About The Book

A bit more about the book.

Introduction to Social Media Research: Theory and Application is an extensive, fundamental reference work for social media scholars, students, and practitioners across various disciplines to conduct social media research scientifically and systematically. Written by an experienced local and international multidisciplinary team, the authors bring depth and individuality to their respective chapters. The authors do not align with individual academic or professional disciplines but allow readers from any branch of learning to gain theoretical and practical knowledge about the social media research process when following the scientific method. As such, the book serves as a portal for social media research and a starting point for any investigation or study about social media. The book was written to appeal to novices as well as those who are more experienced in social media research.

The Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) has ushered in a new era with emerging technologies which means more data for research is being generated than ever before. As a result, researchers also have more opportunities to make a positive impact with their research, especially since social media research has become more established. Nevertheless, conducting a social media study remains complex and requires wide-ranging knowledge of all its aspects such as adopting a focused theoretical point of departure, selecting suitable paradigmatic approaches and methods, working with social media data as well as understanding the implications of social media research and the networked society. Social media research also still experiences many methodological challenges and issues affecting the reliability and validity of results.

This book, consisting of 11 chapters, deals with all essential aspects of the social media research process and also guides the reader to overcome or avoid the numerous obstacles associated with the social media research process. The information is presented in an easy to follow manner and explained with case studies and some illustrations. Each chapter ends with a relevant case study, learning activities, and suggestions for further reading, which allows the reader to reflect on the content presented in the chapter and its practical application in actual and/or hypothetical social media research studies.

The content is divided into four sections and structured in such a way to allow readers to study a specific area of interest, to consult topics in the book as needed, or to examine it straight through. The chapters are inter-reliant and should be read in conjunction with other chapters in this book.

SECTION A: INTRODUCTION TO THE SOCIAL MEDIA PROCESS

In Section A, the reader is introduced to social media for research, the social media research process, and how to select a suitable theoretical underpinning for a social media study.

Chapter 1, Introduction to social media for research, introduces the reader to social media platforms that can be used for research, the types of research that have been conducted as well as the aspects of communication that have been researched in these studies. Next, the different forms of textual, audio, visual (infographics, memes, gifs, and emojis), audio-visual (micro-videos, videos, live-streams, and VR-videos) and interactive content (#tags and hyperlinks) that are used on social media are highlighted. Lastly, the theoretical foundations of social media are presented. Chapter 2, Introduction to the social media research process, acts as a point of reference and provides an overview of the entire research process and research design (with practical examples) that are discussed in more detail in other chapters in this book. The chapter also addresses not only the advantages but also disadvantages, limitations, and methodological challenges and issues that researchers may face when conducting social media research. Chapter 3, Prominent theoretical frameworks in social media research, elaborates on prominent theoretical frameworks that could be applied in social media research following the themes of personal behaviour, social behaviour and media influence and also advises on future theoretical developments in social media.

SECTION B: PARADIGMATIC APPROACHES AND METHODS FOR SOCIAL MEDIA RESEARCH

In Section B, the reader is introduced to paradigmatic approaches and methods for qualitative, quantitative, and mixed-method social media studies respectively.

Chapter 4, Using a qualitative research approach in social media research, explores a qualitative research design in social media research and considers the different research methods available to analyse visual and textual data within the social media context. Justification of the use of qualitative research of social media is provided, and precise challenges that the researcher might encounter, are highlighted in context. Furthermore, the focus of this chapter is on possible research paradigms to direct the research actions, knowledge and perceptions of a qualitative researcher, and the various methods and techniques to qualitatively examine content on social media. Finally, a holistic qualitative approach that could be fitting to explore social media data is proposed and concisely outlined.

In Chapter 5, Using a quantitative research approach in social media research, the focus shifts to worldviews or paradigms, quantitative research approaches and quantitative research methods to social media research. The importance and development of a codebook using social media datasets are particularly impressed on in the chapter. The chapter also describes the context for quantitative social media research, provides some computational methods used in the field and introduces the reader to various tools and applications that can be used in data mining and analysis, as well as in detecting deceptive content on social media sites.

Chapter 6, Using a mixed-methods approach in social media research, concentrates on the typologies and designs of mixed-methods research (MMR) and proposes the use of paradigmatic perspectives as a guide for the MMR social media process. This chapter is especially important since MMR is a growing field with little guidance on how to conduct effective research. Consequently, there lies great potential in paradigms to add a greater depth and breadth of information to guide and inform MMR.

SECTION C: WORKING WITH SOCIAL MEDIA DATA

In Section C, the reader is introduced to sampling, collecting and analysing social media data by adopting different research approaches.

Chapter 7, Sampling social media data, explains how to sample social media data from both qualitative and quantitative approaches. Different sample methods, such as probability and non-probability type of samples, are proposed within each of these approaches while the chapter also highlights some challenges that may be encountered such as external validity (generalisation).

Chapter 8, Collecting social media data, presents an overview of the type of data that can be collected for social media research, the data collection process (both manual and automated), as well as which pitfalls to avoid.

Chapter 9, Analysing social media data, gives an overview of social media data analysis from a quantitative, qualitative, and mixed-method approach respectively and explains the importance of data cleaning and storage. Different social media data analysis tools are highlighted while a case study is used to illustrate one of these tools.

SECTION D: IMPLICATIONS OF SOCIAL MEDIA RESEARCH

In Section D, the reader is introduced to the implications of social media research such as ethical considerations and the consequences of new media data. Chapter 10, Ethical issues in social media research, introduces the reader to a broad range of ethical implications inherent to social media studies as well as potential contraventions. Chapter 11, Implications of new media data is the final chapter of this book and outlines the strengths and weaknesses associated with different forms of Big Data and Big Social Data. It further highlights the implications, on individuals and communities, of new media data in the hyper-connected networked society. Finally, a discussion of access to data, digital exclusion and the effects on targeted populations, samples, and the general aspects of the online research process related to new media data is presented in order to understand the implications that these elements have on research findings. The chapter concludes with how research based on Big Data (and particularly Big Social Data) affects the underlying epistemologies and ontologies of research.