Government, Law and Political Science Librarian
Clark Library
Hatcher Graduate Library 2 South
Shevon's Profile
Thinking about social media
There are many ways to use social media in academic research. Some questions to ask yourself:
- Do you want to know what others are saying on social media? Are you looking for a collection of social media posts to search through?
- Do you want to find research about the phenomenon of social media (its effects, user behavior, etc.)? [Look at "secondary sources" below]
- Are you looking for social media sources that you can export or download in order to "mine" (perform some automated or algorithmic analysis) the content?
- Are you interested in social media content over time, or a particular date range?
- Are you interested in any social media content, or a particular source (i.e., Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, etc.)
Keeping these considerations in mind will help you narrow down your options regarding where to find appropriate social media content for your research needs.
Secondary sources about social media research
Aspects of social media are being studied by researchers in many different disciplines such as political science, communications, history, sociology, information science, public health and more. This means that there are many databases which may be helpful for finding scholarly literature related to the study of social media.
When searching, remember to think about synonyms for your subject keywords. For example, in addition to searching for the term "social media" you may also want to try keywords such as "new media" or "social networking sites".
- Google Scholar @ U-M (with U-M Ann Arbor MGet It Links) This link opens in a new windowSearches for scholarly documents on the World Wide Web, with the added feature of "Availability at UMichigan" links. Helpful for interdisciplinary topics.
- ProQuest This link opens in a new windowCombined access to all ProQuest databases, covering many different fields. Includes both scholarly and non-scholarly sources (newspapers, magazines and trade journals).
- U-M Library Articles Search This link opens in a new windowUse Articles Search to locate scholarly and popular articles, as well as reference works and materials from open access archives.
- Political Science Complete (EBSCO) This link opens in a new windowProvides indexing and abstracts for 2900 journals, and full-text articles for 500 top-ranked scholarly journals.
- Communication & Mass Media Complete This link opens in a new windowCoverage of more than 600 journals in the communication and mass media fields. Includes both scholarly literature and trade publications.
Background information on social media
Books and reference materials can be a good source of background information on social media technologies, industries and usage.
- Books on social media (Library Catalog Search)Books ranging from critical introductions to social media to cultural, technological and social impacts.