research title about social networking practices

Advances in Social Media Research: Past, Present and Future

• Open access
• Published: 06 November 2017
• Volume 20 , pages 531–558, ( 2018 )

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• Kawaljeet Kaur Kapoor 1 ,
• Kuttimani Tamilmani 2 ,
• Nripendra P. Rana 2 ,
• Pushp Patil 2 ,
• Yogesh K. Dwivedi 2 &
• Sridhar Nerur 3  

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Social media comprises communication websites that facilitate relationship forming between users from diverse backgrounds, resulting in a rich social structure. User generated content encourages inquiry and decision-making. Given the relevance of social media to various stakeholders, it has received significant attention from researchers of various fields, including information systems. There exists no comprehensive review that integrates and synthesises the findings of literature on social media. This study discusses the findings of 132 papers (in selected IS journals) on social media and social networking published between 1997 and 2017. Most papers reviewed here examine the behavioural side of social media, investigate the aspect of reviews and recommendations, and study its integration for organizational purposes. Furthermore, many studies have investigated the viability of online communities/social media as a marketing medium, while others have explored various aspects of social media, including the risks associated with its use, the value that it creates, and the negative stigma attached to it within workplaces. The use of social media for information sharing during critical events as well as for seeking and/or rendering help has also been investigated in prior research. Other contexts include political and public administration, and the comparison between traditional and social media. Overall, our study identifies multiple emergent themes in the existing corpus, thereby furthering our understanding of advances in social media research. The integrated view of the extant literature that our study presents can help avoid duplication by future researchers, whilst offering fruitful lines of enquiry to help shape research for this emerging field.

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1 Introduction

Social media allows relationship forming between users from distinct backgrounds, resulting in a tenacious social structure. A prominent output of this structure is the generation of massive amounts of information, offering users exceptional service value proposition. However, a drawback of such information overload is sometimes evident in users’ inability to find credible information of use to them at the time of need. Social media sites are already so deeply embedded in our daily lives that people rely on them for every need, ranging from daily news and updates on critical events to entertainment, connecting with family and friends, reviews and recommendations on products/services and places, fulfilment of emotional needs, workplace management, and keeping up with the latest in hashion, to name but a few.

When we refer to social media, applications such as Facebook, WhatsApp, Twitter, YouTube, LinkedIn, Pinterest, and Instagram often come to mind. These applications are driven by user-generated content, and are highly influential in a myriad of settings, from purchasing/selling behaviours, entrepreneurship, political issues, to venture capitalism (Greenwood and Gopal 2015 ). As of April 2017, Facebook enjoys the exalted position of being the market leader of the social media world, with 1.97 billion monthly users (Statista 2017 ). In addition to posts, social media sites are bombarded with photo and video uploads, and according to the recent numbers, about 400 million snaps a day have been recorded on Snapchat, with around 9000 photos being shared every second (Lister 2017 ). While 50 million businesses are active on Facebook business pages, two million businesses are using Facebook advertising. Apparently, 88% businesses use Twitter for marketing purposes (Lister 2017 ).

Academics and practitioners have explored and examined the many sides of social media over the past years. Organizations engage in social media mostly with the aim of obtaining feedback from stakeholders (Phang et al. 2015 ). Consumer reviews are another big part of social media, bringing issues of information quality, credibility, and authenticity to the forefront. To a large extent, online communities have been successful in bringing together people with similar interests and goals, making the concept of micro blogging very popular. While most messages exchanged on social media sites are personal statuses or updates on current affairs, some posts are support seeking, where people are looking for assistance and help. Interestingly, these have been recognized as socially exhausting posts that engender social overload, causing other members to experience negative behavioural and psychological consequences, because they feel compelled to respond (Maier et al. 2015a ).

Given the relevance of social media to various stakeholders, and the numerous consequences associated with its use, social media has attracted the attention of researchers from various fields, including information systems. This is evidenced by the large number of scholarly articles that have appeared in various outlets. Researchers have to expend an enormous amount of time and effort in collating, analysing, and synthesising findings from existing works before they embark on a new research project. Given the significant number of studies that have already been published, a comprehensive and systematic review can offer valuable assistance to researchers intending to engage in social medi research. Our literature search suggests that there are reviews on social media in the marketing context (see for example, AlAlwan et al. 2017 ; Dwivedi et al. 2017a ; Dwivedi et al. 2015 ; Ismagilova et al. 2017 ; Kapoor et al. 2016 ; Plume et al. 2016 ). However, there exists no comprehensive review that integrates and synthesises the findings from the articles published in Information Systems journals. Such an endeavour will not only provide a holistic view of the extant research on social media, but will also provide researchers a comprehensive intellectual platform that can be used to pursue fruitful lines of enquiry to help advance research in this rapidly expanding area. To fulfill this goal, this study reviewed relevant articles to elucidate the key thematic areas of research on social media, including its benefits and spill-over effects. The resulting review is expected to serve as a one-stop source, offering insight into what has been accomplished so far in terms of research on social media, what is currently being done, and what challenges and opportunities lie ahead. By doing so, this study explores the following aspects of existing research on social media:

How is social media defined in the IS literature?

How has social media literature evolved from a multidisciplinary perspective?

How have social media technologies, applications, practices, and research evolved over the past 20 years?

Which social media issues and themes have already been examined in IS research?

What are the major limitations of extant literature on social media?

The next section of this paper gives a brief overview of the method employed for carrying out the literature search. The succeeding section discusses citation and text analyses of social media publications. Subsequently, we outline the various ways in which scholars have defined social media. This is followed by a section that focuses on the evolution of social media research from an IS perspective. Next, we articulate the major themes emerging from prior research and use them as a backdrop for our review of the literature on social media. The ensuing section discusses our findings, followed by key conclusions and limitations of the study.

2 Literature Search Method

The literature search for this analysis was conducted in the following two phases: (1) keyword-based search and analysis to explore the overall evolution of social media literature; and (2) manual search across specific IS journals to understand the emerging IS perspectives on this topic.

2.1 Keywords Based Search and Analysis

In order to gain a deeper understanding of social media, we analyzed relevant abstracts that were downloaded from the Web of Science (WOS) database. Our search terms Footnote 1 yielded a total of 13,177 records, out of which 12,597 unique abstracts were obtained. The analysis of these records was undertaken in two steps. First, we used VOSviewer (Van Eck and Waltman 2011 ) to perform a co-citation analysis of first authors in the downloaded corpus. VOSviewer allows visualization of similarities in publications and authors through an examination of bibliometric networks. Furthermore, we used VOSviewer to analyze words derived from titles and abstracts. Second, we used Latent Dirichlet Allocation (LDA) (see Blei 2012 ) to extract key thematic areas latent in the literature on social media. Further details about these analyses and results are presented in section 3 .

2.2 Manual Search and Analysis

Given the inconsistencies in the use of keywords in social media research, a manual search, rather than a keyword-based one, was deemed to be more appropriate for identifying the existing literature on social media. Furthermore, since keywords in the social media literature tend to overlap with topics and/or theories in other related research areas, a keyword search may yield irrelevant articles. For instance, a keyword search for “Social network” returns articles related to social network theories, which are not necessarily part of social media. The articles reviewed in this study are from the following eight Senior Scholars’ Basket of Information Systems journals: European Journal of Information Systems (EJIS); Information Systems Journal (ISJ); Information Systems Research (ISR); Journal of the Association for Information Systems (JAIS); Journal of Information Technology (JIT); Journal of Management Information Systems (JMIS); Journal of Strategic Information Systems (JSIS) and Management Information Systems Quarterly (MISQ)). Along with these eight journals, we have also analysed relevant articles from Information Systems Frontier (ISF) journal. This is because it focuses on examining “new research and development at the interface of information systems (IS) and information technology (IT) from analytical, behavioural, and technological perspectives. It provides a common forum for both frontline industrial developments as well as pioneering academic research”. Footnote 2 ISF enjoys the reputation of a high quality journal across continents. For example, a journal quality ranking by Chartered Association of Business Schools, UK, has given it a three star (high ranking) quality rating, while journal ranking by the Australian Business Deans Council (ABDC) has rated it as an ‘A’ class journal (the second highest quality journal category after A*, which is reserved for premier publications). In light of these observations, it was deemed appropriate to consider articles from ISF along with the aforementioned eight journals.

Relevant articles were then identified and downloaded from each of the target journals by going through their archives. Specifically, all volumes and issues published in these journals between 1997 and 2017 were considered in our analysis. Articles, research notes, introductions, research commentaries, and editorial overviews relevant to social media were downloaded and numbered to prepare an APA style reference list. The first literature search resulted in 181 articles that had some relevance to the social media domain. A closer examination of individual abstracts and full articles led to the elimination of 49 irrelevant articles, thus giving us a total of 132 articles pertinent to the domain of interest (i.e., social media).

3 Citation and Text Analyses of Social Media Publications

3.1 author co-citation analysis (aca).

Author Co-Citation Analysis (ACA) is a bibliometric technique that has been widely used to explicate the conceptual structure of disciplines (for example, see White and Griffith 1981 ; McCain 1984 ; Culnan 1986 ; Nerur et al. 2008 ). The underlying assumption in ACA is that authors who are frequently cited together tend to work on similar concepts. Thus, frequently co-cited authors are likely to cluster together when an ACA is performed. VOSviewer considers only first authors when it performs ACA. Only authors who had 50 or more citations were included in the analysis. Figure  1 shows the results of ACA.

Author clusters from ACA

VOSviewer identified seven distinct clusters:

Cluster 1: Authors in this cluster have contributed to research on Twitter (e.g., Sakaki), social network analysis (e.g., Wasserman), topic modeling (e.g., Blei), sociality and cognition (e.g., Dunbar), sentiment analysis of tweets (e.g., Thelwall), and other related topics.

Cluster 2: Authors in this cluster are well known for their work on technology adoption (e.g., Venkatesh), diffusion of technology (Rogers), culture (Hofstede), theory of planned behavior (Ajzen), marketing/consumer behavior (e.g., Hennig-Thurau), and statistical methods (e.g., Bagozzi, Fornell, Hair).

Cluster 3: This cluster comprises of authors who deal with a variety of issues related to social media (Facebook and Twitter) use. For example, Steinfied and Ellison examined social capital across Facebook; Kuss studied online/social networking addiction (e.g., gaming addiction), and Lenhart focused on teens and technology (e.g., mobile internet use), particularly in the use of social media. Other topics include Bandura’s self-efficacy, use and benefits of Twitter by scholars, and personality and social characteristics of Facebook users (e.g., Ross).

Cluster 4: Prominent social theorists/sociologists who have contributed to social capital theory, structuration theory and modern sociological theory are distinguished members of this cluster. These include Bourdieu, Coleman, Giddens, and Habermas. Papacharissi has written about a variety of topics including the exploration of factors that predict Internet use as well as users’ behaviors, identity, sense of community and culture on social media. Tufekci has studied privacy and disclosure on social media, as well as other topics, including how social networking sites such as Facebook might influence one’s decision to participate in protests.

Cluster 5: In this cluster, there is evidence of the influence of Vygotsky’s socio cultural learning theory as well as Lave and Wenger’s work on communities of practice. In addition to his work on collaborative learning, Kirschner has examined the relationship between Facebook and academic performance. Likewise, Selwyn has explored pedagogical and learning engendered by the use of information and computer technologies (ICT).

Cluster 6: This cluster appears to reflect two broad themes. The first is a range of topics related to medical Internet research, broadly referred to as e-health (Eysenbach) or online health (Duggan). Themes in this category include electronic support groups and health in virtual communities (Eysenbach), and policies and healthcare associated with social media, and professionals among medical students and physicians in the use of social media (Chretien, Greysen). The second main thematic area in this cluster deals with scholarship on social media, scholarly communication, and metrics for evaluating impact of articles on the web (e.g., Weller, Bormann, Priem).

Cluster 7: The dominant theme here is the nature and content of communication. In particular, scholars in this cluster have focused on communication and response in the face of crises (Coombs), including image restoration after a controversy (Benoit), analysis and reliability of content (Krippendorff), and the use of social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter by government agencies and non-profit organizations to engage stakeholders (Waters).

3.2 Text Analysis of Words in Titles and Abstracts

VOSviewer was used to analyze terms (i.e., words) in the titles and abstracts of our corpus to obtain a two-dimensional map showing proximities of words that are likely to be related based on their co-occurrences. Specifically, VOSviewer relies on the Apache OpenNLP Toolkit to identify noun phrases, and then compares their overall co-occurrence distribution with their distribution across other noun phrases to compute a relevance score (Van Eck and Waltman 2011 ). The intuition is that frequently co-occurring noun phrases with high relevance are likely to unravel a topic or theme that is latent in the corpus. The term map from VOSviewer is shown in Fig.  2 . Only terms that occurred 50 times or more were included. Furthermore, relevance scores computed by VOSviewer for every term were used to select the top 80% that met the threshold.

Term map showing clusters of related words/noun phrases

VOSviewer identified five clusters here. It is evident from the clusters that research on social media has dealt with a broad range of topics, including but not restricted to diffusion of information and opinions, spread of diseases (e.g., influenza), identification of social and emotional health concerns and attendant interventions to deal with them, social media as an influence, the use of social media for marketing purposes, and the implications of social media as a tool for pedagogy (i.e., teaching and learning) and medical practice. These have been summarized in Table  1 .

It must be noted that the topics are broad and don’t reveal the nuances of research areas embodied in the abstracts examined in this study. The next sub-section presents the results of topic modeling, which has the potential to unravel more focused themes embodied in the large corpus that we analyzed.

3.3 Topic Modeling

The fact that our search terms yielded over 12,000 abstracts suggests that scholars are investing increased interest on research issues related to social media. While an informed researcher may have a general idea of the nature of research undertaken so far, it is humanly impossible to discern the thematic structure of all scholarly documents available on social media. Recent advances in topic modeling have made this task relatively easy. Topic modeling relies on algorithms and statistical methods to elicit the topics latent in a large corpus (Blei 2012 ). The term topic refers to a specific and often recognizable theme defined by a cohesive set of words that have a high probability of belonging to that topic. There are several options available for topic modeling: non-negative matrix factorization (NNMF), Latent Semantic Analysis/Indexing (LSA/LSI), and Latent Dirichlet Allocation (LDA). In this study, we use LDA, arguably the most widely used topic modeling algorithm. In order to perform topic modeling on a corpus, the researcher has to specify the number of topics to be extracted. In this study, we extracted the top 100 topics reflected in the scholarship on social media. LDA starts with the assumption that each abstract in our study reflects each of these topics to varying degrees (Blei 2012 ). Thus, each abstract has a distribution of the desired 100 topics. The 100 topics that were extracted from our abstracts are shown in Table  2 . The machine learning for language toolkit (MALLET) (McCallum 2002 ) was used for this purpose.

4 Analysis of Social Media Research from an IS Perspective

4.1 how is social media defined in the is literature.

In studying the existing literature on social media, it becomes apparent that the authors in this field have not focussed on defining social media. Of all the studies included in this review, only a handful of studies have come close to defining, or clarifying the concept of social media. For instance, Lundmark et al. ( 2016 , p3) suggest, “social media, as a unique form of communication, integrates multiple sources of legitimacy, and as a result, presents a unique and important context through which to study the topic. Indeed, social media are a means for the dissemination of both internally and externally generated information pertaining to firms, industries, and society in general.” According to Schlagwein and Hu ( 2016 ), social media constitutes internet-based communication and collaboration channels, widely in use since 2005, and, from an IS perspective, social media tools and their surrounding organizational and managerial structures constitute social information systems. Wakefield and Wakefield ( 2016 , p140) describe “social media technologies as an ensemble IS artefact composed of technical, informational, and relational subsystems that interact distinctly according to the context of use.” In their study, they also identify a “recent definition of social media and social networks referring to social media networks as specific types of social media platforms and Internet sites with common attributes such as (1) user profile (2) user access to digital content (3) a user list of relational ties, and (4) user ability to view and traverse relational ties” (Wakefield and Wakefield 2016 ; p144).

In a more relatable and simple definition, Miranda et al. ( 2016 ; p304) explain social media being “mainly conceived of as a medium wherein ordinary people in ordinary social networks (as opposed to professional journalists) can create user-generated news.” A few other authors like Spagnoletti et al. ( 2015 ) and Xu and Zhang ( 2013 ) commonly refer to social media as a set of interned-based technologies/applications, which are aimed at promoting the creation, modification, update and exchange of user-generated content, whilst establishing new links between the content creators themselves. Bharati et al. ( 2014 ; p258) refer to social media as a technology “not focussed on transactions but on collaboration and communication across groups both inside and outside the firm.” Lastly, Tang et al. ( 2012 ; p44) also identify social media as user-generated media, which is a source of “online information created, initiated, circulated, and used by consumers intent on educating each other about products, brands, services, personalities, and issues.”

All of the aforementioned descriptions clearly regard social media as communication tools supported by internet-based technologies for dissemination of information. Most of them acknowledge the high concentration of user generated content across such platforms. Based on our understanding of social media and the aforementioned definitions, we propose the following definition: Social media is made up of various user-driven platforms that facilitate diffusion of compelling content, dialogue creation, and communication to a broader audience. It is essentially a digital space created by the people and for the people, and provides an environment that is conducive for interactions and networking to occur at different levels (for instance, personal, professional, business, marketing, political,and societal) .

4.2 Evolution of Social Media Research in the IS Literature

In the past two decades, various issues related to social media have been examined in line with the rapid evolution of underlying technologies/applications and their appropriation to enable different types of social media usage. An analysis of 132 articles from selected IS journals suggests that publications until 2011 were still examining user-generated content as a new type of online content (Burgess et al. 2011 ). However, in the last six years, research in this field has made tremendous progress, not just in terms of its scope, but also in explicating the highs and lows associated with the use of social media. While it is difficult to pinpoint evolution on a yearly basis, it has been possible to identify the major aspects of social media research that have emerged over time. Publications between 1997 and 2017 have been reviewed here. Interestingly, only one publication of interest to this study (Griffiths and Light 2008 ) was identified between the period 1997 and 2009.

Out of the 132 studies individually reviewed here, about 21 studies examined the behavioural side of social media use. While most of the initial studies (for instance, Massari 2010 ; Garg et al. 2011 ) restricted interest to peer influence and information disclosure willingness (2010–2012), the latter studies (for instance, Gu et al. 2014 ; Krasnova et al. 2015 ) were seen to be more exploratory in examining the positive, dysfunctional, cognitive and affective, heterophily and homophily tendencies of social media users (2012–2016). There were 18 studies investigating the very popular aspect of reviews and recommendations on social networks, with 2013 being a popular year for such studies. Most of these studies (for instance, Hildebrand et al. 2013 ; Zhang and Piramuthu 2016 ) were interested in improving their understanding of the information quality of these reviews and the associated consequences (2010–2016). There were 17 studies (2011–2016) evaluating the integration of social media for varied organizational purposes . While some studies investigated the employee side (e.g., innovativeness, retention, and motivation) of social media use (for instance, Aggarwal et al. 2012 ; Miller and Tucker 2013 ), the others discussed the relationship between social enterprise systems and organizational networking (for instance, Trier and Richter 2015 ; Van Osch and Steinfield 2016 ).

Around 13 publications studied the use of social media as a marketing tool . The early studies here (2010–2013) explored consumer purchase behaviour and firm tactics, such as involving consumers in marketing strategies (for instance, García-Crespo et al. 2010 ; Goh et al. 2013 ). The later studies (2015–2016), however, became more focussed on studying social commerce across networking sites such as Facebook, MySpace, and YouTube (e.g., Chen et al. 2015 ; Sung et al. 2016 ). Ten studies were interested in online communities and blogging (see Singh et al. 2014 ; Dennis et al. 2016 ). These were mostly interested in blogger behaviours, reader retention, online content, contributing capacity, and blog visibility (2011–2016). Nine publications revealed the risks associated with the use of social media. These are either very early studies (2008–2010; for instance, Tow et al. 2010 ) or fairly recent (2014–2016) learning about scamming and farcing issues faced by users. They focus on combating issues of privacy and security, whilst trying to differentiate between fake and authentic online content (for instance, Zhang et al. 2016 ).

Up until 2015, about eight studies analysed the negative stigma attached to using social media at the workplace (for instance, Koch et al. 2013 ). While a couple of studies also revealed the positive side of social media (for instance, Lu et al. 2015 ), most were seen discussing its ill-effects on work outputs, routine performance, and clash of notions in the personal and professional space (for instance, Ali-Hassan et al. 2015 ). About seven studies were interested in exploring the relationship between social media use and value creation (for instance, Luo et al. 2013 ; Barrett et al. 2016 ) in terms of firm equity, customer retention, social position, and firm value (2010–2016). Another seven studies investigated the use of media sites to share and exchange information during natural disasters and critical events (2011–2015). Interestingly, most of the studies documenting this aspect of social media used Twitter data for their analyses (for instance, Oh et al. 2013 ; Lee et al. 2015a ). A very small percentage of studies (five studies) in 2014 and 2015 focussed on analysing the effects of social media posts that were seeking help/support from other social media users (for instance, Spagnoletti et al. 2015 ; Yan et al. 2015a ). Only a handful of studies (five studies), particularly in 2010 and 2016, were examined the use of social media in public administration and political contexts, such as open governance and transparency (for instance, Baur 2017 ; Rosenberger et al. 2017 ). Also, just about three studies (Wattal et al. 2010 ; Dewan and Ramaprasad 2014 ; Miranda et al. 2016 ) dedicated their efforts to comparing traditional media with social media . The last set of studies (2013–2016), around nine in total (for instance, Bharati et al. 2014 ; Chung et al. 2017 ), were identified as those limiting themselves to developing and testing social media constructs in relation to previously established theories and models (technology acceptance model, theory of planned behaviour, and others).

4.3 Literature Synthesis

As outlined in the previous section, social media research is evolving at a fast pace. In reviewing the shortlisted articles, various themes were identified based on the similarities observed across the issues addressed in social media research.

4.3.1 Social Media Use Behaviours and Consequences

Many scholars explore the behavioural side of social media, and interestingly, some find factors that prevent users from continuing its use. Turel and Serenko ( 2012 ) warn against excessive use of social media sites, which can result in strong pathological and maladaptive psychological dependency on social media. In a subsequent study, Turel ( 2015 ) used cognitive theory to reveal that guilt feelings associated with the use of a website can increase discontinuance intentions. Matook et al. ( 2015b ) show that online social networks can be linked with perceived loneliness, which depends on user’s active/passive engagement with social media. Krasnova et al. ( 2015 ) suggest that in response to social information consumption, envy plays a significant role in reducing cognitive and affective wellbeing of a user. However, Maier et al. ( 2015b ) disclose that, while social networking stress creators can increase discontinuance intentions, switching stress-creators and exhaustion (i.e. switching to alternatives) can reduce such intentions. Chang et al. ( 2014 ) find that dissatisfaction and regret, alternative attractiveness, and switching costs affect switching intentions. Xu et al. ( 2014 ) find that dissatisfaction from support and entertainment values, continuity cost and peer influence encourage switching between social networks.

Wakefield and Wakefield ( 2016 ) focus on Facebook and Twitter to show that excitement combined with passion acts as a favourable factor for increased social media engagement. Chiu and Huang ( 2015 ) use media communication theories to show that user gratification from social networking sites positively affects their social media usage intention. In studying virtual investment communities, Gu et al. ( 2014 ) reveal that despite benefits of heterophily, investors are allured by homophily in their interactions. Zeng and Wei ( 2013 ) analyse Flickr data and find that at the time of forming a social tie, members exhibit similar behaviour, which evolves differently later. Shi et al. ( 2014 ) examine retweet relationships and find that those with weak ties have a higher probability of engaging in content sharing. Kreps ( 2010 ) introduces poststructuralist critique to explore how closely an individual’s personality is reflected in their social media profile, such as Facebook.

Chen et al. ( 2014 ) find affective and continuance types of commitments to be good predictors of user behaviours on social media sites. Stieglitz and Dang-Xuan ( 2013 ) examine the relationship between user behaviour and sentiment to conclude that emotional Twitter messages have a higher retweet tendency. Khan and Jarvenpaa ( 2010 ) analyse event creation pages on Facebook to find that the social groups demonstrate differential interactive behaviour prior and post the midpoint of event creation. Chen and Sharma ( 2015 ) disclose that the extent of self-disclosure on social media sites depends on member attitude. Massari ( 2010 ) finds that MySpace users tend to disclose substantial personal details that put them at the risk of security and privacy breach. Xu et al. ( 2016 ) find that one’s image and moral beliefs combined with community policies and peer pressure act as deterrents to aggression on social media. Garg et al. ( 2011 ) measure peer influence in an online music community and find that peers can significantly increase music discovery. Susarla et al. ( 2012 ) examine video and user information dataset from YouTube, and find that the success of a video hugely depends on social interactions, which also determines its impact magnitude.

The review of studies related to this theme suggests that since 2010, IS researchers have focussed on examining the dysfunctional consequences of social media adoption, such as - addiction, stress, information overload, and others. Use behaviour was examined across a variety of platforms like Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, and Flickr. Media content, such as picture, video, and tweets have also been explored by the studies in this category.

4.3.2 Reviews and Recommendations on Social Media Sites

A predominant characteristic of social media networks is product/service reviews and recommendations. People are beginning to rely on others’ experiences, for instance, before making a purchase, visiting a place, or searching for accommodation.. Such online reviews complement product/service information. An early study on online travel information found that consumers invest higher trust in reviews published on government/tourism websites in comparison to those on a social media site (Burgess et al. 2011 ). Hwang et al. ( 2011 ) analysed the social bookmarking sites for impact of positive and negative reviews on collective wisdom and found that negative reviews are capable of stabilizing system performance. Dellarocas et al. ( 2010 ) suggest that online forums looking to increase reviews of lesser-known products should make information on previously posted reviews a less prominent feature. Cheung et al. ( 2012 ) empirically tested a consumer review website to conclude that argument quality, review consistency, and source are critical for assessing review credibility.

Chen et al. ( 2011 ) investigate the effect of moderation and reveal that the commentators generate high quality content to build a stronger reputation. Wei et al. ( 2013 ) developed a multi-collaborative filtering trust network algorithm for Web 2.0 with improved accuracy for filtering information based on user preferences and trusted peer users. Luo and Zhang ( 2013 ) refer to user-generated reviews and recommendations as consumer buzz to find that advocacy and consumer attitude can impact firm value. Hildebrand et al. ( 2013 ) use data from a European car manufacturer allowing self-designed products to reveal that feedback from other community members lessens uniqueness whilst increasing dissatisfaction. Centeno et al. ( 2015 ) address the skewed reputation rankings problem in movie ratings by suggesting the use of comparative user opinions. Ma et al. ( 2013 ) analyse data from Yelp to test bias in online reviews and find that frequent and longer reviews successfully combat such biases. Lukyanenko et al. ( 2014 ) demonstrate that participants tend to provide accurate information in classifying a phenomenon at a general level, and higher accuracy where they are allowed free form data. Shi and Whinston ( 2013 ) explore the possible impact of friend check-ins on social media, and find it has no positive effect in generating new user visits.

Goes et al. ( 2014 ) disclose that user popularity results in increased and objective reviews, while numeric ratings turn more varied and negative with it. Matook et al. ( 2015a ) use relationship theories to show that past recommendation experience, closeness, and excessive posting behaviour positively affect trust and person’s intention to act on the made recommendation. Yan et al. ( 2015b ) evaluate revisit intentions for restaurants, and find that food and service quality, price and value, and the atmosphere govern such intentions. Kuan et al. ( 2015 ) analysed Amazon reviews and observed that certain characteristics such as length, readability, valence, extremity, and reviewer credibility are more likely to be recognized. In a different study, Zhang and Piramuthu ( 2016 ) suggest that product/service information on seller’s websites are often limited, and propose a Latent Dirichlet Allocation model to reveal the useful complementary hidden information in customer reviews. In a parallel conversation, Wu and Gaytán 2013 suggest that buyers integrate product price with seller reviews in configuring their willingness to pay.

The review under this theme suggests that studies as early as 2010 focussed on evaluating the authenticity of product and service reviews/recommendations published online. Overall, these studies reveal that the effect of review volume is often moderated by a buyer’s risk attitude. Most studies identify that the combination of consumer’s interest and available reviews helps users choose products/services that offer best value to them.

4.3.3 Social Media and Associated Organizational Impact

Publications have also shown interest in investigating the effects of user-generated content on entrepreneurial behaviour. For instance, Greenwood and Gopal ( 2015 ) find that discourse in both traditional and user-generated media has a notable influence on IT firm founding rates. Lundmark et al. ( 2016 ) reveal that higher usage of Twitter, alongside follower numbers and retweets result in higher levels of under pricing for initial public offerings (IPO). Trier and Richter ( 2015 ) find that online organizational networking has many unbalanced multiplex relationships, mostly comprising of weak ties and temporal change. They attribute the uneven user contribution in social networking sites to discourse drivers and information retrievers. Schlagwein and Hu ( 2016 ) identify collaboration, broadcast, dialogue, sociability, and knowledge management as the social media types that serve varied organizational purposes. Claussen et al. ( 2013 ) study Facebook to conclude that social media networks can exercise management not only by excluding participants, but also by driving softer changes in incentive/reward systems.

Subramaniam and Nandhakumar ( 2013 ) study enterprise system users and find that integrating social media facilitates user interaction that helps embed relationship ties between virtual actors. Another study concerning social features in enterprise systems reveals that business interactions are less social, and highly context specific (Mettler and Winter 2016 ). Van Osch and Steinfield ( 2016 ) showed that the enterprise system user involved in social network posting will show differences in team boundary spanning activities based on their hierarchical position (leadership, team member, etc.). Benthaus et al. ( 2016 ) analyse Twitter data to find that social media management tools have a catalysing effect on employee output as they enrich the user engagement process. Gray et al. ( 2011 ) study the social bookmarking system to find that social diversity of information sources is a good predictor of employee innovativeness. Kuegler et al. ( 2015 ) show that using enterprise social networking within teams strongly influences task performance and employee innovativeness. Leonardi ( 2014 ) reveals that communication visibility increases meta-knowledge between organizations, which results in innovative products and services minus knowledge duplication. Aggarwal et al. ( 2012 ) interestingly reveal positive effects of negative employee posts on an organization’s reputation, given that such posts attract larger audience.

Miranda et al. ( 2015 ) suggest that diffusion of social media is based on an organization’s vision that offers a well-defined range of moves to choose from, with the freedom to improvise. Xu and Zhang ( 2013 ) regard Wikipedia as a social media platform and conclude that it improves information environment in the financial market and the value of information aggregation. Qiu et al. ( 2014 ) study prediction markets to find that users with increased social connections are less likely to invest in information acquisition from external sources. Miller and Tucker ( 2013 ) study the extent of social media managed by firms to report that most firm postings are centred on firm’s achievement and are not necessarily in clients’ interest. In summary, studies reviewed under this theme are focussed on analysing the impact of integrating social media within work roles in organizations. Effective management and utilization of social media is agreed to provoke employee activity, which helps in employee innovativeness, retention, and motivation. Studies also hint against ignoring social media engagement, which can reportedly have a negative impact on a company’s image.

4.3.4 Social Media for Marketing

Social media sites are now a huge part of marketing tactics, and the documented studies are a good showcase of the extent to which social media is being integrated in marketing strategies. García-Crespo et al. ( 2010 ) study the continuous interaction between customers and organizations, as it impacts the social web environment with implications for marketing and new product development. Goh et al. ( 2013 ) study the user and market generated content for engagement in social media brand community to find that it has a positive impact on purchase expenditures. Rishika et al. ( 2013 ) demonstrate how higher social media activity directly correlates with higher participation and customer patronage. Aggarwal and Singh ( 2013 ) find that blogs help managers with their products in the screening stage, and also offer leverage in negotiating better contract terms. Dou et al. ( 2013 ) research optimizing the strength of a network by adjusting the embedded social media features with the right market seeding and pricing strategies.

Oestreicher-Singer and Zalmanson ( 2013 ) reveal that the firms are more viable when they integrate social media in purchase and consumption experience, rather than using it as a substitute for soft online marketing. Lee et al. ( 2015b ) study the importance of social commerce in marketplace to find that Facebook likes increase sales, drive traffic, and introduce socialization in the shopping experience. Xie and Lee ( 2015 ) scan purchase records on Facebook to find that exposure to owned and earned social media activities positively impacts consumers’ likeliness to purchase brands. Chen et al. ( 2015 ) study music sales on MySpace to find that broadcasting, timing and content of the personal message has significant effect on sales. Qiu et al. ( 2015 ) study YouTube data to find that learning and network mechanisms statistically and economically impact video views. Sung et al. ( 2016 ) use Facebook data of universities and colleges across the US to show that people in the same class year or same major tend to form denser groups/networks. In a slightly different study, Oh et al. ( 2016 ) investigate the pricing models for an online newspaper, and find that charging for previously free online content has a disproportionate impact on word of mouth for niche and popular topics/articles. Susarla et al. ( 2016 ) find that social media initiatives succeed when a sustained conversation with likely adopters is maintained.

Studies within this theme focus on the role of community structure and structural patterns in using social media for marketing purposes. For successful social media implementation, it is important to effectively incorporate social computing with content delivery in the digital content industry with growing user population. Most studies identify meaningful conversations with customers as an important attribute of social media marketing. Also, identifying specific customer segments across social media site, for instance, members of a forum/group or organization, helps e-marketers to target specific customers based on demographic patterns and similar interests.

4.3.5 Social Media and Participation in Online Communities

There are many facets to developing and maintaining an online community, and user participation plays an integral role in it. Ray et al. ( 2014 ) identify that user engagement increases user intention to revisit an online community. Singh et al. ( 2014 ) analyse employee blog reading behaviour and show how reader attraction and retention are influenced by textual characteristics that appeal to reader sentiments. Butler and Wang ( 2012 ) find that changing content in an online discussion community affects member dynamics and community responsiveness, both positively and negatively. An early study on participation in online communities finds that different community commitments impact behaviours differently (Bateman et al. 2011 ). Chau and Xu ( 2012 ) develop a framework capable of gathering, extracting, and analyzing blog information that can be applied to any organization, topic, or product/service.

Goes et al. ( 2016 ) study goal setting and status hierarchy theories to find that glory-based incentives motivate users to contribute more user-generated content only before/until the goal is reached, with the contribution dropping significantly later. Khansa et al. ( 2015 ) examine Yahoo! Answers, and find that artefacts like incentives, membership tenure, and habit or past behaviour hugely influence active online participation. Tang et al. ( 2012 ) examine the concept of incentives on social media, particularly YouTube, for content contribution and find that a user is driven to contribute on social media based on their desire for revenue sharing, exposure, and reputation. Zhang and Wang ( 2012 ) use economic and social role theories in a Wikipedia context to show that in a collaborative network, the editor determines the total contribution towards collaborative work. Dennis et al. ( 2016 ) create a theoretical framework for corporate blogs and analyse Fortune 500 companies to find that a blog’s target audience and the alignment of blog content and its management significantly impact the visibility of that blog. Most of the studies under this theme focus on analyzing data on blogs. They highlight the importance of word of mouth, which is closely associated with user satisfaction. It also emerges from these studies that user engagement and consequent satisfaction play parallel and mediating roles within such online communities.

4.3.6 Risks and Concerns with the Use of Social Media

Social media and its associated risks have captured the attention of many authors. A very early study by Griffiths and Light ( 2008 ) focuses on the problem of media convergence, whereby a gaming website includes social media features, putting vulnerable young audience at the risk of scamming. An Australian study suggests that many users are unaware of the potential risks of disclosing personal information on social media site, or consider themselves as low risk targets (Tow et al. 2010 ). Krasnova et al. ( 2010 ) find that the ease of forming and maintaining relationships on an enjoyable social platform motivates users to disclose personal information. Their study shows that user trust in a service/network provider, and privacy control options on a networking site greatly dismiss user perceptions of associated risk. Vishwanath ( 2015 ) finds that farcing attacks on Facebook occur at two levels – victim to phishers with phony profiles and victim to phishers soliciting personal information directly from them.

To combat the privacy problem of photos, videos, and other content posted online, Fogués et al. ( 2014 ) developed a Best Friend Forever tool that automatically distinguishes friends on a user’s profile by assigning individual values based on relationship ties. Zhang et al. ( 2016 ) find that incorporating non-verbal features of reviewers can massively improve the performance of online fake review detection models. Gerlach et al. ( 2015 ) find that user perception of privacy risks has a mediating effect on the relationship between policy monetization and user willingness to share information. Burtch et al. ( 2016 ) analyse a large online crowd funding platform and report that when campaign contributors control/conceal visibility from public display, there is a negative impact on subsequent visitor’s conversion likelihood and average contributions. In a different study, Choi et al. ( 2015 ) find that information dissemination and network commonality has a high impact on individual’s perception of privacy invasion and relationship bonding that impedes transactional and interpersonal avoidances.

Studies reviewed here discuss a social contagion effect of risks associated with social media use. Recent studies (2014–2016) suggest educating audiences about the threats associated with the extent of personal information being disclosed on social media sites. They recommend government agencies to keep the users informed, and the social media sites to control some of their security features. It is necessary to define and control privacy settings across these many existing social networks.

4.3.7 Negative Stigma Attached to Social Media Use

Some studies suggest that there is a negative stigma associated with the use of social media in the workplace. In a typical case study, Koch et al. ( 2012 ) analyze three employee layers in an organization to find that new hires (users of social media sites) showed improved morale and employee engagement, some middle managers (non users) were frustrated and experienced isolation, while the senior execs were wary of social media use. In a contrasting case, Cao et al. ( 2015 ) suggest that social media has the potential to build employees’ social capital to positively influence their knowledge integration. In discussing the impact of social media on organizational life, Koch et al. ( 2013 ) find that conflicts can stem between workplace values and the values these employees ascribe to social media.

In a gender-based study on social network facilitated team collaboration, Shen et al. ( 2010 ) found that the collective intention in men was influenced by positive emotions, attitude and group norms, while the collective participation intention in women was affected by negative emotions and social identity. Huang et al. ( 2015 ) debate the concept of communicational ambidexterity to understand the conflicting demands of managing internal organization communication in contrast to open and distributed social media communication. Wu ( 2013 ) suggests information-rich networks enabled by social media tend to drive job security and employee performance. Lu et al. ( 2015 ) use the social network theory to conclude that structural and cognitive dimensions of social relationships positively impact job performance. Ali-Hassan et al. ( 2015 ) show social and cognitive use of social media has a positive influence on employee performance, while hedonic use of social media leaves a negative impact on routine performance.

These reviewed studies showcase that social networking encourages shared language and trust between employees in a workspace. Another emerging suggestion highlights that organizations should exercise policy, and use socialization and leadership-based mechanisms to counter any problems resulting from differing workplace values. Some of these studies show interest in the cognitive side of social ties that positively nurture social relationships and innovation performance.

4.3.8 Social Media and Value Creation

Studies in the extant literature have particularly focussed on the aspect of value creation within online communities. As Ridings and Wasko ( 2010 ) have observed, an online discussion group/community is a direct product of its social and structural dynamics. Porter et al. ( 2013 ) investigate firm value and find that a sponsor’s efforts are stronger with positive and direct effect on trust building. Luo et al. ( 2013 ) suggest that social media has faster predictive value than conventional online media, and that the embedded metrics like consumer ratings are leading indicators of a firm’s equity. Hu et al. ( 2015 ) develop a formative model with an aggregate online social value construct and identify factors to increase user benefits and satisfaction, ensuring customer retention via continued usage of online services. In a public organization study focussing on social networking system, Karoui et al. ( 2015 ) suggest that differing perceptions of social capital can result in actors adopting differing strategies for holding their social position within an organization. Barrett et al. ( 2016 ) find that value creation in online communities expands beyond the dyadic relationship between a firm and the community to include a more intricate relationship involving stakeholders of a wider ecosystem. Dong and Wu ( 2015 ) use data from Dell and Starbucks and find substantial evidence for online user innovation-enabled implementation increasing firm value. Overall, the studies on social media and value creation emphasize on influence of social and structural interplay on sustainability, which is visible over longitudinal examination of their relationship to one another.

4.3.9 Role of Social Media During Critical/Extreme Events

Certain authors are more interested in micro-blogging used at the time of critical/extreme events. In an attempt to filter real time news/updates from irrelevant personal messages and spam, Cheng et al. ( 2011 ) propose analysis of information diffusion patterns for a large set of micro-blogs that update emergency news. They claim that their approach (using Twitter data) outperforms other benchmark solutions to offer diverse user preferences and customized results during critical events. Cheong and Lee ( 2011 ) use Twitter data to propose a framework that is useful for Homeland Securities and Law enforcement agencies to record and respond to terror situations. Oh et al. ( 2013 ) also study Twitter data from three extreme events to find that information without any clear source is at the top, personal involvement comes second, with anxiety at third place in the list of rumour causing factors during social crisis events. Wang et al. ( 2014 ) affirm that news spreads widely through online portals. They find that news first posted even on a small news portal can be picked and reposted by a major news portal, forming a hotspot event for the news to rapidly spread over the Internet.

Lee et al. ( 2015a ) performed negative binomial analysis of the 2013 Boston marathon tragedy Tweets to find that follower numbers, reaction time, and hash tagging significantly affected the diffusion of Tweets. Oh et al. ( 2015 ) analysed Twitter data from the 2011 Egypt revolution and found that hash tags played a critical role in gathering information and maintaining situational awareness during such politically unstable phases. Ling et al. ( 2015 ) undertake a qualitative study of 2011 Thailand flooding data to conclude that social media can offer a community: structural, resource, and psychological empowerment to achieve collaborative control and collective participation. In summary, studies since 2011 have been particularly examining Twitter data, and have derived significant insights on their positive effect during critical/extreme events.

4.3.10 Social Media for Help/Support

Some users post updates on social media with an aim to seek help/support from online communities. Maier et al. ( 2015a ) find that such posts cause social overload for other users, and the psychological consequences include feelings of exhaustion, low user satisfaction, and high intentions of reducing/stopping the use of social media sites. Yan et al. ( 2015a ) find that healthcare traits of patients help them establish social connections online, which is influenced by their cognitive abilities. Spagnoletti et al. ( 2015 ) develop a user utility model for integrating social media in personalized elderly healthcare that is capable of challenging traditional organizational boundaries to transform the internal and external stakeholder engagement. Yan and Tan ( 2014 ) propose a partially observed Markov decision process model to find sufficient evidence suggesting emotional support is most significant in improving patient health. Kallinikos and Tempini ( 2014 ) study the ups and downs of having a large unsupervised social network based on patient self-reporting for gathering and examining data on patients’ health.

Limited number of studies has been recorded for this theme. These studies are fairly recent suggesting a new emerging trend, where health/support based communities are being formed. The expanse of such communities seems to be largely dependent on the information processing capacity and the range of social ties that the members of such networks can handle. Using social media to bring together people with similar health conditions suggests that informational and social support can have varying influence on patient health.

4.3.11 Public Bodies and Social Media Interaction

User-generated content from social media is becoming one of the important information channels across public administrative bodies and political contexts. Baur ( 2017 ) has developed a MarketMiner framework that massively improves the utilization of multi-source, multi-language social media content, which can be applied to areas such as open government. Rosenberger et al. ( 2017 ) use abstraction-based modelling to conceptualize the data structure, and conclude that wrapping social network application programming interfaces allow mutual integration of most user activities. Gonzalez-Bailon et al. ( 2010 ) show that political discussions in online networks are larger and deeper compared to other networks. Ameripour et al. ( 2010 ) analyse the restricted Iranian social networks, subject to surveillance and censorship to find that Internet conviviality is not an independent variable with deterministic outcomes, but is a technology shaped by economic and political forces. Although, not published in the list of journals included in this review, Kapoor and Dwivedi ( 2015 ) provided a detailed discussion on how social media was used intensively to transform electoral campaigns during India’s last general election. Similar use has also been reported in other contexts (for example, US presidential elections) by other studies.

Except one study (that is, Ameripour et al. 2010 ), the remaining reviewed under this category are very recent (2015–2016). These studies suggest the use of social media for increasing public engagement and transparency. Most of these studies used technical frameworks and modelling techniques to identify communication clusters and structures to derive insights relevant to open government and political campaigns.

4.3.12 Traditional v/s Social Media

Another set of studies investigate the differences between traditional and social media. A very early study by Wattal et al. ( 2010 ) compares the big money tactics for political campaigning with social media campaigning to reveal that Internet and the blogosphere can majorly influence campaigning and election results. Dewan and Ramaprasad ( 2014 ) examine the importance of new and old media within the music industry; they find radio positively and consistently affecting sales of songs and albums, and sales displacement from free online sampling overpowering positive word of mouth on sales. Miranda et al. ( 2016 ) compare traditional and social media to suggest that there are evils associated with the societal benefits of social media, and mass media has a detrimental effect on public discourse.

4.3.13 Testing Pre-Established Models

Some studies in literature restrict focus to pre-established models and relationships for evaluating varied aspects of social media. Fang et al. ( 2013 ) apply social network theories to suggest positive social influence on adoption probabilities. Levina and Arriaga ( 2014 ) use Bourdieu’s theory to explain the role of status markers and external sources in shaping social dynamics. Bharati et al. ( 2014 ) combine institutional theory and organizational innovation, whereby institutional pressures significantly predict absorptive capacity. Kekolahti et al. ( 2015 ) use Bayesian networks to indicate the decrease in perceived importance of communication with increase in age. Chang et al. ( 2015 ) integrate social distance with clustering methods to show shorter social distance results in satisfactory trust. Chung et al. ( 2017 ) employ the Technology Acceptance Model, and find positive effects between traveller readiness and ease of using geo-tagging. Zhao et al. ( 2016 ) use theory of planned behaviour and attribution theory to find that virtual rewards for sharing knowledge online undermine enjoyment. Yu et al. ( 2015 ) use the causation and heuristic theories to find that affect influences self disclosure indirectly by adjusting perceived benefits. Stanko ( 2016 ) employs Innovation Diffusion Theory, and finds that community interaction influences innovations that are used to aid a further innovation.

5 Discussion

In reviewing the publications gathered for this paper, commonalities have been observed in the myriad aspects of social media chosen for investigation. While many studies focussed their attention on understanding the behaviours of social media users, the others examined entrepreneurial participation and firm behaviour. A number of studies have focussed on the content being posted in online communities, several of which report on the repercussions of some of this content being used as an awareness medium during critical events and tragedies. Interesting revelations were made by authors studying the use of social media as a platform to render and/or receive help or support, and its incorporation in the field of healthcare and public administration. Value creation and the ill-effects associated with the use of social media at the workplace were also discussed. Several studies chose to test previously established hypotheses and models, while others compared traditional media with social media. Prior research has also provided insights into how firms have been using social media to market their products and services. These strategies run in parallel with the reviews and recommendations posted by users on social media sites, which have also received considerable attention in the literature. In summary, given that different types of social media platforms are emerging, and different consequences are associated with their use, research in this field will continue to evolve. This is also evidenced by the increased number of publications related to usage and impact over the past five years.

Social media platforms have essentially redefined the ways in which people choose to communicate and collaborate. An online community is a socio-technological space where a sense of communal identity drives engagement, which, in turn, enhances satisfaction (Ray et al. 2014 ). Intriguingly, social media are facilitating the emergence of virtual knowledge communities and self help networks. These web-based arrangements allow medical practice and research to access patient experience on a daily basis, which was not possible earlier. However, since research in this area is still in its early stages, it is difficult to assess the social complexity involved (e.g., stability of a networking platform that brings together patients with medical experts) in the process (Kallinikos and Tempini 2014 ).

Firms are recognizing social media as a prominent indicator of equity value that not only improves short-term performance, but also brings about long-term productivity benefits (Luo et al. 2013 ). The reviewed studies suggest that incorporatin social media in firms increases meta-knowledge (who’s who in an organization and who does what), which helps avoid knowledge duplication and promotes new ways of managing work (Leonardi 2014 ). Active management of social media has been observed to be more effective when those inside rather than outside a firm are engaged (Miller and Tucker 2013 ).

A specific line of research focuses on consumers, who substantially rely on online reviews before making any purchase decision. The research papers reviewed in this study exhibit diversity in studying authenticity of reviews for travel sites, social bookmarking and review sites, movie ratings, car manufacturing, and social media check-ins. Studies concur that there has been an exponential increase in the number of fake reviews, which is severely damaging the credibility of online reviews and putting business values at risk (Zhang et al. 2016 ). Some studies have also empirically identified consumers’ social media participation as a key metric contributing to the profitability of a business (Rishika et al. 2013 ). There evidently exists a direct correlation between consumer engagement on social media sites and their shopping intentions, which makes the issue of legitimate reviews all the more important for businesses and consumers. Although some studies have proposed models and algorithms that claim to filter authentic reviews from the rest, there is no single and straightforward solution reported yet that can fully combat this problem.

The issue of negative posts has received considerable attention in the literature. Prior research suggests that, overall, the impact of negative posts or electronic word of mouth is much higher than the positive ones that increase readership (Aggarwal et al. 2012 ). This problem is also prevalent in organizations. According to the studies reviewed here, organizations either prohibit employees from posting controversial content online, or employees themselves refrain from doing so, fearing negative repercussions. The same employees also share positive posts, and the adverse effect of the few negative posts is offset by positive ones. It is in a firm’s interests to encourage free will enterprise blogging to break down knowledge silos and yield higher employee productivity (Singh et al. 2014 ).

Businesses looking to monetize online content and social search rely heavily on substantial understanding of consumer behaviour in terms of their interaction and participation in social settings (Susarla et al. 2012 ). As consumers gain access to social platforms that offer free content consumption without an obligatory payment, the relationship between sampling and sales becomes all the more important (Dewan and Ramaprasad 2014 ). There is much research supporting the belief that online word of mouth has a critical role to play in a firm’s overall performance, and introducing a pay-wall (for previously free content) can significantly reduce the volume of word of mouth for popular content in comparison to niche content (Oh et al. 2016 ). Determining consumers’ social influence in an online community is of critical interest to managers, who seek to gain some leverage from the potential of social media (Shi et al. 2014 ). Some researchers find it difficult to distinguish social influence from users’ self selection preferences. From an analysis point of view, it then becomes necessary to separate factors affecting user membership in a social network from various types of social influence (Susarla et al. 2012 ).

The findings on the use of social media in emergencies suggests that a general user response in an online community is very different from that during a crisis, as those responses then become more reflexive. It has been observed that in times of crisis, lack of information sources coupled with too many situation reports being shared by the users of a social media platform can precipitate a rumour mill. It thus becomes incumbent on emergency responders to release reliable information, whilst trying to control collective anxiety in the community, to suppress the rumour threads (Oh et al. 2013 ). Furthermore, security concerns are increasingly common with involuntary online exposure on social media, and research on this subject suggests that information dissemination with network commonality affects privacy invasion and user bonding (Choi et al. 2015 ). It has been learnt that an individual’s or firm’s decision to withhold information in the interest of privacy can have both positive and negative effects on their utility (Burtch et al. 2016 ).

In reviewing the 132 publications on social media and social networking, it was observed that many studies relied primarily on social exchange theory, network theory and organization theory. Table  3 , shown below, lists other theories that have been used by at least two publications. There were several other theories that were used by at least once, including social role theory, game theory, structural holes theory, management and commitment theories, institutional theory, deterrence and mitigation theories, and self determination and self categorization theories. It is noteworthy that dominant IS adoption theories such as Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (Dwivedi et al. 2017b , c ; Rana et al. 2017 ; Venkatesh et al. 2003 ), Technology Acceptance Model (Davis 1989 ) and Innovation Diffusion Theory (Kapoor et al. 2015 ) are less widely utilised.

In addition, our review of the literature on social media identified dominant research methods employed by scholars. Qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods were used by most of these studies. Closer scrutiny of the 132 publications reviewed in this study revealed the multitude of techniques applied for gathering data. Quantitative methods employed in these studies mostly adopted analytical techniques and surveys (Table  4 ). On the other hand, publications using qualitative methods mainly used case studies and interviews to gather the required data (Table 4 ). As expected, studies employing mixed methods used a combination of analytical and conceptual techniques, alongside surveys and content analysis (Table 4 ). Table 4 summarizes the various research approaches used by publications in our corpus.

The reviewed publications were also analyzed to determine the nature of the social network that were studied. Precisely 46 websites emerged, with Facebook, online communities, Twitter, Blogs and YouTube being most frequently targeted. Networks analysed by at least two or more studies have been identified in Table  5 . The other networks that received attention from the reviewed publications include Ebay, Flickr, Flixster, Gtalk, microsoft, MSN Space, Patientslikeme, New York Times, TripAdvisor.com , and Boxofficemojo.com . Studies also focussed on websites related to online news, Q&A websites, discussion groups and forums, online radio and television, and medical sites such as Webmd.com .

5.1 Limitations and Future Research Directions

Studies, such as the one by Cheung et al. ( 2012 ), that examine aspects of popular websites, warn against consumer perceptions being under the influence of brand equity of those websites. They recommend exercising caution while generalizing such findings in the context of other websites (Cheung et al. 2012 ). Rosenberger et al. ( 2017 ) identify a similar problem with relying on publicly available data, in that the underlying abstraction makes findings valid only for the specific social media site that was analyzed, whilst significantly restricting its generalizability to other sites. In a similar vein, other studies (Krasnova et al. 2015 ; Khan and Jarvenpaa 2010 ; Tow et al. 2010 ) have acknowledged the limitation of restricting their research to a single social media site, and recommend future researchers to adopt a cross-platform perspective for drawing significant inferences.

Mettler and Winter ( 2016 ) suggest that there is a paucity of studies on Enterprise Social Systems because of its novelty, and urge researchers to fill this void. Turel and Serenko ( 2012 ) identify the lack of conceptualization in the notion of technology addiction; they recognize that the process of defining it is still in the early stages, and is being debated across communities. For researchers interested in examining aspects of Twitter, Cheng et al. ( 2011 ) recommend incorporating the location metric focused on Twitter’s geo location feature allowing users to trace the latitude and longitude of Tweets. Another recommendation for Twitter related studies comes from Benthaus et al. ( 2016 ), where they suggest researchers should study user involvement differently, based on how often users choose to ‘like’ the content of a company. As for use of social media for marketing in firms, the literature has restricted focus to the resulting marketing benefits, with limited evidence supporting the effectiveness of social platforms for enhancing employee communications (Miller and Tucker 2013 ).

For behavioural studies, researchers need to be wary of the fact that motivation for users to adopt social media is different, often contingent on their culture (Chiu and Huang 2015 ; Shen et al. 2010 . It is also important to note that behavioural reactions are susceptible to change over time, and changing habits have a role to play (Chiu and Huang 2015 ). Longitudinal research is thus always expected to offer a better understanding of the research problem when the intended behavioural reactions transfer into behaviour with time (Maier et al. 2015a ). In studying online reviews and recommendations, researchers can assume that these reviews are independent of one another and remain static over time; however, Zhang and Piramuthu ( 2016 ) suggest that this may not be true and future researchers should now concentrate on how this has evolved, and if herding behaviour exists on such online platforms. In studying behaviours, it has also emerged that users develop discontinuance intentions after continuance intentions, with the latter never being completely replaced by the former. Turel ( 2015 ) thus recommends studying the initiation of discontinuance intentions, whilst identifying the factors leading to its dominance and actual discontinuance attempts.

Matook et al. ( 2015a ) identify that there is a need to study the aspect of trust formation between individuals on social media, where no personal relationships exist (unlike sites such as Facebook). Chung et al. ( 2017 ) identify that researchers often associate the use of certain social media with young users (for instance, Maier et al. 2015b ), and fail to study the usage perceptions across various ages (Vishwanath 2015 ). Van Osch and Steinfield ( 2016 ) suggest that future researchers should explore the potential of Enterprise Social Media to gain insights into the tools that support disentanglement of team boundary spanning. Finally, researchers have established that the lifecycle of information and communication technologies tend to be emancipatory in their infancy but eventually evolve into hegemonic tools. They warn social media policymakers to be wary of reproducing this pattern with digital media; the recommendation is to involve more citizens in the development of Internet governance framework, rather than resting decisions with the members of political or economic power (Miranda et al. 2016 ).

6 Conclusions

This paper discusses the findings of 132 publications contributing to the literature on social media. Multiple emergent themes in this body of literature have been identified to enhance understanding of the advances in social media research. By building on empirical findings of previous social media research, many new studies have been successful in theorizing the nature of most social media platforms. User-generated content allows collective understanding, which is a massive machine-human knowledge processing function capable of managing chaotic volumes of information. Some key conclusions relevant to stakeholders, including researchers, have been identified here.

Social media technologies are no longer perceived just as platforms for socialization and congregation, but are being acknowledged for their ability to encourage aggregation.

In reviewing the 132 publications on social media and social networking, it was observed that most studies used social exchange theory, network theory and organization theory to support their studies.

Facebook, online communities, and twitter are the three most popular networks targeted by publications in the field of social media research.

Publications in 2011 were still reporting user-generated content as a new type of online content. However, the last six years have seen tremendous scholarly progression in discussing the many applications of social networking, highlighting the highs and lows associated with its use.

Majority of the publications reviewed in this study are focussed on behavioural side of social media, reviews, and integration of social media for marketing and organizational purposes.

Many publications in the year 2013 concentrated their efforts in investigating the very popular aspect of reviews and recommendations on social networks.

Publications have become more focussed on studying social commerce across networking sites, particularly, Facebook, MySpace, YouTube and so on between 2015 and 2016.

Publications have not shown much interest in support-seeking posts and negative stigma attached to social media use after the year 2015.

Most studies unanimously acknowledge social media for its information sharing and information exchange capabilities, with a focussed group of studies recognizing its effectiveness during natural disasters and critical events.

Almost all publications studying information sharing during natural disasters and critical events focus on Twitter data.

Publications on administration and political contexts were particularly found in 2010 and 2016, with no interest expressed in these contexts between 2011 and 2015.

With information systems now expanding beyond organizational peripheries to become a part of the larger societal context, it is important for strategic information systems research to delve into the competitive setting of dynamic social systems. Online communities are introducing extrinsic rewards that do not limit users’ intrinsic motivations. Research on such communities should expand to study the interplay between extrinisic and intrinsic rewards, particularly in terms of their ability to cultivate and sustain users’ intrinsic motivations. From an organizational perspective, research on social media should move past the conventional dyadic view of the relationship between an online community and a firm, and focus on reconceptualising online users as an ecosystem of stakeholders. Social media has re-established the dynamics between organizations, employees, and consumers. Given the rise in number of publications focussing on workplace setting since 2014, future researchers should aim to analyze stakeholders’ potential in adopting social media tools to successfully accomplish their work goals. As for the limitations of this collective review, publications reviewed here were limited to only nine journals. This potentially means studies with significant contributions to social media literature published in other journals have been overlooked. Future researchers can look to overcome such exclusions and focus on the overall review of literature on social media platforms. Future reviews may focus on reviewing articles published in a larger number of IS journals related to a specific type of social media (i.e. social networking sites, blogs), or specific issues related to social media use, such as information load, stress, and impact on productivity. Despite these limitations, our study provides a comprehensive and robust intellectual framework for social media research that would be of value to adacemics and practitioners alike.

TITLE: (“Social Media” or “social networking” or “facebook” or “linkedin” or “instagram” or “twitter”)

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Kapoor, K.K., Tamilmani, K., Rana, N.P. et al. Advances in Social Media Research: Past, Present and Future. Inf Syst Front 20 , 531–558 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10796-017-9810-y

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Published : 06 November 2017

Issue Date : June 2018

DOI : https://doi.org/10.1007/s10796-017-9810-y

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Open Access

Peer-reviewed

Research Article

Social media research: We are publishing more but with weak influence

Roles Methodology

Affiliation Department of Marketing, National University of Singapore, Singapore, Singapore

Roles Resources, Writing – original draft, Writing – review & editing

* E-mail: [email protected]

Affiliation Department of Business Administration, Holy Spirit University of Kaslik, Jounieh, Lebanon

• Samer Elhajjar, 
• Laurent Yacoub

• Published: February 8, 2024
• https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0297241
• Peer Review
• Reader Comments

The purpose of this paper is to address the chasm between academic research on social media as an expanding academic discipline and at the same time a growing marketing function. A bibliometric analysis indicated the evolution of academic research on social media. The results of a survey of 280 social media practitioners shed the light on the gap between academic social media research and the practice of professionals. A qualitative study also offered novel insights and recommendations for future developments in academic research on social media. The findings of this paper showed that academic research on social media is growing in terms of the number of publications but is struggling in three areas: visibility, relevance, and influence on practitioners. This study contributes to the body of knowledge on social media. The implications of our study are derived from the importance of our findings on the directions to publish more relevant and timely academic research on social media. While extensive studies exist on social media, their influence on practitioners is still limited.

Citation: Elhajjar S, Yacoub L (2024) Social media research: We are publishing more but with weak influence. PLoS ONE 19(2): e0297241. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0297241

Editor: Alhamzah F. Abbas, UTM Skudai: Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, MALAYSIA

Received: July 27, 2023; Accepted: January 1, 2024; Published: February 8, 2024

Copyright: © 2024 Elhajjar, Yacoub. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License , which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

Data Availability: All relevant data are within the manuscript and its Supporting Information files. The data underlying the results presented in the study are from Scopus ( http://www.scopus.com/ ).

Funding: The author received no specific funding for this work.

Competing interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Introduction

In the early 1960s, academics began to advocate that marketing should gain rigor by relying on a scientific approach that respects requirements in terms of the state of knowledge, the hypotheses development, the methodology, and the analysis and interpretation of results [ 1 – 5 ]. This traditional conception of rigor has, over the years, fuelled the need to acquire tools to better evaluate, recognise and promote it. Thus, first in the United States, and now in almost all countries, various stakeholders use rankings of scientific journals, mainly Anglo-Saxon, which often consider their impact factors according to the Journal Citation Report (JCR) of the Science Citation Index or the Social Science Citation Index. Quality accreditation bodies for higher education management institutions have also followed suit by offering journal ranking lists.

However, since the early 1980s, the debate between rigor and relevance in the production and dissemination of marketing knowledge has been prominent in the literature. There is a serious concern about how academics are evaluating the impact of their research. As if the focus of marketing researchers is to improve their citation records rather than developing practical implications for practitioners. Shouldn’t marketing scholarship, when applied to practical issues, aim to harmonize rigor and relevance right from the start? How did we arrive at this risk of divorce and the need to reconcile thoroughness and applicability?

In fact, in some fields, such as pharmacy, where breakthroughs in medical procedures and the discovery of new pharmaceuticals result in societal benefits, the influence of research is simple to grasp. This effect is more difficult to detect in social media. In the discipline of marketing, for example, there have been allegations that research has strayed too far from the interests of practitioners. In turn, researchers point out the flaws in present professional methods [ 6 ]. Indeed, some in the marketing research community believe that many practical concerns that worry professional marketers are unworthy of researchers’ attention. This is mainly because of a long-standing misguidance of business schools [ 7 ] since their research is less and less influential [ 8 – 11 ]. Several studies confirm that the impact of academic research on business practices has been disappointing and that innovations have come from the consulting community, the business press, and professional associations [ 12 – 15 ].

This article aimed to identify whether there is a gap between rigor and relevance in academic research on social media. It also proposed ways for marketing researchers to foster relevance. In general, this article responded to two research questions: Is there a chasm between academic social media research and social media practitioners? How to reconcile the rigor and relevance of social media research?

The originality of this research lies in its specific focus on bridging the potential gap between rigor and relevance within the realm of academic research on social media. While social media has become an integral part of contemporary society and communication [ 16 ], there is a growing concern that academic investigations in this domain may sometimes prioritize theoretical rigor at the expense of practical applicability [ 17 ]. By addressing this issue, the research seeks to contribute significantly to the field by shedding light on the balance between rigorous methodologies and the real-world applicability of social media research findings. This unique perspective not only emphasizes the importance of ensuring academic work remains pertinent and useful in a rapidly evolving digital landscape but also offers valuable insights for researchers, educators, and policymakers striving to navigate the intricate intersection of academia and social media’s dynamic environment.

To answer our research questions, the paper was structured as follows. First, we examined the theoretical foundations of academic marketing research. Second, the research design and methodology of our three investigations were then described. Our first study involved a social media research bibliometric analysis with the goal of describing the evolution and development of academic social media research. Our second study gathered feedback and information from social media practitioners. Our third study listed suggestions for academic researchers. The three studies worked in tandem to create a comprehensive picture of academic research on social media. They offered historical context, practical insights, and actionable recommendations, collectively contributing to a holistic understanding of how researchers can bridge the gap between rigor and relevance in the dynamic realm of social media. Lastly, we listed the contributions of our study and their implications for future research.

Literature review

Academic marketing research has two purposes: first, to advance marketing theory, and second, to improve marketing practice [ 18 ]. On the one hand, theory ought to give academics fresh ideas, conceptual frameworks, and resources to aid in their understanding of marketing phenomena. On the other side, research should give marketers direction for making better decisions. As a result, marketing academics should address issues with the development of marketing theory’s rigor and its applicability to marketing practice [ 19 ]. Nevertheless, leading academic voices have expressed worry about the gap between marketing theory and practice. Reibstein et al. [ 20 ], for example, have questioned if marketing academia has lost its way, while Sheth and Sisodia [ 21 ] have urged for a reform. In a similar vein, Hunt [ 22 ] advised revising both marketing’s discipline and practice, while McCole [ 23 ] proposed strategies to refocus marketing theory on changing practice. Rust et al. [ 24 ] argue for reorienting marketing in firms to become more customer-centric, and Kotler [ 25 ] advocates for marketing theory and practice to conform to environmental imperatives. Also, because the business landscape is dynamic, Webster Jr. and Lusch [ 26 ] believe that marketing’s goal, premises, and models should be rethought. Finding answers to these problems keeps marketing from becoming obsolete [ 27 ] and marginalised [ 20 ], both as a discipline and as an organizational function [ 28 ].

According to the literature [ 29 , 30 ], marketing scholars have lost sight of both rigor and relevance. As a result, many scholarly journals have made it normal practice to provide implications and suggestions [ 31 ], their actual influence has been insignificant [ 20 ]. Many marketing academics have failed to address substantive topics [ 18 ], resulting in a loss of relevance [ 30 , 20 ] and a drop in marketing expertise [ 32 ].

The efforts of certain institutions (e.g., Marketing Science Institute), conferences (e.g., Theory + Practice in Marketing–TPM), and leading journals’ special issues on marketing theory and practice to bridge this gap are well recognised, with the goal of fostering dialogue and collaboration between marketing scholars and practitioners. Several solutions for bridging the marketing theory–practice gap have also emerged from existing literature: adopting the perspective of rigor–and–relevance in research [ 27 , 33 ]; focusing on emerging phenomena [ 34 , 35 ]; positioning research implications to the higher business level rather than the narrow level of the marketing department [ 36 ]; running role-relevant research driven by a deep understanding of the core tasks of the marketing department; translating research results into actionable recommendations [ 23 , 37 ].

In sum, marketing research has been criticised for not having an impact on practice since it is primarily focused on writing for other scholars and not for practitioners who might benefit from marketing research to address practical issues. Equivalently, publishing marketing research that is more useful for practitioners implies that there should be a well-functioning nexus between the theory and the marketing tools and techniques that practitioners need to deal with practical issues. In the context of social media, we still don’t know whether academic publications have an impact on practitioners. In other terms, one may ask whether social media practitioners read academic articles or refer to these publications in their practices.

Our paper considered the gaps between the theory and practice of social media and identifies where they exist. Some possible explanations for the gaps can be explored which may be of interest to both academics working in the field.

We conducted a bibliometric study, consisting of the collection, summarizing, assessing, and monitoring of published research, to create an up-to-date overview of the current marketing research on social media and statistically assess the associated literature [ 38 , 39 ]. Scopus, one of the most complete databases of academic articles, served as our data source. It indexes 12,850 periodicals in various categories and contains articles published since 1966. Scopus was chosen over Web of Science for two reasons. First, as researchers faced a trade‐off between data coverage and cleanliness, Scopus has been discovered to have a larger coverage (60% larger) than Web of Science [ 40 ]. Second, bibliometric studies in marketing research often employ only one database to avoid data homogeneity problems that could arise when using numerous databases [ 41 ].

To search the database, we first identified two keywords related to our study: “social media”, and “social media marketing”, we ran a query using a combination of these keywords (adopting the Boolean operator “OR”) in the fields related to “title,” “abstract,” and “keywords.” We considered works published only in business journals until October 2022. Proceedings, book chapters, and books were excluded from further consideration. To filter this data, we relied on a screening process. Documents were excluded based on whether they are not published in English and/or not available for the project team.

We placed the highest priority on maintaining the reliability of our dataset, which we accomplished by adhering to protocol. This protocol was carried out in four distinct phases: identification, screening, eligibility, and inclusion, as elaborated in Fig 1 . Using Mendeley’s robust features, we structured all identified studies in an organized format consisting of author names, titles, and publication years. Additionally, we conducted a thorough check to detect and remove any duplicate studies, ensuring the dataset’s cleanliness and integrity.

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https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0297241.g001

After applying our selection criteria rigorously, our initial search of the Scopus database produced a substantial dataset comprising 5345 research works. This dataset encompassed a wide range of information, including author names, article titles, the countries of corresponding authors, publication counts, comprehensive citation statistics (total citations, average article citations, and the number of citing articles, both with and without self-citations), journal sources, keywords, geographical distribution by countries, and author-level metrics. A detailed workflow outlining our selection process is depicted in Fig 1 , providing a comprehensive overview of our systematic approach.

To further enhance the comprehensiveness of our research, we implemented a backward search strategy. In this phase, we scrutinized the reference lists of the retained studies for our final review but did not identify any additional studies relevant to our research objectives.

Once we finalized our ultimate dataset, we examined the complete text of each article. We extracted and organized all pertinent information essential for our review. To streamline this process, we developed a structured data extraction tool specifically designed to record and concisely summarize the crucial details necessary to address our research inquiries. This approach aimed to minimize potential human errors and enhance procedural transparency.

The data coding phase unfolded in two distinct steps. Initially, we subjected the data extraction form to a rigorous pilot evaluation using a select sample of the finalized articles. Two of our co-authors independently conducted data extractions from this sample, allowing for a meticulous cross-check to identify and rectify any technical issues, including completeness and the form’s usability. In the second step of data coding, each article received a unique identifier. One co-author examined the complete text of each article, coding the data into specific categories, such as article title, publication year, geographic market focus, and research theme. To ensure the utmost accuracy and reliability, a second co-author rigorously reviewed the extraction form and conducted a random sample check for cross-validation. Any discrepancies or disagreements that arose during this process were thoroughly discussed and resolved to maintain the integrity of our data coding efforts.

Then, we proceeded to conduct a comprehensive performance analysis. Within this evaluation, we scrutinized various metrics to gauge the scholarly contributions. Among the myriad measures assessed, two stood out as particularly prominent indicators of research impact. The first criterion was the number of publications produced per year or per research constituent, serving as a robust proxy for productivity and output. The second metric revolved around citations, a paramount gauge of the work’s influence and impact within the academic community. As mentioned by Donthu et al. [ 42 ], these dual facets—publication and citation—equally underscore the multifaceted nature of scholarly contributions.

Fig 2 shows the evolution of publications on social media research. Academic research was keeping up with the growth of social media platforms. In fact, since 2010, the number of social media users has significantly increased, the number of social media networks has grown, and the social media platforms evolved from direct electronic information exchange to virtual gathering place.

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0297241.g002

These publications have collectively accumulated a total of 2,351 citations. Further dissecting this data, we found that the average citation per document stands at 0.43. Moreover, the h-index, a key indicator gauging both the productivity and influence of a researcher’s body of work, stands at 16. This signifies that a minimum of 16 citations have been garnered by these publications.

Overall, the studies have been conducted in 52 countries. The greatest share of research has been carried out in the United States, followed by the United Kingdom, Australia, and China. Business journals publishing on social media were also listed in our findings. They included a range of marketing journals (e.g., Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science; International Journal of Research in Marketing; Journal of Marketing; Marketing Intelligence and Planning; Journal of Interactive Marketing; Journal of Research in Interactive Marketing; Psychology and Marketing), business research journals (Journal of Business Research; EuroMed Journal of Business; Business Horizons; Journal of Business Media studies), and management journals (e.g., European Management Review). In general, the Marketing journals and business research journals dominated this list. The most cited paper was the classical article on the challenges and opportunities of social media published by Kaplan and Haeinlein in Business Horizons, which has received more than 27000 citations. Next, we found three papers with more than 5000 citations and 10 additional ones with over 2000 citations.

In our study, the abstracts were assessed for the keywords "theory" and "model" to identify theories and models that the social media study added to, and to explore the many theoretical lenses used to guide the research. In total, 321 papers had an abstract that included a theory or model. There were 19 different theories initiated from those works. Theory of gratification, the theory of technology acceptance, and the theory of planned behavior are the most used theories in social media research.

Next, we conducted a keyword co‐occurrence analysis aimed at identifying the main keywords i.e., academic research on social media. By investigating the relationships between keywords, keyword co-occurrence analyses helped us to represent and comprehend the literature of a scientific topic. VOSviewer package of Van Eck and Waltman [ 43 ] was used to generate bibliometric analysis which has been widely adopted in the literature [ 44 ]. VOS is superior to multidimensional scaling for constructing bibliometric analyses and maps [ 43 ], so we did not involve multidimensional scaling. The results of our keyword analysis are shown in Fig 3 . The size of the circles in the graphic representation indicates which keywords had the highest levels of co-occurrence throughout the examination of keyword co-occurrence. Social networking platforms, consume behaviour, marketing, sustainability, and economic and social effects are among the most important keywords used by social media researchers.

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0297241.g003

Social media research has identified several prominent topics that have garnered significant attention in recent years. One of these is the impact of social media on mental health [ 45 ]. Researchers have been exploring how various aspects of social media use, such as the quantity and quality of online interactions, content consumption, and platform design, influence individuals’ mental well-being. This includes investigations into the links between social media use and consumer well-being [ 46 ].

Another critical area of focus in social media research is the spread of misinformation and fake news [ 47 ]. The mechanisms behind the dissemination of false information on social media platforms have been extensively examined, along with their effects on public opinion, trust, and political polarization. Researchers have sought to understand how the algorithms, echo chambers, and filter bubbles on these platforms contribute to the propagation of misinformation [ 47 ].

Influencer marketing is another hot topic in social media research [ 48 ]. The effectiveness of influencer partnerships, issues related to authenticity, and the ethical considerations surrounding sponsored content have all come under scrutiny. Researchers are also exploring how influencers shape consumer behavior, affecting choices and preferences [ 49 ].

Political communication on social media has attracted significant attention, particularly regarding its impact on election campaigns, policy-making, and public discourse. Scholars have examined how algorithms, the presence of filter bubbles, and the formation of echo chambers can influence political opinions and contribute to polarization [ 50 ].

Privacy and data security issues are ongoing concerns in the realm of social media research. These studies investigate user privacy, data breaches, and the effects of privacy settings on various social media platforms [ 51 ].

Research into user behavior and engagement on social media platforms is fundamental for understanding trends, virality, and the factors that drive user interactions. Numerous research studies have delved into the impact of social media on consumer behavior, offering valuable insights into this dynamic relationship [ 52 ]. The concept of social proof, where people tend to follow the actions and preferences of others, is well-established in social media research [ 53 ]. The fear of missing out (FOMO) also drives consumer behavior, as limited time offers and exclusive deals on social media can prompt quick purchasing decisions [ 54 ].

Several emerging trends in social media research are shaping the field’s future direction. One of these is the integration of artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning into research methodologies [ 55 ]. AI is being used for sentiment analysis, content recommendation, and identifying trends within large datasets [ 56 ].

Blockchain technology is also gaining traction as a means to enhance trust and transparency in social media interactions. Researchers are exploring its potential in content authentication and combating fake news [ 57 ].

Ethical considerations surrounding AI algorithms on social media platforms are a growing concern. Research in this area focuses on issues of bias, fairness, and the ethical responsibility of tech companies in algorithm design and implementation [ 58 ].

Cross-cultural and global perspectives in social media research are becoming more prevalent, with studies investigating how social media usage varies across cultures and regions and the global impact of social media trends [ 59 – 61 ].

Looking ahead, future research in social media could consider the long-term effects of social media usage on individuals and societies, including potential generational attitudes and behaviors. Advocacy for increased algorithmic transparency on social media platforms and the study of its impact on user experiences and content distribution is another important direction for future research. Research into how humans and AI can collaborate to enhance content moderation, fact-checking, and information verification on social media platforms will become increasingly relevant. Finally, as concerns about environmental sustainability grow, future research could investigate the environmental impact of data centres and the carbon footprint associated with social media platforms.

Building upon the insights garnered from our initial study, our research journey continued with two subsequent investigations. The second study delved into the world of social media practitioners, extracting valuable feedback and information. In parallel, our third study synthesized a comprehensive list of suggestions tailored specifically for academic researchers. These two complementary endeavors, while distinct in focus, formed integral components of our overarching quest to bridge the gap between theory and practice in the realm of social media.

Numerous academics and commentators have recently claimed that marketing scholarship has stopped being sufficiently creative and has grown more disassociated from actual practice. A rush of recent special journal issues, editors’ forums, and studies on the seeming research/practice gap in marketing have been linked to such worries. While some contend that the goal of marketing research should be to enhance rather than merely describe, understand, or criticise marketing activity, a possible divide between practitioners’ and academics’ concerns appears to have formed.

Academic research, characterized by its systematic inquiry, rigor, and peer-reviewed dissemination, represents a cornerstone of knowledge production and dissemination across various fields and disciplines. Yet, the extent to which social media practitioners engage with, trust, and value academic research remains a subject of limited empirical inquiry. This gap in our understanding is particularly pertinent given the increasingly complex and intertwined relationship between social media and academia.

While a growing body of literature has explored the impact of social media on academic research dissemination and public engagement [ 62 , 63 ], relatively few studies have focused on the reverse perspective—how social media practitioners perceive and interact with academic research. In response to this gap, Study 2 aims to delve deeper into this important facet of the digital age information ecosystem.

The sample frame for this study consisted of 280 social media practitioners. Emails were sent to 441 marketers explaining the project and posing their participation. To improve response rates, a cover letter and a survey instruction letter were sent to all potential respondents [ 64 ]. The overall response rate from the participating companies was 63.5 percent. Table 1 displays the characteristics of the participants. To facilitate the process of reaching social media professionals, we collaborated with a local professional marketing body. This collaboration provided us with access to their membership database and allowed us to leverage their network to identify and contact potential participants. Our data collection initiative unfolded over the course of three months, spanning from November 2022 to January 2023.

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0297241.t001

The selection of a sample frame comprising 280 social media practitioners for this study was well-justified on several grounds. Firstly, this choice was rooted in the research’s primary objective, which seeks to gain valuable insights into the perspectives of professionals actively engaged in the field of social media. Moreover, the sample size of 280 was both practical and feasible, considering the available resources and the capacity for efficient data collection and analysis. This size also ensured the statistical significance of the study’s findings, reducing the likelihood that results are simply due to random chance. Ultimately, this choice of sample frame aligned with the study’s research goals, methodological considerations, and ethical principles, strengthening the validity and reliability of the study’s outcomes.

Results showed that only 2% read an academic paper every quarter. Less than 1% of our respondents believed that academic research had an impact on their decisions and activities. Participants of our survey indicated that social media platforms, practical eBooks, specialised websites, and newspapers and magazines are their main sources of knowledge. Fig 4 shows the responses of the participants to the following question: What media or tools do you use to acquire knowledge in social media?

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0297241.g004

Participants mentioned that they use the previously mentioned tools to mainly gain more information about the latest trends in the fields of social media and technology. Others read market analysis reports and practical reports, while the rest use the templates developed by marketing institutes and digital marketing agencies (See Table 2 ).

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0297241.t002

Respondents shared their perceptions of marketing academics. Academics were regarded as being elitist because they use their own jargon, speak in convoluted scientific terms, strive to publish at all costs, and do little to advance practice. Moreover, most of our participants raised negative criticisms towards the academic research on social media. For them, academic research lacks usefulness, relevance, and visibility (see Table 3 ). Respondents were also asked what the ideal focus of an academic journal should be on. Results show that the most important areas of focus are: (1) practical cases, (2) best practice sharing and (3) dissemination of new ideas. According to the respondents, the least focus should be placed on theoretical models.

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0297241.t003

Building upon the insights gained in our second study, we transition into our third investigation, which, like the second, continues to focus on social media practitioners. This continuity underscores the importance of deepening our understanding of their experiences, challenges, and expertise within the ever-evolving social media landscape. In this manner, our research endeavors maintain a cohesive narrative, as we gather comprehensive feedback from practitioners to inform our ongoing quest for practical solutions and academic contributions.

11 online focus groups were held with 69 social media practitioners between March and June 2023. Focus groups are a popular qualitative research method for producing cutting-edge findings. This approach was designed and justified to ensure the rigor and comprehensiveness of our research. By opting for a series of focus groups, we aimed to capture a diverse range of perspectives within the field of social media, considering its dynamic nature and the variety of roles practitioners may hold. Smaller groups can lead to more in-depth discussions and allow each participant to contribute meaningfully [ 65 ]. Furthermore, conducting these sessions during a specific time frame ensured that our data remained relevant and reflective of contemporary practices. The approach also provided opportunities for data validation and triangulation, enhancing the trustworthiness of our findings. Overall, the methodology aligned with the study’s objectives, maximizes data richness, and accounts for practical constraints, ultimately enhancing the robustness and credibility of our research.

The moderator and participants must be chosen for the online focus group to grow well. For the role of moderator, the focus group was facilitated by one of the researchers with experience in conducting online focus groups, whose main role was to encourage an open and relaxed discussion, keep the discussion relevant and probe into areas that needed clarification. A relaxed atmosphere was created to improve interaction and the free flow of ideas and opinions. ‘Starter’ questions were used at the focus group sessions to seed the discussions about the role of academic research.

We did not predetermine the number of focus groups, but we did adhere to the principles of saturation and ceased gathering data when there was no more material to add. The focus groups lasted between 62 and 91 min, with an average length of 73 min. We purposively selected information-rich participants [ 66 ] by using the authors’ networks and snowball sampling. All the participants had a strong understanding of social media, having more than three years of experience in digital marketing. An emailing list of marketing professionals was already developed by the researchers. Those professionals already participated in a previous survey or engaged in an academic activity (example: guest talk, judging a case competition, industry speech to the students). The sample frame for this study consisted of 69 marketing professionals in Singapore, France, and Lebanon. Emails were sent to 130 marketing professionals explaining the project and posing their participation. All potential respondents received a cover letter and a letter outlining the survey’s requirements to increase response rates. The overall response rate from the participating companies was 53 percent. Industries included high-tech, investment, banking, media, logistics, retailing, and healthcare. 55.07% of the sample salespeople were males with a mean age of 33 years.

Each focus group was transcribed and reviewed by an independent researcher. Using computer-based qualitative analysis software, the authors created the initial codes (QSR NVivo 12 Plus). To work methodically through the complete focus group data set and give each data item its full and equal attention, the authors scheduled frequent follow-up meetings. Then, the authors used a data-driven thematic analysis approach to look for themes that were strongly connected with the data but unrelated to the topics posed during the focus groups. To ensure that the themes formed a logical structure, the authors revised and improved the topics. To make sure that each theme appropriately reflected the meanings visible in the entire data set, the authors specifically went back to the transcripts. The final thematic categories underwent numerous rounds of editing to verify that they accurately translated the empirical data and were free of overlapping meanings. They also established connections between the detected themes and previously published works of literature. The trustworthiness of the authors’ later findings, which were demonstrated and backed by a comprehensive collection of data quotations, required such iterative analysis to be improved. Finally, the authors created a report by summarizing the results and highlighting how the new research has added to the body of knowledge. Reports were sent to all the study participants to obtain their feedback. The feedback validated the findings.

Before conducting a thematic analysis, textual data were analyzed using VOSviewer software. The software can automatically and precisely identify the keywords that frequently exist in a large text. VOSviewer analysis needs data files in.txt or.csv format for analysis. As such, all data files were converted from.docx to.txt format and uploaded to the software. The research generated many keywords, each of which was represented by a circle based on how frequently it appeared in the transcripts. The higher the frequency of occurrence of a theme in the textual data or transcripts, the larger the size of the circle (See Fig 5 ). We identified 10 topical keywords: 1) relevance; 2) automation; 3) artificial intelligence; 4) technology; 5) exposure; 6) partnership; 7) big data; 8) innovation; 9) analytics; and 10) trends. These keywords are intelligible with the importance of publishing relevant and visible academic research to practitioners. This analysis also shows that technology, automation, and artificial intelligence are among the main interests of our participants.

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0297241.g005

In this section, we present the findings of our thematic analysis. To answer our research questions, our findings shed the light on 1) the problems of academic research on social media; and (2) the participants’ recommendations to improve the managerial and practical impact of academic research on social media.

A primary finding of this research was related to the current challenges the academic research on social media. All our participants thought that the lack of visibility of academic articles is the main problem of academic research. All of them mentioned that they are not aware of the academic journals in the field of social media and are not exposed to the academic articles. Participants believed that academic institutions and researchers don’t promote research works to practitioners, as described in the following paragraph:

I think academic research is not visible for professionals like us [ … ] I believe that academics need to invest more time with practitioners and present the results of their research . As things stand like this , we are not even aware of what researchers are doing .

(Participant 13, Digital Marketing Manager, 10 years of experience).

The participants also mentioned that the lack of relevance for research in social media—is overwhelming: the gap between social media research and its practice looks abysmal, even irreconcilable, and practitioners’ interest in the research produced by researchers is very limited. The relevance dimension relates to the originality of the results. However, according to the participants, the nature of originality differs between researchers and social media managers. The originality expected by social media practitioners is established in reference to their daily practice (there is originality when the results question the practices in use) whereas the originality for researchers has as reference the universe of theories (there is originality when the results question existing knowledge). And this has implications for the researcher concerned with relevance. If he or she evolves in the world of theories and is, therefore, able to detect what constitutes original results, as quotes of participant 24 depict:

We are looking for new and original contributions [ … ] We expect to read something that we don’t know and can help us in our job .

(Participant 24, Social Media Coordinator, 5 years of experience).

The participants felt that there is an obvious time gap between researchers and practitioners: Thus, the researcher took liberties with research time which, in the eyes of the marketers, sometimes made the results obsolete. This perspective of a two-speed world (always slow for research, very fast for marketers) brought with it the idea that researchers are disconnected from business constraints and realities, as depicted in the following quote:

We don’t work much with marketing researchers because there is too much of a time gap.

(Participant 43, Marketing Manager, 13 years of experience).

Another problem noticed by our participants concerns editorial style and the dissemination of the writings. On the one hand, practitioners knew that vocabulary is an element of a researcher’s scientific capital. It is a proof of legitimacy and a mark of identity. On the other hand, they also considered the scientific writing style complex and difficult. In fact, according to our participants, the latter do not read academic articles because they are not trained to understand their content, which is often too specific, abstract, written in specialised jargon, and peppered with references and methodological details. Social media practitioners look for easy-to-understand texts that address the real world and offer cutting-edge ideas, digital marketing trends, or advice that help prevent or solve crises, address challenges, or stay competitive in the digital world.

For our participants, the questions addressed in the research work must be in phase with the concerns of social media practitioners and the challenges facing companies. They must therefore deal with current, and even future, topics, as these are the ones that interest practitioners and can help digital marketers make a difference, stand out and progress in their practices. Therefore, many of our participants said that the topics that social media researchers tackle may neither be important nor interesting for them. In this sense, participant 3 expressed the following:

Research is not at all intriguing . It is very difficult for me to understand and covers subjects that I don’t find interesting .

(Participant 3, Social Media Specialist, 5 years of experience)

The participants listed several recommendations to improve the practical impact of academic research on social media. First, there is a need to improve the visibility and exposure of the academic articles to the practitioners. Academics can think about organizing conferences and seminars to present their results to practitioners. Joint seminars involving academics and practitioners might be planned in this order to increase the practical value of academic research. Also, academics, according to our participants, can publish the results of their results in practice websites. Researchers should also be more active on social networks and try to use less scientific and more practical language in their blogs to explain the importance of their results to social media practitioners. Participants think that researchers should share specific recommendations for practitioners through YouTube. For instance, they can practically explain how to increase social media engagement and how to improve the online reputation of a company. Moreover, professional associations and professional institutes can play an important role in transmitting academic research findings to practitioners.

In addition to presenting at practitioner conferences, writing in traditional crossover journals for practitioners as well as in shorter pieces like op-eds and blogs, and attracting the attention of those who publish columns, blogs, and articles about research for practitioners, participants discussed other ways that scholars can share pertinent research insights with practitioners. Second, participants suggested involving practitioners in research, conducting research in partnership with companies. Implementing collaborative research is not easy, however. It assumes that researchers and social media managers can navigate both worlds and comply with the rules of the game specific to each universe. Participants emphasised the importance of developing ecosystems that bring together researchers and companies to pool resources from both sides to tackle shared issues. Offering a place to share problems and solutions is relevant and improves the efficiency of efforts, whether through knowledge sharing, financial support mechanisms (sponsorship), or—the implementation of joint field studies. Social media practitioners should play an important part in the co-production of research and so shape how new social media plans and ideas are developed. Participant 19 said:

I think researchers need to bridge the gap with professionals [ … ] A key element here is : collaboration . The collaboration will help both parties . The researchers will be able to co-create knowledge with the practitioners , and the latter will get new perspectives from the researchers .

(Participant 19, Marketing Executive, 20 years of experience)

Additionally, social media practitioners can collaborate with researchers to co-produce research, as shown by examples where they have served as data sources, recipients, commissioners, endorsers, and co-researchers on collaborative projects. For two crucial reasons, it is uncommon for practitioners to write on discipline-based research. The first is that academic journals have historically been less likely to publish articles on topics that are of interest to both academics and practitioners and on which they may collaborate in research. If any such research is done, it might be published in journals geared toward practitioners, but these publications don’t seem to get the attention or credit required to improve an academic’s reputation or career. Second, because practitioners lack training in the vocabulary, tools, and processes of research analysis, co-production is uncommon. To promote the generation and dissemination of information, business schools might suggest research training for practitioners and can create networks between practitioners and academics.

Third, practitioners recommended research to tackle specific, relevant, and “real-world” topics. Practitioners look for research that can provide new insight and information, which goes beyond intuition. This relevance non-obviousness test determines whether research meets or exceeds a practitioner’s intuition. So, the research topic must evoke a real marketing problem and the focus should be directed toward helping practitioners with new insights or knowledge. Then, researchers should convert this info into practice and communicate the same in jargon-free language. Social media research should concentrate on know-how rather than know-what and need to mainly rely less on theory to the virtual exclusion of practitioner utility. It is also suggested that researchers consider the results of surveys that some academic or professional organizations periodically conduct to identify practitioner needs and challenges.

Making social media research more relevant does not mean neglecting its rigor, but rather reconciling these two qualities. This "research/teaching/transfer" synergy implies changes in thinking, acting, and managing on the part of all stakeholders: faculty, policymakers, and the management of educational institutions. Participants proposed recommendations for promoting relevance at each stage of this process. Thus, according to them, research must: 1) focus on marketing problems that face practitioners and on variables that practitioners can influence; 2) analyze the interactions between, people, organizations, and the industry and their impact on marketing performance indicators deemed important by practitioners; 3) generate results that cannot be deduced intuitively and that are quickly transferred to practitioners.

Furthermore, participants thought that there is a need to investigate the effect of media on consumers, value formation and their interplay with purchase decisions, and optimization of social media marketing tools that marketing practitioners can use in their everyday jobs. Table 4 presents examples of suggested topics by our participants.

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0297241.t004

Fourth, social media research needs to provide recommendations that motivate practitioners to act on the results. Therefore, when possible, researchers should use examples to illustrate how their findings should affect social media practitioners’ actions while also defining the context in which those findings are most likely to be applicable. This entails including—and treating seriously—a part in papers titled "implications for practice" and, ideally, having relevant practitioners review versions of this section. In the eyes of practitioners, it appears necessary for researchers to adopt a forward-looking posture and look to the future rather than simply explaining what has happened or is happening today, as described by participant 58:

I expect recommendations from the part of researchers on how to prepare for the future of digital marketing . (Participant 58, Digital Marketing Manager, 15 years of experience)

Fifth, participants called for new thinking on research analysis methods:

We , the marketing directors , need models to help us make decisions and make judgments , and this is a strong expectation from researchers .

(Participant 40, Social Media Specialist, 7 years of experience)

As far as data mining and retargeting are concerned, social media practitioners are waiting for models to better manage data flows. Quantitative approaches are therefore not excluded, but they must be combined with interpretative approaches, backed by psychology, ethnography, or anthropology, to better understand and anticipate consumers’ choices and decisions.

Sixth, the skills needed to thrive in the field of digital marketing are numerous and diverse because it mixes traditional marketing, web design, SEO, analytics, content management, and much more. Tech-savvy digital marketers are always trying to learn more. For instance, digital marketers need to be familiar with data analytics. To make wise decisions, it is advised to regularly update the database and remove irrelevant information. Additionally, having a basic understanding of HTML and CSS can help digital marketers if they will use WordPress. So, there is an emergence in the required technical knowledge and skills. Our participants advocated for more technical academic research where marketing researchers collaborate with researchers from computer science and data analytics backgrounds. Such research would contribute to the multidisciplinary character and hybrid task structure of the digital marketing profession, which uses technology, analytics, and marketing.

Finally, participants indicated five areas where researchers can help digital marketers to be more knowledgeable and acquainted: 1) the use of big data in the social media field; 2) the AI-powered technology in digital marketing; 3) the characteristics of emerging markets; 4) the features of metaverse marketing; and 5) the use of blockchain technology in digital marketing and social media.

The study has several key implications for future social media investigations. First, a direct correlation exists between academic research and the evolution of social media in terms of users, platforms, and medium. Nevertheless, there is a gap between social media studies and their influence on the marketing function. The problem can be attributed to laxity on the part of digital marketing institutes and centers linking practitioners and researchers [ 67 ]. The onus is on digital marketing institutes to assume the intermediary role between academic researchers and social marketing professionals.

Today, much social media research is invisible to practitioners because the system is primarily self-referential. Authors are forced to decide whether to undertake socially impactful research or write publications that are only academically impactful [ 68 ]. The various participants in the focus groups provide potentially practical solutions to the issue. A close relationship between academic researchers and practitioners increases the chances of implementation. Collaborations help researchers play the role of participant-observer in practitioners’ responsibilities and decision-making. Therefore, social media investigations can consider academic and informal aspects to enhance readability and generate a significant audience.

Another reason that could explain the gap between practitioners and researchers is that the former focus on publishing instead of engaging their target audience. Thus, a disparity exists between the expectations of the marketing professionals trying to transform their work for industry consumption and the researchers’ interests. Additionally, social media marketers work in an exciting field, but academic researchers continue to ignore this vital fact [ 69 ]. Cadotte et al. [ 70 ] support the perspective and contend that practitioners feel that academics consider themselves elitists who speak their jargon and write in complex scientific language. The issue explains why 69% of our respondents stated that they do not find academic articles interesting. Although theoretical models are critical in research studies, authors should focus more on practical cases, best practice sharing, and disseminating new ideas. The fast-paced and dynamic nature of social media marketing [ 71 ] requires companies and marketers to rely on scientific studies to make informed decisions [ 69 ]. However, academic journals are characterised by the slowness of their review process. Managerial fads are often gone by the time the articles that dissect them are published.

Our research also focuses on academic research challenges regarding social media and implementing participants’ recommendations to enhance practicality. The lack of originality in academic papers means that marketing practitioners do not find the articles relevant to their practice. According to Roberts et al. [ 19 ], professionals want researchers to publish studies that value practical relevance, but academics favour journals with a high impact factor. Young and Freytag [ 72 ] indicate that the only approach to bridge the gap between research studies and their influence function is through successful collaborations between academic researchers and professional practitioners.

The findings of this paper show that academic research on social media is growing in terms of the number of publications but is struggling in three areas: visibility, relevance, and influence on practitioners. Our findings outlined some difficulties in bridging academic research and social media usage. We offered some recommendations for improving the interaction between research and practice after focusing on the viewpoints of the practitioners. Thus, we discussed why research relevance is important and how scholars might raise the relevance of their research in an effort to inspire academics to produce research that is more pertinent to social media practitioners.

Our findings should be of interest to marketing researchers and academic institutions. We presented a detailed snapshot of guidelines to publish more impactful research works. Collaboration between scholars and practitioners is an important area where the gap could be closed. Collaboration with professional organisations and businesses should already be under progress. In order to advance toward positive developments in the interaction between the academy and practice, collaboration will result in stronger links between social media research and the instruments used in professional practice. Another position consists in asserting that the lack of relevance of the knowledge produced by social media research is the direct consequence of its mode of production. By raising to the rank of dogma a paradigm inherited from the hard sciences, the scientific community has, so to speak, dried up the marketing discipline. As a result, the findings of the social media research conducted by the researchers have lost interest. To make social media research more relevant, it would be necessary to change the way research is conducted. An initiative such as the creation of the d.school at Stanford University, a program that fundamentally changes the way of thinking about teaching and research based on the design sciences paradigm, is part of this conception, but other approaches such as critical digital marketing studies, critical realism or constructivism are also proposed by the advocates of a paradigmatic renewal. Even if the solutions advocated differ, these approaches have the common characteristic of advocating a greater openness in marketing research by proposing new research methods, new forms of results, and, above all, new criteria for evaluating scientific productions.

Some limitations should be acknowledged. First, books, theses, and conference proceedings were not included in the review because it only looked at and evaluated items that were published in peer-reviewed academic journals. Future research should take this restriction into account and may decide to broaden the area of their investigations. Second, our review comprised journals identified in Scopus; upcoming studies may contemplate examining other databases. Third, the perceptions of social media practitioners may also vary by country, along with the nature of jobs and the competencies they require. To advance this research, it is advised that our data be combined with information from various geographic contexts. Finally, the results of future research can be bed on larger sample size, as the sample in our second study was comprised of only 280 practitioners.

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Social Network Sites and Well-Being: The Role of Social Connection

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networked communication platforms in which participants 1) have uniquely identifiable profiles that consist of user-supplied content, content provided by other users, and/or system-level data; 2) can publicly articulate connections that can be viewed and traversed by others; and 3) can consume, produce, and/or interact with streams of user-generated content provided by their connections on the site. ( Ellison & boyd, 2013 , p. 158)

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Social Media and Mental Health: Benefits, Risks, and Opportunities for Research and Practice

John a. naslund.

a Department of Global Health and Social Medicine, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA

Ameya Bondre

b CareNX Innovations, Mumbai, India

John Torous

c Department of Psychiatry, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Boston, MA

Kelly A. Aschbrenner

d Department of Psychiatry, Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth, Lebanon, NH

Social media platforms are popular venues for sharing personal experiences, seeking information, and offering peer-to-peer support among individuals living with mental illness. With significant shortfalls in the availability, quality, and reach of evidence-based mental health services across the United States and globally, social media platforms may afford new opportunities to bridge this gap. However, caution is warranted, as numerous studies highlight risks of social media use for mental health. In this commentary, we consider the role of social media as a potentially viable intervention platform for offering support to persons with mental disorders, promoting engagement and retention in care, and enhancing existing mental health services. Specifically, we summarize current research on the use of social media among mental health service users, and early efforts using social media for the delivery of evidence-based programs. We also review the risks, potential harms, and necessary safety precautions with using social media for mental health. To conclude, we explore opportunities using data science and machine learning, for example by leveraging social media for detecting mental disorders and developing predictive models aimed at characterizing the aetiology and progression of mental disorders. These various efforts using social media, as summarized in this commentary, hold promise for improving the lives of individuals living with mental disorders.

Introduction

Social media has become a prominent fixture in the lives of many individuals facing the challenges of mental illness. Social media refers broadly to web and mobile platforms that allow individuals to connect with others within a virtual network (such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat, or LinkedIn), where they can share, co-create, or exchange various forms of digital content, including information, messages, photos, or videos ( Ahmed, Ahmad, Ahmad, & Zakaria, 2019 ). Studies have reported that individuals living with a range of mental disorders, including depression, psychotic disorders, or other severe mental illnesses, use social media platforms at comparable rates as the general population, with use ranging from about 70% among middle-age and older individuals, to upwards of 97% among younger individuals ( Aschbrenner, Naslund, Grinley, et al., 2018 ; M. L. Birnbaum, Rizvi, Correll, Kane, & Confino, 2017 ; Brunette et al., 2019 ; Naslund, Aschbrenner, & Bartels, 2016 ). Other exploratory studies have found that many of these individuals with mental illness appear to turn to social media to share their personal experiences, seek information about their mental health and treatment options, and give and receive support from others facing similar mental health challenges ( Bucci, Schwannauer, & Berry, 2019 ; Naslund, Aschbrenner, Marsch, & Bartels, 2016b ).

Across the United States and globally, very few people living with mental illness have access to adequate mental health services ( Patel et al., 2018 ). The wide reach and near ubiquitous use of social media platforms may afford novel opportunities to address these shortfalls in existing mental health care, by enhancing the quality, availability, and reach of services. Recent studies have explored patterns of social media use, impact of social media use on mental health and wellbeing, and the potential to leverage the popularity and interactive features of social media to enhance the delivery of interventions. However, there remains uncertainty regarding the risks and potential harms of social media for mental health ( Orben & Przybylski, 2019 ), and how best to weigh these concerns against potential benefits.

In this commentary, we summarized current research on the use of social media among individuals with mental illness, with consideration of the impact of social media on mental wellbeing, as well as early efforts using social media for delivery of evidence-based programs for addressing mental health problems. We searched for recent peer reviewed publications in Medline and Google Scholar using the search terms “mental health” or “mental illness” and “social media”, and searched the reference lists of recent reviews and other relevant studies. We reviewed the risks, potential harms, and necessary safety precautions with using social media for mental health. Overall, our goal was to consider the role of social media as a potentially viable intervention platform for offering support to persons with mental disorders, promoting engagement and retention in care, and enhancing existing mental health services, while balancing the need for safety. Given this broad objective, we did not perform a systematic search of the literature and we did not apply specific inclusion criteria based on study design or type of mental disorder.

Social Media Use and Mental Health

In 2020, there are an estimated 3.8 billion social media users worldwide, representing half the global population ( We Are Social, 2020 ). Recent studies have shown that individuals with mental disorders are increasingly gaining access to and using mobile devices, such as smartphones ( Firth et al., 2015 ; Glick, Druss, Pina, Lally, & Conde, 2016 ; Torous, Chan, et al., 2014 ; Torous, Friedman, & Keshavan, 2014 ). Similarly, there is mounting evidence showing high rates of social media use among individuals with mental disorders, including studies looking at engagement with these popular platforms across diverse settings and disorder types. Initial studies from 2015 found that nearly half of a sample of psychiatric patients were social media users, with greater use among younger individuals ( Trefflich, Kalckreuth, Mergl, & Rummel-Kluge, 2015 ), while 47% of inpatients and outpatients with schizophrenia reported using social media, of which 79% reported at least once-a-week usage of social media websites ( Miller, Stewart, Schrimsher, Peeples, & Buckley, 2015 ). Rates of social media use among psychiatric populations have increased in recent years, as reflected in a study with data from 2017 showing comparable rates of social media use (approximately 70%) among individuals with serious mental illness in treatment as compared to low-income groups from the general population ( Brunette et al., 2019 ).

Similarly, among individuals with serious mental illness receiving community-based mental health services, a recent study found equivalent rates of social media use as the general population, even exceeding 70% of participants ( Naslund, Aschbrenner, & Bartels, 2016 ). Comparable findings were demonstrated among middle-age and older individuals with mental illness accessing services at peer support agencies, where 72% of respondents reported using social media ( Aschbrenner, Naslund, Grinley, et al., 2018 ). Similar results, with 68% of those with first episode psychosis using social media daily were reported in another study ( Abdel-Baki, Lal, D.-Charron, Stip, & Kara, 2017 ).

Individuals who self-identified as having a schizophrenia spectrum disorder responded to a survey shared through the National Alliance of Mental Illness (NAMI), and reported that visiting social media sites was one of their most common activities when using digital devices, taking up roughly 2 hours each day ( Gay, Torous, Joseph, Pandya, & Duckworth, 2016 ). For adolescents and young adults ages 12 to 21 with psychotic disorders and mood disorders, over 97% reported using social media, with average use exceeding 2.5 hours per day ( M. L. Birnbaum et al., 2017 ). Similarly, in a sample of adolescents ages 13-18 recruited from community mental health centers, 98% reported using social media, with YouTube as the most popular platform, followed by Instagram and Snapchat ( Aschbrenner et al., 2019 ).

Research has also explored the motivations for using social media as well as the perceived benefits of interacting on these platforms among individuals with mental illness. In the sections that follow (see Table 1 for a summary), we consider three potentially unique features of interacting and connecting with others on social media that may offer benefits for individuals living with mental illness. These include: 1) Facilitate social interaction; 2) Access to a peer support network; and 3) Promote engagement and retention in services.

Summary of potential benefits and challenges with social media for mental health

Facilitate Social Interaction

Social media platforms offer near continuous opportunities to connect and interact with others, regardless of time of day or geographic location. This on demand ease of communication may be especially important for facilitating social interaction among individuals with mental disorders experiencing difficulties interacting in face-to-face settings. For example, impaired social functioning is a common deficit in schizophrenia spectrum disorders, and social media may facilitate communication and interacting with others for these individuals ( Torous & Keshavan, 2016 ). This was suggested in one study where participants with schizophrenia indicated that social media helped them to interact and socialize more easily ( Miller et al., 2015 ). Like other online communication, the ability to connect with others anonymously may be an important feature of social media, especially for individuals living with highly stigmatizing health conditions ( Berger, Wagner, & Baker, 2005 ), such as serious mental disorders ( Highton-Williamson, Priebe, & Giacco, 2015 ).

Studies have found that individuals with serious mental disorders ( Spinzy, Nitzan, Becker, Bloch, & Fennig, 2012 ) as well as young adults with mental illness ( Gowen, Deschaine, Gruttadara, & Markey, 2012 ) appear to form online relationships and connect with others on social media as often as social media users from the general population. This is an important observation because individuals living with serious mental disorders typically have few social contacts in the offline world, and also experience high rates of loneliness ( Badcock et al., 2015 ; Giacco, Palumbo, Strappelli, Catapano, & Priebe, 2016 ). Among individuals receiving publicly funded mental health services who use social media, nearly half (47%) reported using these platforms at least weekly to feel less alone ( Brusilovskiy, Townley, Snethen, & Salzer, 2016 ). In another study of young adults with serious mental illness, most indicated that they used social media to help feel less isolated ( Gowen et al., 2012 ). Interestingly, more frequent use of social media among a sample of individuals with serious mental illness was associated with greater community participation, measured as participation in shopping, work, religious activities or visiting friends and family, as well as greater civic engagement, reflected as voting in local elections ( Brusilovskiy et al., 2016 ).

Emerging research also shows that young people with moderate to severe depressive symptoms appear to prefer communicating on social media rather than in-person ( Rideout & Fox, 2018 ), while other studies have found that some individuals may prefer to seek help for mental health concerns online rather than through in-person encounters ( Batterham & Calear, 2017 ). In a qualitative study, participants with schizophrenia described greater anonymity, the ability to discover that other people have experienced similar health challenges, and reducing fears through greater access to information as important motivations for using the Internet to seek mental health information ( Schrank, Sibitz, Unger, & Amering, 2010 ). Because social media does not require the immediate responses necessary in face-to-face communication, it may overcome deficits with social interaction due to psychotic symptoms that typically adversely affect face-to-face conversations ( Docherty et al., 1996 ). Online social interactions may not require the use of non-verbal cues, particularly in the initial stages of interaction ( Kiesler, Siegel, & McGuire, 1984 ), with interactions being more fluid, and within the control of users, thereby overcoming possible social anxieties linked to in-person interaction ( Indian & Grieve, 2014 ). Furthermore, many individuals with serious mental disorders can experience symptoms including passive social withdrawal, blunted affect and attentional impairment, as well as active social avoidance due to hallucinations or other concerns ( Hansen, Torgalsbøen, Melle, & Bell, 2009 ); thus, potentially reinforcing the relative advantage, as perceived by users, of using social media over in person conversations.

Access to a Peer Support Network

There is growing recognition about the role that social media channels could play in enabling peer support ( Bucci et al., 2019 ; Naslund, Aschbrenner, et al., 2016b ), referred to as a system of mutual giving and receiving where individuals who have endured the difficulties of mental illness can offer hope, friendship, and support to others facing similar challenges ( Davidson, Chinman, Sells, & Rowe, 2006 ; Mead, Hilton, & Curtis, 2001 ). Initial studies exploring use of online self-help forums among individuals with serious mental illnesses have found that individuals with schizophrenia appeared to use these forums for self-disclosure, and sharing personal experiences, in addition to providing or requesting information, describing symptoms, or discussing medication ( Haker, Lauber, & Rössler, 2005 ), while users with bipolar disorder reported using these forums to ask for help from others about their illness ( Vayreda & Antaki, 2009 ). More recently, in a review of online social networking in people with psychosis, Highton-Williamson et al (2015) highlight that an important purpose of such online connections was to establish new friendships, pursue romantic relationships, maintain existing relationships or reconnect with people, and seek online peer support from others with lived experience ( Highton-Williamson et al., 2015 ).

Online peer support among individuals with mental illness has been further elaborated in various studies. In a content analysis of comments posted to YouTube by individuals who self-identified as having a serious mental illness, there appeared to be opportunities to feel less alone, provide hope, find support and learn through mutual reciprocity, and share coping strategies for day-to-day challenges of living with a mental illness ( Naslund, Grande, Aschbrenner, & Elwyn, 2014 ). In another study, Chang (2009) delineated various communication patterns in an online psychosis peer-support group ( Chang, 2009 ). Specifically, different forms of support emerged, including ‘informational support’ about medication use or contacting mental health providers, ‘esteem support’ involving positive comments for encouragement, ‘network support’ for sharing similar experiences, and ‘emotional support’ to express understanding of a peer’s situation and offer hope or confidence ( Chang, 2009 ). Bauer et al. (2013) reported that the main interest in online self-help forums for patients with bipolar disorder was to share emotions with others, allow exchange of information, and benefit by being part of an online social group ( Bauer, Bauer, Spiessl, & Kagerbauer, 2013 ).

For individuals who openly discuss mental health problems on Twitter, a study by Berry et al. (2017) found that this served as an important opportunity to seek support and to hear about the experiences of others ( Berry et al., 2017 ). In a survey of social media users with mental illness, respondents reported that sharing personal experiences about living with mental illness and opportunities to learn about strategies for coping with mental illness from others were important reasons for using social media ( Naslund et al., 2017 ). A computational study of mental health awareness campaigns on Twitter provides further support with inspirational posts and tips being the most shared ( Saha et al., 2019 ). Taken together, these studies offer insights about the potential for social media to facilitate access to an informal peer support network, though more research is necessary to examine how these online interactions may impact intentions to seek care, illness self-management, and clinically meaningful outcomes in offline contexts.

Promote Engagement and Retention in Services

Many individuals living with mental disorders have expressed interest in using social media platforms for seeking mental health information ( Lal, Nguyen, & Theriault, 2018 ), connecting with mental health providers ( M. L. Birnbaum et al., 2017 ), and accessing evidence-based mental health services delivered over social media specifically for coping with mental health symptoms or for promoting overall health and wellbeing ( Naslund et al., 2017 ). With the widespread use of social media among individuals living with mental illness combined with the potential to facilitate social interaction and connect with supportive peers, as summarized above, it may be possible to leverage the popular features of social media to enhance existing mental health programs and services. A recent review by Biagianti et al (2018) found that peer-to-peer support appeared to offer feasible and acceptable ways to augment digital mental health interventions for individuals with psychotic disorders by specifically improving engagement, compliance, and adherence to the interventions, and may also improve perceived social support ( Biagianti, Quraishi, & Schlosser, 2018 ).

Among digital programs that have incorporated peer-to-peer social networking consistent with popular features on social media platforms, a pilot study of the HORYZONS online psychosocial intervention demonstrated significant reductions in depression among patients with first episode psychosis ( Alvarez-Jimenez et al., 2013 ). Importantly, the majority of participants (95%) in this study engaged with the peer-to-peer networking feature of the program, with many reporting increases in perceived social connectedness and empowerment in their recovery process ( Alvarez-Jimenez et al., 2013 ). This moderated online social therapy program is now being evaluated as part of a large randomized controlled trial for maintaining treatment effects from first episode psychosis services ( Alvarez-Jimenez et al., 2019 ).

Other early efforts have demonstrated that use of digital environments with the interactive peer-to-peer features of social media can enhance social functioning and wellbeing in young people at high risk of psychosis ( Alvarez-Jimenez et al., 2018 ). There has also been a recent emergence of several mobile apps to support symptom monitoring and relapse prevention in psychotic disorders. Among these apps, the development of PRIME (Personalized Real-time Intervention for Motivational Enhancement) has involved working closely with young people with schizophrenia to ensure that the design of the app has the look and feel of mainstream social media platforms, as opposed to existing clinical tools ( Schlosser et al., 2016 ). This unique approach to the design of the app is aimed at promoting engagement, and ensuring that the app can effectively improve motivation and functioning through goal setting and promoting better quality of life of users with schizophrenia ( Schlosser et al., 2018 ).

Social media platforms could also be used to promote engagement and participation in in-person services delivered through community mental health settings. For example, the peer-based lifestyle intervention called PeerFIT targets weight loss and improved fitness among individuals living with serious mental illness through a combination of in-person lifestyle classes, exercise groups, and use of digital technologies ( Aschbrenner, Naslund, Shevenell, Kinney, & Bartels, 2016 ; Aschbrenner, Naslund, Shevenell, Mueser, & Bartels, 2016 ). The intervention holds tremendous promise as lack of support is one of the largest barriers toward exercise in patients with serious mental illness ( Firth et al., 2016 ) and it is now possible to use social media to counter such. Specifically, in PeerFIT, a private Facebook group is closely integrated into the program to offer a closed platform where participants can connect with the lifestyle coaches, access intervention content, and support or encourage each other as they work towards their lifestyle goals ( Aschbrenner, Naslund, & Bartels, 2016 ; Naslund, Aschbrenner, Marsch, & Bartels, 2016a ). To date, this program has demonstrate preliminary effectiveness for meaningfully reducing cardiovascular risk factors that contribute to early mortality in this patient group ( Aschbrenner, Naslund, Shevenell, Kinney, et al., 2016 ), while the Facebook component appears to have increased engagement in the program, while allowing participants who were unable to attend in-person sessions due to other health concerns or competing demands to remain connected with the program ( Naslund, Aschbrenner, Marsch, McHugo, & Bartels, 2018 ). This lifestyle intervention is currently being evaluated in a randomized controlled trial enrolling young adults with serious mental illness from a variety of real world community mental health services settings ( Aschbrenner, Naslund, Gorin, et al., 2018 ).

These examples highlight the promise of incorporating the features of popular social media into existing programs, which may offer opportunities to safely promote engagement and program retention, while achieving improved clinical outcomes. This is an emerging area of research, as evidenced by several important effectiveness trials underway ( Alvarez-Jimenez et al., 2019 ; Aschbrenner, Naslund, Gorin, et al., 2018 ), including efforts to leverage online social networking to support family caregivers of individuals receiving first episode psychosis services ( Gleeson et al., 2017 ).

Challenges with Social Media for Mental Health

The science on the role of social media for engaging persons with mental disorders needs a cautionary note on the effects of social media usage on mental health and well being, particularly in adolescents and young adults. While the risks and harms of social media are frequently covered in the popular press and mainstream news reports, careful consideration of the research in this area is necessary. In a review of 43 studies in young people, many benefits of social media were cited, including increased self-esteem, and opportunities for self-disclosure ( Best, Manktelow, & Taylor, 2014 ). Yet, reported negative effects were an increased exposure to harm, social isolation, depressive symptoms and bullying ( Best et al., 2014 ). In the sections that follow (see Table 1 for a summary), we consider three major categories of risk related to use of social media and mental health. These include: 1) Impact on symptoms; 2) Facing hostile interactions; and 3) Consequences for daily life.

Impact on Symptoms

Studies consistently highlight that use of social media, especially heavy use and prolonged time spent on social media platforms, appears to contribute to increased risk for a variety of mental health symptoms and poor wellbeing, especially among young people ( Andreassen et al., 2016 ; Kross et al., 2013 ; Woods & Scott, 2016 ). This may partly be driven by the detrimental effects of screen time on mental health, including increased severity of anxiety and depressive symptoms, which have been well documented ( Stiglic & Viner, 2019 ). Recent studies have reported negative effects of social media use on mental health of young people, including social comparison pressure with others and greater feeling of social isolation after being rejected by others on social media ( Rideout & Fox, 2018 ). In a study of young adults, it was found that negative comparisons with others on Facebook contributed to risk of rumination and subsequent increases in depression symptoms ( Feinstein et al., 2013 ). Still, the cross sectional nature of many screen time and mental health studies makes it challenging to reach causal inferences ( Orben & Przybylski, 2019 ).

Quantity of social media use is also an important factor, as highlighted in a survey of young adults ages 19 to 32, where more frequent visits to social media platforms each week were correlated with greater depressive symptoms ( Lin et al., 2016 ). More time spent using social media is also associated with greater symptoms of anxiety ( Vannucci, Flannery, & Ohannessian, 2017 ). The actual number of platforms accessed also appears to contribute to risk as reflected in another national survey of young adults where use of a large number of social media platforms was associated with negative impact on mental health ( Primack et al., 2017 ). Among survey respondents using between 7 and 11 different social media platforms compared to respondents using only 2 or fewer platforms, there was a 3 times greater odds of having high levels of depressive symptoms and a 3.2 times greater odds of having high levels of anxiety symptoms ( Primack et al., 2017 ).

Many researchers have postulated that worsening mental health attributed to social media use may be because social media replaces face-to-face interactions for young people ( Twenge & Campbell, 2018 ), and may contribute to greater loneliness ( Bucci et al., 2019 ), and negative effects on other aspects of health and wellbeing ( Woods & Scott, 2016 ). One nationally representative survey of US adolescents found that among respondents who reported more time accessing media such as social media platforms or smartphone devices, there was significantly greater depressive symptoms and increased risk of suicide when compared to adolescents who reported spending more time on non-screen activities, such as in-person social interaction or sports and recreation activities ( Twenge, Joiner, Rogers, & Martin, 2018 ). For individuals living with more severe mental illnesses, the effects of social media on psychiatric symptoms have received less attention. One study found that participation in chat rooms may contribute to worsening symptoms in young people with psychotic disorders ( Mittal, Tessner, & Walker, 2007 ), while another study of patients with psychosis found that social media use appeared to predict low mood ( Berry, Emsley, Lobban, & Bucci, 2018 ). These studies highlight a clear relationship between social media use and mental health that may not be present in general population studies ( Orben & Przybylski, 2019 ), and emphasize the need to explore how social media may contribute to symptom severity and whether protective factors may be identified to mitigate these risks.

Facing Hostile Interactions

Popular social media platforms can create potential situations where individuals may be victimized by negative comments or posts. Cyberbullying represents a form of online aggression directed towards specific individuals, such as peers or acquaintances, which is perceived to be most harmful when compared to random hostile comments posted online ( Hamm et al., 2015 ). Importantly, cyberbullying on social media consistently shows harmful impact on mental health in the form of increased depressive symptoms as well as worsening of anxiety symptoms, as evidenced in a review of 36 studies among children and young people ( Hamm et al., 2015 ). Furthermore, cyberbullying disproportionately impacts females as reflected in a national survey of adolescents in the United States, where females were twice as likely to be victims of cyberbullying compared to males ( Alhajji, Bass, & Dai, 2019 ). Most studies report cross-sectional associations between cyberbullying and symptoms of depression or anxiety ( Hamm et al., 2015 ), though one longitudinal study in Switzerland found that cyberbullying contributed to significantly greater depression over time ( Machmutow, Perren, Sticca, & Alsaker, 2012 ).

For youth ages 10 to 17 who reported major depressive symptomatology, there was over 3 times greater odds of facing online harassment in the last year compared to youth who reported mild or no depressive symptoms ( Ybarra, 2004 ). Similarly, in a 2018 national survey of young people, respondents ages 14 to 22 with moderate to severe depressive symptoms were more likely to have had negative experiences when using social media, and in particular, were more likely to report having faced hostile comments, or being “trolled”, from others when compared to respondents without depressive symptoms (31% vs. 14%) ( Rideout & Fox, 2018 ). As these studies depict risks for victimization on social media and the correlation with poor mental health, it is possible that individuals living with mental illness may also experience greater hostility online compared to individuals without mental illness. This would be consistent with research showing greater risk of hostility, including increased violence and discrimination, directed towards individuals living with mental illness in in-person contexts, especially targeted at those with severe mental illnesses ( Goodman et al., 1999 ).

A computational study of mental health awareness campaigns on Twitter reported that while stigmatizing content was rare, it was actually the most spread (re-tweeted) demonstrating that harmful content can travel quickly on social media ( Saha et al., 2019 ). Another study was able to map the spread of social media posts about the Blue Whale Challenge, an alleged game promoting suicide, over Twitter, YouTube, Reddit, Tumblr and other forums across 127 countries ( Sumner et al., 2019 ). These findings show that it is critical to monitor the actual content of social media posts, such as determining whether content is hostile or promotes harm to self or others. This is pertinent because existing research looking at duration of exposure cannot account for the impact of specific types of content on mental health and is insufficient to fully understand the effects of using these platforms on mental health.

Consequences for Daily Life

The ways in which individuals use social media can also impact their offline relationships and everyday activities. To date, reports have described risks of social media use pertaining to privacy, confidentiality, and unintended consequences of disclosing personal health information online ( Torous & Keshavan, 2016 ). Additionally, concerns have been raised about poor quality or misleading health information shared on social media, and that social media users may not be aware of misleading information or conflicts of interest especially when the platforms promote popular content regardless of whether it is from a trustworthy source ( Moorhead et al., 2013 ; Ventola, 2014 ). For persons living with mental illness there may be additional risks from using social media. A recent study that specifically explored the perspectives of social media users with serious mental illnesses, including participants with schizophrenia spectrum disorders, bipolar disorder, or major depression, found that over one third of participants expressed concerns about privacy when using social media ( Naslund & Aschbrenner, 2019 ). The reported risks of social media use were directly related to many aspects of everyday life, including concerns about threats to employment, fear of stigma and being judged, impact on personal relationships, and facing hostility or being hurt ( Naslund & Aschbrenner, 2019 ). While few studies have specifically explored the dangers of social media use from the perspectives of individuals living with mental illness, it is important to recognize that use of these platforms may contribute to risks that extend beyond worsening symptoms and that can affect different aspects of daily life.

In this commentary we considered ways in which social media may yield benefits for individuals living with mental illness, while contrasting these with the possible harms. Studies reporting on the threats of social media for individuals with mental illness are mostly cross-sectional, making it difficult to draw conclusions about direction of causation. However, the risks are potentially serious. These risks should be carefully considered in discussions pertaining to use of social media and the broader use of digital mental health technologies, as avenues for mental health promotion, or for supporting access to evidence-based programs or mental health services. At this point, it would be premature to view the benefits of social media as outweighing the possible harms, when it is clear from the studies summarized here that social media use can have negative effects on mental health symptoms, can potentially expose individuals to hurtful content and hostile interactions, and can result in serious consequences for daily life, including threats to employment and personal relationships. Despite these risks, it is also necessary to recognize that individuals with mental illness will continue to use social media given the ease of accessing these platforms and the immense popularity of online social networking. With this in mind, it may be ideal to raise awareness about these possible risks so that individuals can implement necessary safeguards, while also highlighting that there could also be benefits. For individuals with mental illness who use social media, being aware of the risks is an essential first step, and then highlighting ways that use of these popular platforms could also contribute to some benefits, ranging from finding meaningful interactions with others, engaging with peer support networks, and accessing information and services.

To capitalize on the widespread use of social media, and to achieve the promise that these platforms may hold for supporting the delivery of targeted mental health interventions, there is need for continued research to better understand how individuals living with mental illness use social media. Such efforts could inform safety measures and also encourage use of social media in ways that maximize potential benefits while minimizing risk of harm. It will be important to recognize how gender and race contribute to differences in use of social media for seeking mental health information or accessing interventions, as well as differences in how social media might impact mental wellbeing. For example, a national survey of 14- to 22-year olds in the United States found that female respondents were more likely to search online for information about depression or anxiety, and to try to connect with other people online who share similar mental health concerns, when compared to male respondents ( Rideout & Fox, 2018 ). In the same survey, there did not appear to be any differences between racial or ethnic groups in social media use for seeking mental health information ( Rideout & Fox, 2018 ). Social media use also appears to have a differential impact on mental health and emotional wellbeing between females and males ( Booker, Kelly, & Sacker, 2018 ), highlighting the need to explore unique experiences between gender groups to inform tailored programs and services. Research shows that lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender individuals frequently use social media for searching for health information and may be more likely compared to heterosexual individuals to share their own personal health experiences with others online ( Rideout & Fox, 2018 ). Less is known about use of social media for seeking support for mental health concerns among gender minorities, though this is an important area for further investigation as these individuals are more likely to experience mental health problems and more likely to experience online victimization when compared to heterosexual individuals ( Mereish, Sheskier, Hawthorne, & Goldbach, 2019 ).

Similarly, efforts are needed to explore the relationship between social media use and mental health among ethnic and racial minorities. A recent study found that exposure to traumatic online content on social media showing violence or hateful posts directed at racial minorities contributed to increases in psychological distress, PTSD symptoms, and depression among African American and Latinx adolescents in the United States ( Tynes, Willis, Stewart, & Hamilton, 2019 ). These concerns are contrasted by growing interest in the potential for new technologies including social media to expand the reach of services to underrepresented minority groups ( Schueller, Hunter, Figueroa, & Aguilera, 2019 ). Therefore, greater attention is needed to understanding the perspectives of ethnic and racial minorities to inform effective and safe use of social media for mental health promotion efforts.

Research has found that individuals living with mental illness have expressed interest in accessing mental health services through social media platforms. A survey of social media users with mental illness found that most respondents were interested in accessing programs for mental health on social media targeting symptom management, health promotion, and support for communicating with health care providers and interacting with the health system ( Naslund et al., 2017 ). Importantly, individuals with serious mental illness have also emphasized that any mental health intervention on social media would need to be moderated by someone with adequate training and credentials, would need to have ground rules and ways to promote safety and minimize risks, and importantly, would need to be free and easy to access.

An important strength with this commentary is that it combines a range of studies broadly covering the topic of social media and mental health. We have provided a summary of recent evidence in a rapidly advancing field with the goal of presenting unique ways that social media could offer benefits for individuals with mental illness, while also acknowledging the potentially serious risks and the need for further investigation. There are also several limitations with this commentary that warrant consideration. Importantly, as we aimed to address this broad objective, we did not conduct a systematic review of the literature. Therefore, the studies reported here are not exhaustive, and there may be additional relevant studies that were not included. Additionally, we only summarized published studies, and as a result, any reports from the private sector or websites from different organizations using social media or other apps containing social media-like features would have been omitted. Though it is difficult to rigorously summarize work from the private sector, sometimes referred to as “gray literature”, because many of these projects are unpublished and are likely selective in their reporting of findings given the target audience may be shareholders or consumers.

Another notable limitation is that we did not assess risk of bias in the studies summarized in this commentary. We found many studies that highlighted risks associated with social media use for individuals living with mental illness; however, few studies of programs or interventions reported negative findings, suggesting the possibility that negative findings may go unpublished. This concern highlights the need for a future more rigorous review of the literature with careful consideration of bias and an accompanying quality assessment. Most of the studies that we described were from the United States, as well as from other higher income settings such as Australia or the United Kingdom. Despite the global reach of social media platforms, there is a dearth of research on the impact of these platforms on the mental health of individuals in diverse settings, as well as the ways in which social media could support mental health services in lower income countries where there is virtually no access to mental health providers. Future research is necessary to explore the opportunities and risks for social media to support mental health promotion in low-income and middle-income countries, especially as these countries face a disproportionate share of the global burden of mental disorders, yet account for the majority of social media users worldwide ( Naslund et al., 2019 ).

Future Directions for Social Media and Mental Health

As we consider future research directions, the near ubiquitous social media use also yields new opportunities to study the onset and manifestation of mental health symptoms and illness severity earlier than traditional clinical assessments. There is an emerging field of research referred to as ‘digital phenotyping’ aimed at capturing how individuals interact with their digital devices, including social media platforms, in order to study patterns of illness and identify optimal time points for intervention ( Jain, Powers, Hawkins, & Brownstein, 2015 ; Onnela & Rauch, 2016 ). Given that most people access social media via mobile devices, digital phenotyping and social media are closely related ( Torous et al., 2019 ). To date, the emergence of machine learning, a powerful computational method involving statistical and mathematical algorithms ( Shatte, Hutchinson, & Teague, 2019 ), has made it possible to study large quantities of data captured from popular social media platforms such as Twitter or Instagram to illuminate various features of mental health ( Manikonda & De Choudhury, 2017 ; Reece et al., 2017 ). Specifically, conversations on Twitter have been analyzed to characterize the onset of depression ( De Choudhury, Gamon, Counts, & Horvitz, 2013 ) as well as detecting users’ mood and affective states ( De Choudhury, Gamon, & Counts, 2012 ), while photos posted to Instagram can yield insights for predicting depression ( Reece & Danforth, 2017 ). The intersection of social media and digital phenotyping will likely add new levels of context to social media use in the near future.

Several studies have also demonstrated that when compared to a control group, Twitter users with a self-disclosed diagnosis of schizophrenia show unique online communication patterns ( Michael L Birnbaum, Ernala, Rizvi, De Choudhury, & Kane, 2017 ), including more frequent discussion of tobacco use ( Hswen et al., 2017 ), symptoms of depression and anxiety ( Hswen, Naslund, Brownstein, & Hawkins, 2018b ), and suicide ( Hswen, Naslund, Brownstein, & Hawkins, 2018a ). Another study found that online disclosures about mental illness appeared beneficial as reflected by fewer posts about symptoms following self-disclosure (Ernala, Rizvi, Birnbaum, Kane, & De Choudhury, 2017). Each of these examples offers early insights into the potential to leverage widely available online data for better understanding the onset and course of mental illness. It is possible that social media data could be used to supplement additional digital data, such as continuous monitoring using smartphone apps or smart watches, to generate a more comprehensive ‘digital phenotype’ to predict relapse and identify high-risk health behaviors among individuals living with mental illness ( Torous et al., 2019 ).

With research increasingly showing the valuable insights that social media data can yield about mental health states, greater attention to the ethical concerns with using individual data in this way is necessary ( Chancellor, Birnbaum, Caine, Silenzio, & De Choudhury, 2019 ). For instance, data is typically captured from social media platforms without the consent or awareness of users ( Bidargaddi et al., 2017 ), which is especially crucial when the data relates to a socially stigmatizing health condition such as mental illness ( Guntuku, Yaden, Kern, Ungar, & Eichstaedt, 2017 ). Precautions are needed to ensure that data is not made identifiable in ways that were not originally intended by the user who posted the content, as this could place an individual at risk of harm or divulge sensitive health information ( Webb et al., 2017 ; Williams, Burnap, & Sloan, 2017 ). Promising approaches for minimizing these risks include supporting the participation of individuals with expertise in privacy, clinicians, as well as the target individuals with mental illness throughout the collection of data, development of predictive algorithms, and interpretation of findings ( Chancellor et al., 2019 ).

In recognizing that many individuals living with mental illness use social media to search for information about their mental health, it is possible that they may also want to ask their clinicians about what they find online to check if the information is reliable and trustworthy. Alternatively, many individuals may feel embarrassed or reluctant to talk to their clinicians about using social media to find mental health information out of concerns of being judged or dismissed. Therefore, mental health clinicians may be ideally positioned to talk with their patients about using social media, and offer recommendations to promote safe use of these sites, while also respecting their patients’ autonomy and personal motivations for using these popular platforms. Given the gap in clinical knowledge about the impact of social media on mental health, clinicians should be aware of the many potential risks so that they can inform their patients, while remaining open to the possibility that their patients may also experience benefits through use of these platforms. As awareness of these risks grows, it may be possible that new protections will be put in place by industry or through new policies that will make the social media environment safer. It is hard to estimate a number needed to treat or harm today given the nascent state of research, which means the patient and clinician need to weigh the choice on a personal level. Thus offering education and information is an important first step in that process. As patients increasingly show interest in accessing mental health information or services through social media, it will be necessary for health systems to recognize social media as a potential avenue for reaching or offering support to patients. This aligns with growing emphasis on the need for greater integration of digital psychiatry, including apps, smartphones, or wearable devices, into patient care and clinical services through institution-wide initiatives and training clinical providers ( Hilty, Chan, Torous, Luo, & Boland, 2019 ). Within a learning healthcare environment where research and care are tightly intertwined and feedback between both is rapid, the integration of digital technologies into services may create new opportunities for advancing use of social media for mental health.

As highlighted in this commentary, social media has become an important part of the lives of many individuals living with mental disorders. Many of these individuals use social media to share their lived experiences with mental illness, to seek support from others, and to search for information about treatment recommendations, accessing mental health services, and coping with symptoms ( Bucci et al., 2019 ; Highton-Williamson et al., 2015 ; Naslund, Aschbrenner, et al., 2016b ). As the field of digital mental health advances, the wide reach, ease of access, and popularity of social media platforms could be used to allow individuals in need of mental health services or facing challenges of mental illness to access evidence-based treatment and support. To achieve this end and to explore whether social media platforms can advance efforts to close the gap in available mental health services in the United States and globally, it will be essential for researchers to work closely with clinicians and with those affected by mental illness to ensure that possible benefits of using social media are carefully weighed against anticipated risks.

Acknowledgements

Dr. Naslund is supported by a grant from the National Institute of Mental Health (U19MH113211). Dr. Aschbrenner is supported by a grant from the National Institute of Mental Health (1R01MH110965-01).

Publisher's Disclaimer: This Author Accepted Manuscript is a PDF file of a an unedited peer-reviewed manuscript that has been accepted for publication but has not been copyedited or corrected. The official version of record that is published in the journal is kept up to date and so may therefore differ from this version.

Conflict of Interest

The authors have nothing to disclose.

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