scholarly journals Knowing the Tweeters: Deriving Sociologically Relevant Demographics from Twitter

2013 ◽  
Vol 18 (3) ◽  
pp. 74-84 ◽  
Author(s):  
Luke Sloan ◽  
Jeffrey Morgan ◽  
William Housley ◽  
Matthew Williams ◽  
Adam Edwards ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Spatial Information ◽  
Demographic Data ◽  
Social Science Research ◽  
Science Research ◽  
Geographical Information ◽  
Online Social Media ◽  
Twitter Users ◽  
Use Of Social Media ◽  
The Uk

A perennial criticism regarding the use of social media in social science research is the lack of demographic information associated with naturally occurring mediated data such as that produced by Twitter. However the fact that demographics information is not explicit does not mean that it is not implicitly present. Utilising the Cardiff Online Social Media ObServatory (COSMOS) this paper suggests various techniques for establishing or estimating demographic data from a sample of more than 113 million Twitter users collected during July 2012. We discuss in detail the methods that can be used for identifying gender and language and illustrate that the proportion of males and females using Twitter in the UK reflects the gender balance observed in the 2011 Census. We also expand on the three types of geographical information that can be derived from Tweets either directly or by proxy and how spatial information can be used to link social media with official curated data. Whilst we make no grand claims about the representative nature of Twitter users in relation to the wider UK population, the derivation of demographic data demonstrates the potential of new social media (NSM) for the social sciences. We consider this paper a clarion call and hope that other researchers test the methods we suggest and develop them further.

On-Air and Online: Social Media and Local Radio Production in the UK

MedienJournal ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 39 (2) ◽  
pp. 5-18
Author(s):  
Anna Zoellner ◽  
Stephen Lax
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Radio Stations ◽  
Broadcast Media ◽  
Online Social Media ◽  
The Social ◽  
Use Of Social Media ◽  
The Uk ◽  
Media Practices ◽  
The Relationship

Digitalisation and the emergence of online media in particular have led to intense debates about its effects on what is now often called “traditional media” including broadcast media such as radio. Our paper investigates how radio stations’ expansion into online space has transformed radio production. Focusing on the relationship between station and listeners, it discusses the social media practices of radio producers and explores whether these new digital tools contribute to a shift towards a more participatory production culture. The paper draws on data from a multi-method case study investigation of local British radio stations that combined programme analysis, expert interviews and web analysis. The study highlighted a shared belief among producers in the importance and value of social media for achieving audience loyalty and engagement. Nevertheless –not least due to a lack of additional resources –their use of social media is mainly an extension of traditional journalistic and promotional tech niques. Its potential for listener involvement in the production process is not met and exchanges with the audiences remain in the digital realm without impact on the on-air listener experience.  

scholarly journals Using social media images as data in social science research

2021 ◽  
pp. 146144482110387
Author(s):  
Yan Chen ◽  
Kate Sherren ◽  
Michael Smit ◽  
Kyung Young Lee
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Social Science ◽  
Narrative Analysis ◽  
Ethical Issues ◽  
Social Science Research ◽  
Science Research ◽  
Learning Technologies ◽  
Media Analysis ◽  
Media Images ◽  
Use Of Social Media

We conducted a scoping review to identify and describe trends in the use of social media images as data sources to inform social science research in published articles from 2015 to 2019. The identified trends include the following: (1) there is increasing interest in social media images as research data, especially in disciplines like sociology, cultural studies, communication and environmental studies; (2) the photo sample size is often smaller than that is typically used in text-based social media analysis and usually is collected manually; (3) thematic coding, object recognition and narrative analysis are the most popular analysis methods that are often conducted manually; (4) computer vision and machine-learning technologies have been increasingly but still infrequently used and are not fit for all purposes; and (5) relatively few papers mention ethics and privacy issues, or apply strategies to address ethical issues. We identify noteworthy research gaps, and opportunities to address limitations and challenges.

scholarly journals Predicting ethnicity with first names in online social media networks

2018 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 205395171876114 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bas Hofstra ◽  
Niek C de Schipper
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Social Science Research ◽  
Science Research ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Social Scientists ◽  
Social Media Networks ◽  
Social Network Data ◽  
Online Social Media ◽  
Future Research Directions ◽  
Predicted Values

Social scientists increasingly use (big) social media data to illuminate long-standing substantive questions in social science research. However, a key challenge of analyzing such data is their lower level of individual detail compared to highly detailed survey data. This limits the scope of substantive questions that can be addressed with these data. In this study, we provide a method to upgrade individual detail in terms of ethnicity in data gathered from social media via the use of register data. Our research aim is twofold: first, we predict the most likely value of ethnicity, given one's first name, and second, we show how one can test hypotheses with the predicted values for ethnicity as an independent variable while simultaneously accounting for the uncertainty in these predictions. We apply our method to social network data collected from Facebook. We illustrate our approach and provide an example of hypothesis testing using our procedure, i.e., estimating the relation between predicted network ethnic homogeneity on Facebook and trust in institutions. In a comparison of our method with two other methods, we find that our method provides the most conservative tests of hypotheses. We discuss the promise of our approach and pinpoint future research directions.

scholarly journals Towards an Ethical Framework for Publishing Twitter Data in Social Research: Taking into Account Users’ Views, Online Context and Algorithmic Estimation

Sociology ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 51 (6) ◽  
pp. 1149-1168 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matthew L Williams ◽  
Pete Burnap ◽  
Luke Sloan
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Online Survey ◽  
Social Research ◽  
Social Science Research ◽  
Science Research ◽  
Ethical Framework ◽  
Twitter Data ◽  
Public Nature ◽  
Twitter Users ◽  
Online Disinhibition

New and emerging forms of data, including posts harvested from social media sites such as Twitter, have become part of the sociologist’s data diet. In particular, some researchers see an advantage in the perceived ‘public’ nature of Twitter posts, representing them in publications without seeking informed consent. While such practice may not be at odds with Twitter’s terms of service, we argue there is a need to interpret these through the lens of social science research methods that imply a more reflexive ethical approach than provided in ‘legal’ accounts of the permissible use of these data in research publications. To challenge some existing practice in Twitter-based research, this article brings to the fore: (1) views of Twitter users through analysis of online survey data; (2) the effect of context collapse and online disinhibition on the behaviours of users; and (3) the publication of identifiable sensitive classifications derived from algorithms.

On-Air and Online: Social Media and Local Radio Production in the UK

MedienJournal ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 39 (2) ◽  
pp. 5
Author(s):  
Anna Zoellner ◽  
Stephen Lax
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Radio Stations ◽  
Broadcast Media ◽  
Online Social Media ◽  
The Social ◽  
Use Of Social Media ◽  
The Uk ◽  
Media Practices ◽  
The Relationship

Digitalisation and the emergence of online media in particular have led to intense debates about its effects on what is now often called “traditional media” including broadcast media such as radio. Our paper investigates how radio stations’ expansion into online space has transformed radio production. Focusing on the relationship between station and listeners, it discusses the social media practices of radio producers and explores whether these new digital tools contribute to a shift towards a more participatory production culture. The paper draws on data from a multi-method case study investigation of local British radio stations that combined programme analysis, expert interviews and web analysis. The study highlighted a shared belief among producers in the importance and value of social media for achieving audience loyalty and engagement. Nevertheless –not least due to a lack of additional resources –their use of social media is mainly an extension of traditional journalistic and promotional tech niques. Its potential for listener involvement in the production process is not met and exchanges with the audiences remain in the digital realm without impact on the on-air listener experience.  

Factor Analysis among the variables relating to purpose of using social media websites and nonacceptance of social media in recruitment

2020 ◽  
pp. 245-248
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Factor Analysis ◽  
Social Science Research ◽  
Cost Effective ◽  
Science Research ◽  
Recruitment Strategies ◽  
Job Seeking ◽  
Hiring Process ◽  
To Come ◽  
New Strategies

In the era of Globalization, advancement of technology and stiff competition, particularly, in the I.T. Industry, companies have to adopt new H.R. strategies and practices so as to constantly evolve and grow. In this context, existing recruitment strategies have to be replaced by new strategies. Many companies are now extensively depending on the internet to connect to larger audiences globally. Organizations are in a position to attract profiles, resumes from potential candidates by announcing their vacancies on their own websites. E-recruitment is evoking interest among the companies typically over the last few years. The spread of information technology and growth of Internet has paved way for companies willing to hunt for talent on the job seeking websites. In the years to come, social networking will soon be an indispensable part of the hiring process. It is cost effective, does not require setting up an office and forms an effective tool for recruiters. The main purpose of this study was to understand the application of factor analysis in social science research and to reduce a large number of variables into manageable smaller factors for further analysis of the employers’ perception on social media recruitment with reference to the I.T. Sector in Bangalore.

ESRC Review

2020 ◽  
pp. 657-698
Author(s):  
Simeon J. Yates ◽  
Jordana Blejmar
Keyword(s):  
Social Research ◽  
Social Science Research ◽  
Research Work ◽  
Science Research ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
The Us ◽  
Levels Of Automation ◽  
The Uk ◽  
Technological World ◽  
Ways Of Being

Two workshops were part of the final steps in the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) commissioned Ways of Being in a Digital Age project that is the basis for this Handbook. The ESRC project team coordinated one with the UK Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (ESRC-DSTL) Workshop, “The automation of future roles”; and one with the US National Science Foundation (ESRC-NSF) Workshop, “Changing work, changing lives in the new technological world.” Both workshops sought to explore the key future social science research questions arising for ever greater levels of automation, use of artificial intelligence, and the augmentation of human activity. Participants represented a wide range of disciplinary, professional, government, and nonprofit expertise. This chapter summarizes the separate and then integrated results. First, it summarizes the central social and economic context, the method and project context, and some basic definitional issues. It then identifies 11 priority areas needing further research work that emerged from the intense interactions, discussions, debates, clustering analyses, and integration activities during and after the two workshops. Throughout, it summarizes how subcategories of issues within each cluster relate to central issues (e.g., from users to global to methods) and levels of impacts (from wider social to community and organizational to individual experiences and understandings). Subsections briefly describe each of these 11 areas and their cross-cutting issues and levels. Finally, it provides a detailed Appendix of all the areas, subareas, and their specific questions.

scholarly journals Users and Social Science Research: Policy, Problems and Possibilities

1997 ◽  
Vol 2 (3) ◽  
pp. 69-81 ◽  
Author(s):  
B. Rappert
Keyword(s):  
Research Policy ◽  
Social Research ◽  
Public Funding ◽  
Social Science Research ◽  
Academic Research ◽  
User Involvement ◽  
Science Research ◽  
Research Process ◽  
The Uk ◽  
Policy Problems

Recent times have seen a significant reorientation in public funding for academic research across many countries. Public bodies in the UK have been at the forefront of such activities, typically justified in terms of a need to meet the challenges of international competitiveness and improve quality of life. One set of mechanisms advanced for further achieving these goals is the incorporation of users’ needs into various aspects of the research process. This paper examines some of the consequences of greater user involvement in the UK Economic and Social Research Council by drawing on both empirical evidence and more speculative argumentation. In doing so it poses some of the dilemmas for conceptualizing proper user involvement.

scholarly journals Piracy and the Politics of Social Media

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Martin Fredriksson Almqvist
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Common Knowledge ◽  
Academic Research ◽  
Wall Street ◽  
Single Issue ◽  
Political Issues ◽  
The Usa ◽  
Information Politics ◽  
Use Of Social Media ◽  
The Uk

Since the 1990s, the understanding of how and where politics is made has changed radically. Scholars such as Ulrich Beck and Maria Bakardjieva have discussed how political agency is enacted outside of conventional party organizations, and political struggles increasingly focus on single issues. Over the past two decades, this transformation of politics has become common knowledge, not only in academic research but also in the general political discourse. Recently, the proliferation of digital activism and the political use of social media is often understood to enforce these tendencies. This article analyzes the Pirate Party in relation to these theories, relying on almost 30 interviews with active Pirate Party members in Sweden, the UK, Germany, the USA, and Australia. The Pirate Party was initially formed in 2006, focusing on copyright, piracy, and digital privacy. Over the years, it has developed into a more general democracy movement, with an interest in a wider range of issues. This article analyses how the party’s initial focus on information politics and social media connects to a wider range of political issues and to other social movements, such as Arab Spring protests and Occupy Wall Street. Finally, it discusses how this challenges the understanding of information politics as a single issue agenda.

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