Abstract

This entry describes research analyzing social media with quantitative techniques. Recent studies using social media data are first situated in one of four categories as defined by the research design (observational or experimental) and the object of analysis (network structure or content). Several examples from the field of political communication are used to illustrate quantitative research designs based on social media data. These examples review research in areas from political participation and selective exposure to news consumption and the diffusion of misinformation. The entry concludes with a section on the limitations of using social media data by identifying some of the ethical concerns that emerge in this research domain.