studies focused on the 2011-12 protests is evident in research between 1995 and 2019 through a systematic review of digital activism literature (N = 1444). A particular focus of the review was the extent to which digital activism research revolved around the use of computational digital methods, case studies based in Europe and North America and data gathered from single online platforms (e.g. Twitter). The review showed that most of these studies focused on social movements, campaigns, activists, and parties based in the United Kingdom and United States, and were conducted by researchers based in universities in these countries. In contrast, there were relatively few articles addressing activism, institutions and platforms in non-Western /Global South contexts with the exception of the Arab Spring in 2011. In terms of methodological approaches, traditional research methods and big data digital methods studies were prevalent. In response to the easy data hypothesis, the study found that Twitter was the most researched platform in the corpus, but that digital methods were not as commonly deployed in these articles as traditional methods. Thus, the paper concludes argues in favor of greater diversity in digital activism research in terms of its methods, participants, and countries of origin.

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