Social media data

This chapter explains how social media data can be gathered for use in psychological research. It considers four current prominent social media platforms (Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Instagram) and shows how to gather data from each. The strengths and limitations of using data from each are discussed. The chapter also provides examples of research studies that have used data from each platform to show you how you might use such data for your own research purposes. The challenges of gathering and using social media data along with some relevant ethical issues are discussed at the close of the chapter.