Second edition of major social media research methods handbook published

A researcher at the School of Social Sciences has seen an update of a comprehensive social media research handbook released by a major publisher.

The book, edited by Professor Luke Sloan in collaboration with Canadian Professor Anabel Quan-Haase, has been published by SAGE Publishing and is available worldwide.

The second edition of the SAGE Handbook for Social Media Research Methods focuses on methods for working with social media data across several platforms, the ethics of social media research, and issues of representation.

Professor Sloan said, “When I started working with social media several years ago it wasn’t seen as a legitimate source of social scientific knowledge. It was unknown and seen as unstructured.

“But we soon realised that there was a really big piece to do around the methodology of social media data and to really interrogate it.

“We’re now in a different position for the second edition of the book where research around social media is more understood."

Professor Sloan continued:

Watch Professor Sloan introduce the SAGE Handbook for Social Media Research Methods

Professor Sloan is Deputy Director of the Social Data Science Lab at the School of Social Sciences.

His research focuses on understanding what social media can tell us about the social world, with a particular emphasis on data linkage and ethics to determine social phenomena within election predictions, misinformation and crime.

He was introduced to Professor Quan-Haase through their mutual interest in social media research via SAGE Publications.

Professor Quan-Haase is a sociologist at the University of Toronto who studies social networks and social change.

Her areas of expertise include social media, digital communication, and digital activism.

Her current research examines how young people use instant messaging to find out the social consequences of their real-life relationships.

Professor Sloan concluded, “We’re still trying to understand what social media can and can’t do and understand who’s using social media platforms. If you’re interested to know, it’s all in this book.”

Buy the book online: The SAGE Handbook of Social Media Research Methods