Making social media research reproducible

Abstract

The huge numbers of people using social media makes online social networks an attractive source of data for researchers. But in order for the resultant huge numbers of research publications that involve social media to be credible and trusted, their methodologies, considerations of data handling and sensitivity, analysis, and so forth must be appropriately documented. We believe that one way to improve standards and practices in social media research is to encourage such research to be made reproducible, that is, to have sufficient documentation and sharing of research to allow others to either replicate or build on research results. Enabling this fundamental part of the scientific method will benefit the entire social media ecosystem, from the researchers who use data, to the people that benefit from the outcomes of research.