research questions on social media

234 Social Media Research Topics & Ideas

• Icon Calendar 18 May 2024
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Social media research encompasses a broad range of different topics that delve into the ever-evolving digital landscape. People investigate the impact of social platforms on society, exploring subjects, such as online identity formation, self-presentation, the psychology of virtual interactions, and others. Additionally, studies examine the influence of social media on politics, activism, and public opinion, uncovering patterns of information dissemination and polarization. Privacy concerns, cyberbullying, and online safety are also explored in-depth, seeking strategies to mitigate the associated risks. In this article, people can find many social media research topics, ideas, and examples.

Hot Social Media Research Topics

• Impacts of Social Media and Internet Algorithms on User Experience
• The Rise of TikTok: A Socio-Cultural Analysis
• Dealing With Cyberbullying: Strategies and Solutions
• Understanding the Phenomenon of Social Media ‘Cancel Culture’
• NFTs and Social Media: The Future of Digital Art?
• Ethical Concerns in the Era of Influencer Marketing
• Social Media’s Role in Accelerating E-Commerce Growth
• Impacts of Internet and Social Media on Journalism and News Reporting
• Understanding the Psychology of Viral Challenges on Social Platforms
• Cryptocurrency and Social Media: The Intersection
• Mitigating Misinformation and ‘Fake News’ on Social Media
• Augmented Reality (AR) in Social Media: A Game Changer?
• Evaluating the Impact of Social Media on Political Campaigns
• Social Media’s Influence on Fashion and Beauty Trends
• Privacy, Safety, and Security Concerns in the Age of Social Networking
• Roles of Free Access and Social Media in Promoting Sustainable Practices
• Implications of Social Media Addiction on Mental Health
• Examining Social Media’s Role in Crisis Communication
• The Power of User-Generated Content in Branding
• Influence of Social Media on Food Culture and Dining Trends

Easy Social Media Research Topics

• Impacts of Online Videos and Social Media on Mental Health
• Influencer Marketing: Efficacy and Ethical Concerns
• Evolution of Privacy Policies Across Social Platforms
• Understanding Virality: What Makes Content Shareable?
• Cyberbullying: Prevalence and Prevention Strategies
• Social Media and Political Polarization: An In-Depth Study
• Role of Social Media in Modern Business Strategies
• Effect of Social Media on Interpersonal Relationships
• Social Platforms as Tools for Social Change
• Navigating Online Hate Speech: A Legal Perspective
• Emerging Trends in Social Media Advertising
• Online Identity Construction and Self-Presentation
• The Psychology of Social Media Addiction
• Social Media’s Role in Crisis Management and Communication
• Sentiment Analysis in Social Media and Its Implications
• Social Media Algorithms: Bias and Implications
• The Phenomenon of Cancel Culture on Social Platforms
• Cybersecurity Threats in the Era of Social Media
• Analyzing Adverse Impacts of Social Media on Consumer Behavior

Interesting Social Media Research Topics

• Evaluating the Effects of Social Media on Language and Communication
• Roles of Social Media in Fostering Political Engagement
• Misinformation and Propaganda Spread Through Social Platforms
• Analyzing the Shift From Traditional Media to Social Media
• Dark Patterns in Social Media: Hidden Manipulative Tactics
• Social Media and Digital Activism: Revolutionizing Advocacy
• Augmented Reality (AR) and Its Impact on Social Networking
• Exploring Cybersecurity Issues in Social Media Platforms
• Roles and Effects of Social Media and News in Mental Health Promotion
• Strategies for Effective Social Media Crisis Management
• The Power of Live Streaming for Brands and Influencers
• Using Social Media to Enhance Classroom Learning
• Analyzing the Influence of Memes on Internet Culture
• Impacts of Social Media Algorithms on User Behavior
• Assessing the Correlation Between Social Media and Loneliness
• Geotagging and Its Implications for Personal Privacy
• Social Media and E-commerce: A Cross-Industry Study
• The Ethics of Digital Advertising on Social Platforms
• Understanding the Psychology of Social Media Trolls
• The Cultural Shift Caused by Social Media Localization

Social Media Research Paper Topics for High School

• The Phenomenon of Cyberbullying: Prevention and Strategies
• How Does Social Media Influence Teen Body Image?
• Evaluating the Educational Potential of Social Media Platforms
• Impacts of Social Media on Adolescents’ Self-Esteem
• Roles of Free Connection and Social Media in Modern Political Activism
• Exploring the Concept of ‘Digital Citizenship’ Among Teenagers
• The Ethics of Social Media Privacy: User Rights and Responsibilities
• Social Media Addiction: Understanding Its Causes and Effects
• Influence of Social Media on Modern Communication Styles
• Analyzing Positive Roles of Social Media in Promoting Reading Culture
• Social Media and Mental Health: Correlation or Causation?
• The Role of Social Media in Global Environmental Awareness
• Examining Social Media’s Impact on Real-Life Social Skills
• Social Media Platforms: Tools for Personal Branding or Narcissism?
• Influence of Social Media Trends on Youth Fashion Choices
• Impacts of Social Media on Teenagers’ Sleep Patterns
• Online Safety: The Role of Parents and Schools in Social Media Usage
• How Does Social Media Influence Teenagers’ Views on Relationships?
• Social Media and Empathy: Does Online Interaction Decrease Compassion?

Social Media Research Paper Topics for College Students

• Evaluating the Impact of Social Media on Body Image and Self-Esteem
• The Influence of Social Media on Voting Patterns Among Young Adults
• Social Media as a Valid Tool for Social Change: A Case Study Approach
• Unveiling the Psychology of Social Media Addiction
• Social Media’s Role in Modern Journalism: Opportunities and Challenges
• Privacy Implications of Data Collection on Social Media Platforms
• Cyberbullying in the Age of Social Media: Scope and Solutions
• The Ethical Aspects of Social Media Influencer Marketing
• Roles and Effects of Social Media in Crisis Communication and Management
• Social Media and Its Effects on Interpersonal Communication Skills
• Analyzing Social Media Strategies of Successful Businesses
• Impacts of Internet Use and Social Media on Mental Health Among College Students
• The Roles That Social Media Has in Modern Political Campaigns
• Understanding the Social Media Algorithm: Bias and Implications
• Social Media and Consumer Behavior: The Power of Influencer Marketing
• Fake News, Authors, and Disinformation Spread Through Social Media Platforms
• Exploring Direct Links Between Social Media Use and Academic Performance
• Social Media’s Role in Promoting Sustainable Lifestyle Choices
• Regulation of Hate Speech and Offensive Content on Social Media
• The Power and Peril of Virality in the Age of Social Media

Social Media Research Paper Topics for University

• The Effect That Social Media Has on Global Politics
• The Ethics of Data Mining in Social Media
• Roles of Social Media in Business Marketing Strategies
• Social Media, Internet Use, and Their Impacts on Mental Health: A Systematic Review
• Algorithmic Bias in Social Media Platforms: Causes and Consequences
• The Influence of Colors and Social Media on Consumer Behavior
• Exploring Possible Relationships Between Social Media Use and Academic Performance
• Privacy, Morality, and Security Concerns in the Age of Social Media
• Social Media as a Platform for Digital Activism
• Impacts of Social Media on Interpersonal Communication and Relationships
• Cyberbullying on Social Media: Scope, Impact, and Preventive Measures
• The Role of Social Media in Spreading Health-Related Misinformation
• Analyzing the Effect of Social Media on Journalism Practices
• Understanding the Influence of Social Media on Body Image Perceptions
• Social Media’s Role in Crisis Management: Case Studies
• The Power and Effectiveness of Influencer Marketing on Social Media
• Fake News and Disinformation in the Social Media Age
• Regulatory Approaches to Hate Speech on Social Media Platforms
• The Economic Implications of Social Media: From Startups to Giants

Social Media Research Paper Topics for Masters

• Advanced Algorithms and Their Role in Shaping Social Media Interactions
• Evaluating the Impact of Social Media on Democratic Processes Globally
• The Intersection of Privacy, Data Mining, and Ethics in Social Media
• Quantitative Analysis of Social Media’s Impact on Consumer Buying Behavior
• Cybersecurity Threats in Social Media: Mitigation and Prevention Strategies
• Analyzing the Psychological Implications of Social Media Addiction
• Using Social Media Data to Predict Market Trends: An Econometric Approach
• Role of Social Media in Crisis Management: A Comparative Study
• The Sociolinguistic Impact of Social Media on Communication
• Machine Learning and AI in Social Media: An Examination of Emerging Trends
• Social Media as a Valid Tool for Public Health: Opportunities and Challenges
• Social Media’s Influence on Modern Journalism: A Critical Analysis
• Mapping Social Networks: A Graph Theory Approach
• Evaluating the Efficacy of Social Media Campaigns in Social Change Movements
• Analyzing the Role of Social Media in Corporate Reputation Management
• Data Privacy Laws and Social Media: A Comparative Study
• The Use of Small and Big Data Analytics in Social Media Marketing
• Social Media and Its Role in Strengthening Democracy: A Deep Dive
• The Impact of Social Media on Cultural Assimilation and Identity
• Ethics of Artificial Intelligence in Social Media Content Moderation

Social Media Research Paper Topics for Ph.D.

• Analyzing the Impact of Social Media Algorithms on User Behavior and Perceptions
• Deciphering the Influence of Social Media on Political Campaign Strategies
• Examining the Role of Social Media in Corporate Social Responsibility Initiatives
• Social Media and Mental Health: A Comprehensive Analysis of Recent Studies
• Effects of Social Media and Internet Use on Consumer Buying Behavior: An Econometric Approach
• Social Media and Digital Diplomacy: A Critical Analysis
• Ethical Implications of Data Mining Techniques in Social Media Platforms
• Unpacking the Psychological Mechanisms of Social Media Addiction
• Role of Social Media in Contemporary Journalism: Opportunities and Challenges
• Social Media and Privacy: A Comparative Study of Data Protection Laws
• Machine Learning and AI in Social Media: Identifying Future Trends
• Social Media’s Possible Influence on People, Body Image, and Self-Esteem: A Meta-Analysis
• Analyzing the Role of Social Media in Crisis Management and Communication
• Impacts of Social Media on Different Language and Communication Styles
• Cybersecurity in Social Media: An Analysis of Current Threats and Mitigation Strategies
• Social Media as a Good Tool for Health Promotion and Disease Prevention
• Effects of Social Media on Children and Their Parents: Social Skills and Interpersonal Relationships
• Roles of Social Media in Promoting Gender Equality and Women’s Rights
• Social Media and its Influence on Cultural Assimilation and Identity Formation

Social Media Research Topics for Argumentative Papers

• Impacts of Social Media on Social and Political Discourses: Enhancing or Hindering Democratic Engagement?
• Social Media and Mental Health: Exploring the Association Between Excessive Usage and Psychological Well-Being
• Fostering Online Activism and Social Movements: The Role of Social Media
• Balancing Personal Information Sharing and Data Protection: Social Media and Privacy
• Exploring the Effects of Social Media on Body Image and Self-Esteem
• Social Media and Political Polarization: Reinforcing Echo Chambers or Encouraging Diverse Perspectives?
• Youth Culture and Identity Formation: The Influence of Social Media
• Fake News and Misinformation: Combating Inaccurate Information in the Era of Social Media
• Social Media and Cyberbullying: Examining the Impact on Mental Health and Well-Being
• The Ethics of Social Media Research: Privacy, Informed Consent, and Ethical Considerations
• Relationships in the Digital Age: Exploring the Influence of Social Media Use
• The Influence of Internet, Technology, and Social Media on Consumer Behavior and Buying Decisions
• Analyzing the Role of Online Platforms in Elections: Social Media and Political Campaigns
• Social Media in Education: Exploring the Benefits and Challenges of Integration in the Classroom
• Impacts of Social Media and Interface on News Consumption and Journalism Practices
• Body Politics in the Digital Space: Examining Representations of Gender, Race, and Body Image on Social Media
• Addressing Ethical and Security Concerns in the Digital Age: Social Media and Cybersecurity
• Shaping Consumer Behavior and Brand Perception: The Role of Social Media Influencers
• Civic Engagement in the Digital Era: Assessing the Role of Social Media Platforms
• The Influence of Social Media Algorithms on Information Consumption and Personalization

Social Media Research Topics for Persuasive Papers

• The Power of Social Media in Driving Social and Political Change
• Promoting Digital Literacy: Empowering Users to Navigate the Complexities of Social Media
• Social Media as a Catalyst for Social Justice Movements: Amplifying Marginalized Voices
• Countering Fake News and Misinformation on Social Media: Strategies for Critical Thinking
• Harnessing the Influence of Social Media for Environmental Activism and Sustainability
• The Dark Side of Social Media: Addressing Online Harassment and Cyberbullying
• Influencer Marketing: Ethical Considerations and Consumer Protection in the Digital Age
• Leveraging Social Media for Public Health Campaigns: Increasing Awareness and Behavioral Change
• Social Media and Mental Health: Promoting Well-Being in a Hyperconnected World
• Navigating the Privacy Paradox: Balancing Convenience and Personal Data Protection on Social Media
• Roles of Social Media and Internet in Fostering Civic Engagement and Democratic Participation
• Promoting Positive Body Image on Social Media: Redefining Beauty Standards and Empowering Individuals
• Enhancing Online Safety: Developing Policies and Regulations for Social Media Platforms
• Social Media and the Spread of Disinformation: Combating the Infodemic
• Roles of Social Media and Technology in Building and Sustaining Relationships: Connecting in a Digital Era
• Influencer Culture and Materialism: Examining the Impact on Consumer Behavior
• Social Media and Education: Maximizing Learning Opportunities and Bridging the Digital Divide
• The Power of Viral Hashtags: Exploring Social Movements and Online Activism
• Social Media and Political Polarization: Bridging Divides and Encouraging Constructive Dialogue

Social Media Topics for Pros and Cons Research Papers

• Examining the Social Effects of Digital Connectivity: Pros and Cons of Using Social Media
• Balancing Privacy Concerns in the Digital Age: Evaluating the Cons and Risks of Social Media Use
• Information Sharing in the Digital Era: Uncovering the Advantages of Social Media Platforms
• Building Online Communities: Analyzing the Strengths and Weaknesses of Social Media Interaction
• Navigating Political Discourse in the Digital Age: The Disadvantages of Social Media Engagement
• Mental Health in the Digital Sphere: Understanding the Benefits and Drawbacks of Social Media
• Combating Cyberbullying: Addressing the Negative Side of Online Social Interactions
• Personal Branding in the Digital Landscape: Empowerment vs. Self-Objectification on Social Media
• Establishing Meaningful Connections: Exploring the Pros and Cons of Social Media Relationships
• Leveraging the Educational Potential of Digital Platforms: Examining the Benefits of Social Media in Learning
• Body Image and Self-Esteem in the Age of Social Media: Weighing the Positives and Negatives
• From Digital Activism to Political Change: Assessing the Opportunities and Limitations of Social Media
• Unraveling the Influence: Social Media and Consumer Behavior in the Digital Marketplace
• Misinformation in the Digital Landscape: The Pros and Cons of Social Media in the Spread of Disinformation
• Crisis Communication in the Digital Age: Navigating the Benefits and Challenges of Social Media
• Tackling Fake News: Navigating Misinformation in the Era of Social Media
• Maximizing Business Opportunities: Evaluating the Advantages and Disadvantages of Social Media Marketing
• The Psychology of Social Media: Analyzing the Upsides and Downsides of Digital Engagement
• Exploring the Impact of Social Media on Socialization: Benefits, Drawbacks, and Implications
• Online Activism: The Power and Limitations of Social Media Movements

Social Media Topics for Cause and Effect Research Papers

• Enhancing Political Activism: Exploring the Relationship Between Social Media and Civic Engagement
• The Psychological Effects of Digital Connectivity: Investigating the Relationship Between Mental Health of People and Social Media Use
• Political Polarization in the Online Sphere: Understanding the Impact of Digital Networks
• Disrupted Sleep Patterns in the Digital Era: Exploring the Role of Online Platforms
• Digital Distractions and Academic Performance: Analyzing the Effects of Online Engagement
• Navigating Online Relationships: Understanding the Impacts of Digital Interactions
• The Digital Marketplace: Exploring Consumer Behavior in the Age of Online Platforms
• The Loneliness Epidemic: Investigating the Relationship Between Social Media Use and Social Isolation
• Redefining Political Participation: The Influence of Digital Networks on Democracy
• Unmasking Digital Identities: The Psychological Effects of Social Media Use
• News Consumption in the Digital Era: Exploring the Impacts of Online Platforms
• Cyberbullying in the Virtual World: Analyzing the Effects of Online Interactions
• The Digital Campaign Trail: Investigating the Influence of Online Platforms on Voter Behavior
• Fear of Missing Out (FOMO) in the Digital Age: Exploring the Psychological Consequences
• Body Dissatisfaction in the Digital Sphere: Understanding the Impacts of Online Presence
• Information Overload: Coping With the Digital Deluge in the Information Age
• Privacy Concerns in the Online Landscape: Analyzing the Implications of Digital Footprints
• Unveiling the Dark Side: Exploring the Relationship Between Online Activities and Substance Abuse
• Bridging the Political Divide: The Impact of Digital Networks on Sociopolitical Polarization

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74 Best Social Media Research Paper Topics

Whether in college or high school, you will come across research writing as a student. In most cases, the topic of research is assigned by your teacher/professor. Other times, students have to come up with their topic. Research writing in school is inescapable. It’s a task you are bound to undertake to fulfill your academic requirements. If you are in college, there are several topics for research depending on your discipline. For high school students, the topic is usually given. In this article, we focus on social media and topics about social media.

A social media paper is a research paper about social media that studies social media generally or an aspect of it. To write research papers on social media, you’ll need to conduct thorough research for materials and scholarly materials that’ll assist you. For social media, most of the scholarly works will be media-focused.

Sometimes, Professors or teachers ask students to write an essay or research a topic without narrowing it down. In that case, students will have to develop specific research topics. If you’re writing a paper on social media, we’ve provided you with helpful topics to consider for research.

How to Start a Social Media Research Paper

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Before giving a research writing, Professors and teachers believe students already know how to write one. Not every student knows how to write a research paper in most cases.

Research writing follows a systematic pattern, which applies to research on social media. Below is the pattern of a research paper to use;

• Paper title
• Introduction
• Statement of problem
• Research methodology
• Research objective
• Critical analysis
• Results and discussion

Every research follows this basic pattern, and it also applies to your research paper on social media.

Social media has become a powerful tool for engagement of various kinds. Before now, social media was merely apps used for interpersonal affairs. Today, with the modification of digital technology, social media encompasses a lot more. Below are some social media topics to write about.

• The impact of social media in promoting interpersonal relationships
• A study on how social media is a vital tool for social change
• Social media censorship: A new form of restriction on freedom of speech
• The constantly growing oversharing nature of social media
• Social media is a vital tool for political campaign
• The proliferation of social media platforms into a buying space
• The juxtaposition of personal engagement and business on social media platforms

There is a wide range of topics to coin from social media for college students because social media is a platform with diverse issues that can form into topics. Here are some research topics about social media to consider.

• Breach of Privacy: A study on the ability of the government to monitor personal affairs on social media
• A study of the toxicity brewing within social media
• The increased cyberbullying perpetrated on social media platforms
• The evolution of Twitter into a space for diverse conversations
• A study of the emergence and growth of social media over the years
• Effects of social media: How social media is breeding laziness amongst children
• Social media as a distraction tool for students

If you are searching for interesting topics, there are many interesting research topics on social media. Examples of research paper topics that sound fun to choose from include;

• A study on how the emergence of social media and social media advertising has infiltrated its primary purpose
• An evaluation of how social media has created employment opportunities for people
• Social media influence and its negative impact on society
• Advertising on social media: Will influencer businesses take over advertising agencies?
• A study on ways to improve advertisement for social media engagement
• A look into how social media creates a distorted view of real life
• Social media and real-life: Does social media obscure reality?

Research questions are helpful when carrying out research in a particular field. To know more about your thesis on social media, you will need to create research questions on social media to help inform your writing. Some social media research questions to ask are;

• Are social media platforms designed to be addictive?
• What is a social media Algorithm, and how to navigate it?
• To what extent are personal data stored on social app databases protected?
• Can social media owners avoid government monitoring?
• Should parents allow their children to navigate social media before they are 15?
• Have social media jobs come to stay, or are they temporary?
• Is social media influencer culture overtaking celebrity culture?
• To what extent can social media help to curb racism and homophobia?
• Does social media exacerbate or curb discriminatory practices?
• Is social media an effective tool for learning?

Everyone has access to social media apps until they’ve reached a certain age. There are several social media essay topics for high school students to write about. Some social media titles for essays include;

• How social media affects the academic performance of students
• Why the use of social media is prohibited during school hours
• Why students are obsessed with Tiktok
• Running a profitable social media business while in high school and the challenges
• The dangers of overusing editing apps
• A critical essay on how editing apps and filters promote an unrealistic idea of beauty
• The death of TV: how social media has stolen student’s interest

The challenge students have with their topic ideas for research papers is that they’re broad. A good social media thesis topic should be narrowed down. Narrowing a topic down helps you during research to focus on an issue.

Some narrow social media topics for the research paper include;

• A study of how social media is overtaking Television in entertainment
• A study of how social media has overtaken traditional journalism
• An evaluation of the rise of influencer culture on Instagram
• YouTube and how it has created sustainable income for black content creators
• A comparative study of social media managers and content creators
• A study of the decline of Instagram since the emergence of Tiktok
• How Twitter breeds transphobic conversations

There are several areas of social media to focus your research on. If you are looking for some social media marketing topics, below are some social media research paper topics to consider;

• Influencer culture and a modified model of mouth-to-mouth marketing
• The growth of video marketing on Instagram
• Social media managers as an essential part of online marketing
• A study on how social media stories are optimized for marketing
• An analysis of social media marketing and its impact on customer behavior
• An evaluation of target marketing on social media

There are so many topics to choose from in this aspect. Some social issues research paper topics to explore are;

• The growth of cyberattacks and cyberstalking in social media
• Social media and how it promotes an unrealistic idea of life
• Social media and the many impacts it has on users and businesses
• Social media detox: Importance of taking scheduled social media breaks
• How social media enable conversation on social challenges

Writing a research paper on social issues touches on various areas. Some are challenging, while others are easier to navigate.

Below are some of the easy social issues topics to choose from.

• The growing issue of women’s and trans people’s rights
• Religious bigotry and how it affects social progress
• Sustainable living and why it’s important to the society
• The social impact of climate change and global warming

Social science is a broad discipline. If you are looking for social science essay topics, below are some social science topics for research papers to look into;

• Consumerism and how it’s perpetrated on social media
• How religious beliefs impact social relationships
• Inflation and how it affects the economy of a nation
• A study of the limited availability of work opportunities for minority groups
• A look into the concept of “low wage” jobs

Research writing is not always technical or challenging. Sometimes, it can be fun to write. It all depends on your choice of topic. Below are some topics on social media that are fun to work on;

• The importance of social media branding for small businesses
• A look into the monetization of Instagram
• User engagement and how it can be converted into business leads
• The study of emojis and their role in social media engagement
• From Instagram to Tiktok: the poaching nature of social media apps

Research writing on social media networking studies social networking and its design and promotion on social media platforms. Some research papers on social media networking are;

• The impact of social media networking on business owners
• Social media networking and how it impacts influencer culture
• Social media and how it’s used to build and develop social relationships
• How social media made social networking services easier

Social media research writing is one of the most interesting research to conduct. It cuts across several interesting areas. The writer can handle almost every aspect of the dissertation or thesis statement about social media . But, students who find it challenging should seek professional help. You can reach out to  our expert team of writers to help you handle every element of your writing. We have the best on our team who are always ready to give you their best.

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Social Media Use and Its Connection to Mental Health: A Systematic Review

Fazida karim.

1 Psychology, California Institute of Behavioral Neurosciences and Psychology, Fairfield, USA

2 Business & Management, University Sultan Zainal Abidin, Terengganu, MYS

Azeezat A Oyewande

3 Family Medicine, California Institute of Behavioral Neurosciences and Psychology, Fairfield, USA

4 Family Medicine, Lagos State Health Service Commission/Alimosho General Hospital, Lagos, NGA

Lamis F Abdalla

5 Internal Medicine, California Institute of Behavioral Neurosciences and Psychology, Fairfield, USA

Reem Chaudhry Ehsanullah

Safeera khan.

Social media are responsible for aggravating mental health problems. This systematic study summarizes the effects of social network usage on mental health. Fifty papers were shortlisted from google scholar databases, and after the application of various inclusion and exclusion criteria, 16 papers were chosen and all papers were evaluated for quality. Eight papers were cross-sectional studies, three were longitudinal studies, two were qualitative studies, and others were systematic reviews. Findings were classified into two outcomes of mental health: anxiety and depression. Social media activity such as time spent to have a positive effect on the mental health domain. However, due to the cross-sectional design and methodological limitations of sampling, there are considerable differences. The structure of social media influences on mental health needs to be further analyzed through qualitative research and vertical cohort studies.

Introduction and background

Human beings are social creatures that require the companionship of others to make progress in life. Thus, being socially connected with other people can relieve stress, anxiety, and sadness, but lack of social connection can pose serious risks to mental health [ 1 ].

Social media

Social media has recently become part of people's daily activities; many of them spend hours each day on Messenger, Instagram, Facebook, and other popular social media. Thus, many researchers and scholars study the impact of social media and applications on various aspects of people’s lives [ 2 ]. Moreover, the number of social media users worldwide in 2019 is 3.484 billion, up 9% year-on-year [ 3 - 5 ]. A statistic in Figure  1  shows the gender distribution of social media audiences worldwide as of January 2020, sorted by platform. It was found that only 38% of Twitter users were male but 61% were using Snapchat. In contrast, females were more likely to use LinkedIn and Facebook. There is no denying that social media has now become an important part of many people's lives. Social media has many positive and enjoyable benefits, but it can also lead to mental health problems. Previous research found that age did not have an effect but gender did; females were much more likely to experience mental health than males [ 6 , 7 ].

Impact on mental health

Mental health is defined as a state of well-being in which people understand their abilities, solve everyday life problems, work well, and make a significant contribution to the lives of their communities [ 8 ]. There is debated presently going on regarding the benefits and negative impacts of social media on mental health [ 9 , 10 ]. Social networking is a crucial element in protecting our mental health. Both the quantity and quality of social relationships affect mental health, health behavior, physical health, and mortality risk [ 9 ]. The Displaced Behavior Theory may help explain why social media shows a connection with mental health. According to the theory, people who spend more time in sedentary behaviors such as social media use have less time for face-to-face social interaction, both of which have been proven to be protective against mental disorders [ 11 , 12 ]. On the other hand, social theories found how social media use affects mental health by influencing how people view, maintain, and interact with their social network [ 13 ]. A number of studies have been conducted on the impacts of social media, and it has been indicated that the prolonged use of social media platforms such as Facebook may be related to negative signs and symptoms of depression, anxiety, and stress [ 10 - 15 ]. Furthermore, social media can create a lot of pressure to create the stereotype that others want to see and also being as popular as others.

The need for a systematic review

Systematic studies can quantitatively and qualitatively identify, aggregate, and evaluate all accessible data to generate a warm and accurate response to the research questions involved [ 4 ]. In addition, many existing systematic studies related to mental health studies have been conducted worldwide. However, only a limited number of studies are integrated with social media and conducted in the context of social science because the available literature heavily focused on medical science [ 6 ]. Because social media is a relatively new phenomenon, the potential links between their use and mental health have not been widely investigated.

This paper attempt to systematically review all the relevant literature with the aim of filling the gap by examining social media impact on mental health, which is sedentary behavior, which, if in excess, raises the risk of health problems [ 7 , 9 , 12 ]. This study is important because it provides information on the extent of the focus of peer review literature, which can assist the researchers in delivering a prospect with the aim of understanding the future attention related to climate change strategies that require scholarly attention. This study is very useful because it provides information on the extent to which peer review literature can assist researchers in presenting prospects with a view to understanding future concerns related to mental health strategies that require scientific attention. The development of the current systematic review is based on the main research question: how does social media affect mental health?

Research strategy

The research was conducted to identify studies analyzing the role of social media on mental health. Google Scholar was used as our main database to find the relevant articles. Keywords that were used for the search were: (1) “social media”, (2) “mental health”, (3) “social media” AND “mental health”, (4) “social networking” AND “mental health”, and (5) “social networking” OR “social media” AND “mental health” (Table  1 ).

Out of the results in Table  1 , a total of 50 articles relevant to the research question were selected. After applying the inclusion and exclusion criteria, duplicate papers were removed, and, finally, a total of 28 articles were selected for review (Figure  2 ).

PRISMA, Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses

Inclusion and exclusion criteria

Peer-reviewed, full-text research papers from the past five years were included in the review. All selected articles were in English language and any non-peer-reviewed and duplicate papers were excluded from finally selected articles.

Of the 16 selected research papers, there were a research focus on adults, gender, and preadolescents [ 10 - 19 ]. In the design, there were qualitative and quantitative studies [ 15 , 16 ]. There were three systematic reviews and one thematic analysis that explored the better or worse of using social media among adolescents [ 20 - 23 ]. In addition, eight were cross-sectional studies and only three were longitudinal studies [ 24 - 29 ].The meta-analyses included studies published beyond the last five years in this population. Table  2  presents a selection of studies from the review.

IGU, internet gaming disorder; PSMU, problematic social media use

This study has attempted to systematically analyze the existing literature on the effect of social media use on mental health. Although the results of the study were not completely consistent, this review found a general association between social media use and mental health issues. Although there is positive evidence for a link between social media and mental health, the opposite has been reported.

For example, a previous study found no relationship between the amount of time spent on social media and depression or between social media-related activities, such as the number of online friends and the number of “selfies”, and depression [ 29 ]. Similarly, Neira and Barber found that while higher investment in social media (e.g. active social media use) predicted adolescents’ depressive symptoms, no relationship was found between the frequency of social media use and depressed mood [ 28 ].

In the 16 studies, anxiety and depression were the most commonly measured outcome. The prominent risk factors for anxiety and depression emerging from this study comprised time spent, activity, and addiction to social media. In today's world, anxiety is one of the basic mental health problems. People liked and commented on their uploaded photos and videos. In today's age, everyone is immune to the social media context. Some teens experience anxiety from social media related to fear of loss, which causes teens to try to respond and check all their friends' messages and messages on a regular basis.

On the contrary, depression is one of the unintended significances of unnecessary use of social media. In detail, depression is limited not only to Facebooks but also to other social networking sites, which causes psychological problems. A new study found that individuals who are involved in social media, games, texts, mobile phones, etc. are more likely to experience depression.

The previous study found a 70% increase in self-reported depressive symptoms among the group using social media. The other social media influence that causes depression is sexual fun [ 12 ]. The intimacy fun happens when social media promotes putting on a facade that highlights the fun and excitement but does not tell us much about where we are struggling in our daily lives at a deeper level [ 28 ]. Another study revealed that depression and time spent on Facebook by adolescents are positively correlated [ 22 ]. More importantly, symptoms of major depression have been found among the individuals who spent most of their time in online activities and performing image management on social networking sites [ 14 ].

Another study assessed gender differences in associations between social media use and mental health. Females were found to be more addicted to social media as compared with males [ 26 ]. Passive activity in social media use such as reading posts is more strongly associated with depression than doing active use like making posts [ 23 ]. Other important findings of this review suggest that other factors such as interpersonal trust and family functioning may have a greater influence on the symptoms of depression than the frequency of social media use [ 28 , 29 ].

Limitation and suggestion

The limitations and suggestions were identified by the evidence involved in the study and review process. Previously, 7 of the 16 studies were cross-sectional and slightly failed to determine the causal relationship between the variables of interest. Given the evidence from cross-sectional studies, it is not possible to conclude that the use of social networks causes mental health problems. Only three longitudinal studies examined the causal relationship between social media and mental health, which is hard to examine if the mental health problem appeared more pronounced in those who use social media more compared with those who use it less or do not use at all [ 19 , 20 , 24 ]. Next, despite the fact that the proposed relationship between social media and mental health is complex, a few studies investigated mediating factors that may contribute or exacerbate this relationship. Further investigations are required to clarify the underlying factors that help examine why social media has a negative impact on some peoples’ mental health, whereas it has no or positive effect on others’ mental health.

Conclusions

Social media is a new study that is rapidly growing and gaining popularity. Thus, there are many unexplored and unexpected constructive answers associated with it. Lately, studies have found that using social media platforms can have a detrimental effect on the psychological health of its users. However, the extent to which the use of social media impacts the public is yet to be determined. This systematic review has found that social media envy can affect the level of anxiety and depression in individuals. In addition, other potential causes of anxiety and depression have been identified, which require further exploration.

The importance of such findings is to facilitate further research on social media and mental health. In addition, the information obtained from this study can be helpful not only to medical professionals but also to social science research. The findings of this study suggest that potential causal factors from social media can be considered when cooperating with patients who have been diagnosed with anxiety or depression. Also, if the results from this study were used to explore more relationships with another construct, this could potentially enhance the findings to reduce anxiety and depression rates and prevent suicide rates from occurring.

The content published in Cureus is the result of clinical experience and/or research by independent individuals or organizations. Cureus is not responsible for the scientific accuracy or reliability of data or conclusions published herein. All content published within Cureus is intended only for educational, research and reference purposes. Additionally, articles published within Cureus should not be deemed a suitable substitute for the advice of a qualified health care professional. Do not disregard or avoid professional medical advice due to content published within Cureus.

The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

13 social media research topics to explore in 2024

Last updated

15 January 2024

Reviewed by

Miroslav Damyanov

Short on time? Get an AI generated summary of this article instead

To help you choose a specific area to examine, here are some of the top social media research topics that are relevant in 2024.

• What makes a strong social media research topic?

Consider the factors below to ensure your topic is strong and compelling:

Clarity: regardless of the topic you investigate, clarity is essential. It ensures readers will be able to understand your work and any wider learnings. Your argument should be clear and your language unambiguous.

Trend relevancy: you need to know what’s currently happening in social media to draw relevant conclusions. Before choosing a topic, consider current popular platforms, trending content, and current use cases to ensure you understand social media as it is today.

New insights: if your research is to be new, innovative, and helpful for the wider population, it should cover areas that haven’t been studied before. Look into what’s already been thoroughly researched to help you uncover knowledge gaps that could be good focus areas.

• Tips for choosing social media research topics

When considering social media research questions, it’s also important to consider whether you’re the right person to conduct that area of study. Your skills, interests, and time allocated will all impact your suitability.

Consider your skillset: your specific expertise is highly valuable when conducting research. Choosing a topic that aligns with your skills will help ensure you can add a thorough analysis and your own learnings.

Align with your interests: if you’re deeply interested in a topic, you’re much more likely to enjoy the process and dedicate the time it needs for a thorough analysis.

Consider your resources: the time you have available to complete the research, your allocated funds, and access to resources should all impact the research topic you choose.

• 13 social media research paper topics

To help you choose the right area of research, we’ve rounded up some of the most compelling topics within the sector. These ideas may also help you come up with your own.

1. The influence of social media on mental health

It’s well-documented that social media can impact mental health. For example, a significant amount of research has highlighted the link between social media and conditions like anxiety, depression, and stress—but there’s still more to uncover in this area.

There are high rates of mental illness worldwide, so there’s continual interest in ways to understand and mitigate it. Studies could focus on the following areas:

The reasons why social media can impact mental health

How social media can impact specific mental health conditions (you might also look at different age groups here)

How to reduce social media’s impact on mental health

2. The effects of social media exposure on child development

There are many unknowns with social media. More research is needed to understand how it impacts children. As such, this is a very valuable research area.

You might explore the following topics:

How social media impacts children at different ages

The long-term effects of childhood social media use

The benefits of social media use in children

How social media use impacts childhood socialization, communication, and learning

3. The role of social media in political campaigning

Social media’s role in political campaigning is nothing new. The Cambridge Analytica Scandal, for example, involved data from millions of Facebook profiles being sold to a third party for political advertising. Many believe this could have impacted the 2016 US election results. Ultimately, Facebook had to pay a private class-action lawsuit of $725 million.

The role of social media in political campaigns is of global significance. Concerns are still high that social media can play a negative role in elections due to the spread of misinformation, disinformation, and the bandwagon effect.

Research in this area could look into the following topics:

How people are influenced by social media when it comes to voting

Ways to mitigate misinformation

Election interference and how this can be prevented

4. The role of social media in misinformation and disinformation

Misinformation and disinformation mean slightly different things. Misinformation is unintentionally sharing false or inaccurate information, while disinformation is sharing false information with the deliberate intent to mislead people.

Both can play a role not just in elections but throughout social media. This became particularly problematic during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Research into this area is important given the widespread risk that comes with spreading false information about health and safety-related topics.

Here are some potential research areas:

How misinformation and disinformation are spread via social media

The impact of false information (you could focus on how it impacts health, for example)

Strategies for mitigating the impact of false information and encouraging critical thinking

The avenues through which to hold technology companies accountable for spreading misinformation

5. The impact of AI and deepfakes on social media 

AI technology is expected to continue expanding in 2024. Some are concerned that this could impact social media. One concern is the potential for the widespread use of deepfake technology—a form of AI that uses deep learning to create fake images.

Fake images can be used to discredit, shame, and control others, so researchers need to deeply understand this area of technology. You might look into the following areas:

The potential impacts of deepfakes on businesses and their reputations

Deepfake identities on social media: privacy concerns and other risks

How deepfake images can be identified, controlled, and prevented

6. How social media can benefit communities

While there’s much research into the potential negative impacts of social media, it can also provide many benefits.

Social media can establish connections for those who might otherwise be isolated in the community. It can facilitate in-person gatherings and connect people who are physically separated, such as relatives who live in different countries. Social media can also provide critical information to communities quickly in the case of emergencies.

Research into the ways social media can provide these key benefits can make interesting topics. You could consider the following:

Which social media platforms offer the most benefits

How to better use social media to lean into these benefits

How new social platforms could connect us in more helpful ways

7. The psychology of social media

Social media psychology explores human behavior in relation to social media. There are a range of topics within social media psychology, including the following: 

The influence of social media on social comparison

Addiction and psychological dependence on social media

How social media increases the risk of cyberbullying

How social media use impacts people’s attention spans

Social interactions and the impact on socialization

Persuasion and influence on social media

8. How communication has evolved through social media

Social media has provided endless ways for humans to connect and interact, so the ways we do this have evolved.

Most obviously, social media has provided ways to connect instantaneously via real-time messaging and communicate using multimedia formats, including text, images, emojis, video content, and audio.

This has made communication more accessible and seamless, especially given many people now own smartphones that can connect to social media apps from anywhere.

You might consider researching the following topics:

How social media has changed the way people communicate

The impacts of being continuously connected, both positive and negative

How communication may evolve in the future due to social media

9. Social media platforms as primary news sources

As social media use has become more widespread, many are accessing news information primarily from their newsfeeds. This can be particularly problematic, given that newsfeeds are personalized providing content to people based on their data.

This can cause people to live in echo chambers, where they are constantly targeted with content that aligns with their beliefs. This can cause people to become more entrenched in their way of thinking and more unable or unwilling to see other people’s opinions and points of view.

Research in this area could consider the following:

The challenges that arise from using social media platforms as a primary news source

The pros and cons of social media: does it encourage “soloization” or diverse perspectives?

How to prevent social media echo chambers from occurring

The impact of social media echo chambers on journalistic integrity

10. How social media is impacting modern journalism

News platforms typically rely on an advertising model where more clicks and views increase revenue. Since sensationalist stories can attract more clicks and shares on social media, modern journalism is evolving.

Journalists are often rewarded for writing clickbait headlines and content that’s more emotionally triggering (and therefore shareable).

Your research could cover the following areas:

How journalism is evolving due to social media

How to mitigate social media’s impact on neutral reporting

The importance of journalistic standards in the age of social media

11. The impact of social media on traditional advertising

Digital advertising is growing in popularity. Worldwide, ad spending on social media was expected to reach $207.1 billion in 2023 . Experts estimate that ad spending on mobile alone will reach $255.8 billion by 2028 . This move continues to impact traditional advertising, which takes place via channels like print, TV, and radio.

Most organizations consider their social strategy a critical aspect of their advertising program. Many exclusively advertise on social media—especially those with limited budgets.

Here are some interesting research topics in this area

The impact of different advertising methods

Which social media advertising channels provide the highest return on investment (ROI)

The societal impacts of social media advertising

12. Impacts of social media presence on corporate image

Social media presence can provide companies with an opportunity to be visible and increase brand awareness . Social media also provides a key way to interact with customers.

More and more customers now expect businesses to be online. Research shows that 63% of customers expect companies to offer customer service via their social media channels, while a whopping 90% have connected with a brand or business through social media.

Research in this area could focus on the following topics:

The advantages and disadvantages of social media marketing for businesses

How social media can impact a business’s corporate image

How social media can boost customer experience and loyalty

13. How social media impacts data privacy

Using social media platforms is free for the most part, but users have to provide their personal data for the privilege. This means data collection , tracking, the potential for third parties to access that data, psychological profiling, geolocation, and tracking are all potential risks for users.

Data security and privacy are of increasing interest globally. Research within this area will likely be in high demand in 2024.

Here are some of the research topics you might want to consider in this area:

Common privacy concerns with social media use

Why is social media privacy important?

What can individuals do to protect their data when using social media?

• The importance of social media research

As social media use continues to expand in the US and around the world, there’s continual interest in research on the topic. The research you conduct could positively impact many groups of people.

Topics can cover a broad range of areas. You might look at how social media can harm or benefit people, how social media can impact journalism, how platforms can impact young people, or the data privacy risks involved with social media use. The options are endless, and new research topics will present themselves as technology evolves.

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Social Media Research: A Comprehensive Guide

Guv Callahan

May 20, 2024

8 min. read

Social media research helps you unlock the potential of social content for business. We’re living in a world where tweets hold power and likes shape perceptions. When you know what to publish and who you’re posting it for, you can construct a stronger strategy that helps you meet key goals.

Data isn’t just about numbers; it’s about uncovering narratives and following the breadcrumbs of likes, shares, and comments to gain deeper understandings. There’s a method to the madness of selfies and status updates. The right approach to social media research helps you learn more about the collective consciousness of society — and use it to your advantage.

Let’s explore the language of social media likes and shares and dig beneath the surface of our digital interactions.

What is Social Media Research?

Tools and techniques for social media research, understanding the difference: social media research vs. traditional research, harnessing the power of social media research for your business, ethics and privacy in social media research, success stories: real world examples of social media research.

Social media research is the process of using social media data to learn about trending topics, audiences, and content performance. Reviewing social data gives you quantitative insights (e.g., engagement rates , best posting times ), but it can also lead to qualitative learnings like human behaviors, preferences, and opinions.

When conducting social media research, companies can look for patterns and sentiments to drive their social media marketing strategy. They can decide what content to create, which channels to post on, how to reach their audience, when to post content, and a myriad of other decisions that will lead to faster results.

There’s no single best way to do social media research. You can manually review engagement on your posts or look at your competitors’ content. Or you can use third-party social listening tools to aggregate social data for you. 

Social media research can be formal (like a traditional research project) or informal. You might have a certain goal in mind, or you might not know what you’re looking for and just want to see what pops up. 

Let’s review some options.

Social media analytics

No matter what channels you choose, you can gain a wealth of insights from built-in social analytics. Platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter give you instant intel about your content performance and audiences. 

Even better, you don’t always need to know what you’re looking for. You can start combing through your analytics, then jot down questions or ideas you want to explore further.

Tip: Learn more in our blog The Complete Guide to Social Media Analytics .

Google Alerts

Google Alerts is a free and underrated tool that gives you unique angles and insights on a given topic. You can set up a Google Alert related to a keyword or topic of your choice, then receive a daily digest of articles published on that topic. 

From there, you can learn more about what other brands and businesses are publishing. Repurpose your findings into your social media content to get ahead of trends and topics. You can lead conversations instead of joining them after they blow up on social.

Social listening tools

Social listening tools like Meltwater let you be the fly on the wall in the social world. You can “listen” to what your audience is saying and truly be everywhere all at once. 

These tools monitor billions of publicly available data points across multiple social channels, like Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram. They help brands track mentions of their products or brand names in real time so you can become part of important conversations. 

You can also track topics related to your niche or learn more about what your audience is talking about beyond your brand. This gives you direct insight into their lifestyles so you can meet them where they are authentically.

Want to learn more about how Meltwater could help your social media research? Fill out the form below and an expert will be in touch!

Media intelligence tools

Taking social listening a step further, you can add media intelligence tools to the mix to learn what’s being talked about beyond social media. Meltwater’s media intelligence suite lets you monitor TV and radio channels, blogs, print media, and other new sources around the world.

This gives you more comprehensive insights into hot topics and trends that you can repurpose for social media. News-worthy events make their way to social media, giving you an easy “in” to your audience’s attention. 

Aside from the social-specific aspect, social media research holds a few advantages over traditional research. 

For starters, social research gives you real-time data that’s constantly changing. You can also get the most specific insights according to your audience and social channels, not just general info. This means you can shorten the research curve and get faster insights about topics that matter to you.  

By comparison, traditional research is often a more structured approach with specific goals in mind. It typically requires lots of sources and manual effort. It takes time to find and vet sources, cross-reference data, and ensure a high level of accuracy. 

Combining both types of research can give you the most comprehensive view of your audience.

Now that you know what social media research is, let’s explore some ways you can apply it to your business.

Identify your target audience

Analyzing social media data can help you pinpoint who your target audience is (because it’s not always who you think). You might have your audience defined on the surface with basics like age, gender, and geographic location, but social research can dig several layers deeper to uncover new audience segments you haven’t considered. 

Audiences evolve all the time. Their preferences, needs, and interests change. This means that who you want to reach today might not be the same person you want to connect with in the future. Constantly finding new things about your audience will help you continue generating content that captures their interests.

Improve brand reputation

Monitoring online conversations and feedback gives companies a direct path to reputation management . You can more easily spot when trouble might be brewing so you can act fast and defend against hits to your brand image.

Proactively engaging with customers on social platforms shows that the company values their opinions and is committed to providing excellent customer service. This not only builds trust and loyalty but also strengthens the brand's reputation as a customer-centric organization.

Optimize social media marketing campaigns

When you know more about your audience and past content performance, you’re in a better position to create better posts that resonate. Learn what type of content your audience prefers based on engagement metrics. Tailor your content and messaging to reflect their interests and needs.

You’ll also have insights about what’s hot in the social media world. You can use these trends as the foundation for your own content, taking the guesswork out of what you should talk about. 

Tip: Learn more about tailoring your content and messaging in our Personalization at Scale Guide !

Collecting social media research from outside data sources brings ethics and privacy into question. Marketers should be proactive in asking where their data is coming from and how it was obtained. 

Ideally, you’ll choose tools that are in compliance with regulations like GDPR and CCPA. Know how they obtain data and whether they safeguard individual users’ information. Getting ahead of your competitors shouldn't be at the expense of your customers’ privacy or potential legal challenges.

Companies around the world use social media research to drive engagement, create better content, and grow their brand presence. 

Take Shiseido , for instance. This Meltwater customer uses our Explore solution to learn what makes their brand special across 120 markets. The company uses social listening to monitor competitors, unify social mentions in a single dashboard, and understand the brand’s presence on a global stage.

Another Meltwater customer, Fifty Acres , uses the platform to learn about relevant narratives happening on social media. Learning what others are talking about allows them to shape their own stories, pitch new ideas for business growth, and connect with people in the right places at the right times.

W Hotels in Singapore is another great example of social media research at work. The company uses Meltwater to learn more about what customers like when traveling, allowing them to create custom experiences in their hotels.

Last but not least, Mailchimp uses Meltwater to inform its content strategy. The company looks for trends and themes on social media that resonate with creators, allowing them to easily scale their content by making their audience go bananas over every post.

Learn more when you request a demo by filling out the form below.

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• What are the parameters that can be analyzed to detect whether the Twitter account is spreading fake news or not? (Eg: the following and followers ratios, account age, etc.)
• Does the verified mark on Twitter guarantee that the account is not spreading fake news?
• Is there a special pattern regarding spreading fake news on Twitter?
• Is there any databases related to fake news on Twitter?

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• First the dimensions of big data,
• next data management
• and then their integration, namely big data management. You could take a look at Hadoop, NoSQL databases and so forth.
• Then you should focus specifically on social's media data model. Here you could read about graph databases, graph theories and RDF triples.

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• DOI: 10.4135/9781473983847.N2
• Corpus ID: 158679664

What is Social Media and What Questions Can Social Media Research Help Us Answer

• Lori McCay-Peet , Anabel Quan-Haase
• Published 2016

Figures and Tables from this paper

121 Citations

An agenda for comparative social media studies: the value of understanding practices from cross-national, cross-media, and cross-platform perspectives, review of the methodological landscape of literacy and social media research, the collective storytelling organisational framework for social media use, applying theoretical perspectives to social media influencers, mapping #metoo: a synthesis review of digital feminist research across social media platforms, mobilizing social media data: reflections of a researcher mediating between data and organization, linguistic studies on social media: a bibliometric analysis, the use of social media as a legitimation tool for sustainability reporting, editorial of the special issue on following user pathways: key contributions and future directions in cross-platform social media research, the quasars method for conducting useful literature surveys in social media research: a step-by-step approach, 54 references, the evolution of social media from 1969 to 2013: a change in competition and a trend toward complementary, niche sites, connected scholars: examining the role of social media in research practices of faculty using the utaut model, networks of digital humanities scholars: the informational and social uses and gratifications of twitter, social media and the transformation of activist communication: exploring the social media ecology of the 2010 toronto g20 protests, communities of communication: making sense of the “social” in social media, users of the world, unite the challenges and opportunities of social media, social media use in the research workflow, social media update 2016.

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Social Media as tool for Conducting Academic Research

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Social media research: Step-by-step tutorial with examples

• Introduction: What is social media research?
• Step 1: Develop a research design
• Step 2: Collect & import your social media data
• Step 3: Data preparation

Step 4: Get an overview

• Step 5: Categorize your data
• Step 6: Aggregate & present your results

Further learning materials

Friday, January 5, 2024

How to conduct social media research with MAXQDA?

Social Media has drastically changed the way we communicate. Nowadays it’s a lot easier for an individual to communicate with a large audience or with strangers living on the other side of the planet, and to find and communicate with others researching similar topics. Companies, organizations, and political parties can target a specific group of people for their campaign and receive immediate feedback. So, it’s not a surprise that online communication has become more prevalent, which in turn has increased the significance of social media platforms.

Researchers and marketers alike benefit from the wealth of data available on social media platforms, gaining insights into the public’s opinions, communication patterns, and more. Social media research describes the process of collecting and analyzing social media data, such as posts, comments, and likes in order to understand communication patterns, public opinions, and trends.

Who conducts social media research?

Compared to other data collection instruments, such as focus group discussions, collecting social media data is less resource-intensive as the data is easily accessible. However, researchers are confronted with extensive data when performing social media research. Depending on the topic thousands and thousands of posts and comments exist. Consequently, social media researchers need QDA software that is well-equipped for challenges like these, such as MAXQDA. MAXQDA can facilitate your social media research with its numerous data organization and analysis tools. MAXQDA’s auto-coding and sentiment analysis are particularly useful tools, allowing you to explore many posts without reading each one individually. Furthermore, AI Assist, MAXQDA’s AI-based features, are well-suited to handle big data. In the present guide we aim to explain how you can perform social media research with MAXQDA.

Step 1: Develop a research design for social media research

As for any other research project, we advise you to develop a research design before starting your social media research. A research design serves as a structured plan outlining how a researcher intends to answer a specific research question. Determine the specific social media data you wish to analyze and define the precise methodology for your analysis. Among other considerations, ask yourself which social media platform(s) you want to consider, whether there is a time frame of interest; and if you plan to exclusively focus on social media posts containing particular hashtags or keywords. You must address these questions to develop a well-designed study that ensures reliable and valid results. We recommend reading our Research Design guide if you need clarification on what a research design entails.

Please note that the order of the steps presented here is flexible and depends on your research design and research question.

Step 2: Collect & import your social media data

With MAXQDA, you have several options for importing your social media data. On the one side, MAXQDA provides specialized import tools for YouTube comments and specialized analysis tools for YouTube data and X (formerly known as Twitter) data. Suppose you want to import and analyze data from a different social media platform. Then, you can either use MAXQDA’s WebCollector to collect and import entire webpages into MAXQDA or another social media data collection service, saving the data in a MAXQDA-compatible format, like an Excel file. There are several online tools for exporting social media data.

MAXQDA’s WebCollector

You can use MAXQDA’s WebCollector – a free Chrome Browser extension – to export entire websites in a format that can be imported into MAXQDA. The free MAXQDA WebCollector is availale on the Chrome WebStore.

Get the MAXQDA WebCollector

After installing the extension, export the webpage from your social media platform of interest. In the case of X (formerly known as Twitter) you have two options. You can either export only top-level posts or a specific top-level post, including all its replies. Search for a hashtag and export the search results, i.e., all posts containing this hashtag, by opening the WebCollector extension and clicking “Collect.” If you want, you can add notes in the Document Memo section, such as the time frame or other parameters of your search. Upon import into MAXQDA, these notes will be imported as a Document Memo.

Use the MAXQDA WebCollector to export social media data

In the case you are specifically interested in specific posts, e.g., posts from a certain account or posts with a lot of replies, click on the post so that the original post and all comments are displayed. Now, export the website with MAXQDA’s WebCollector to compile the original posts, including all replies.

Step 3: Social media research data preparation

Before starting the actual analysis, you might want to clean and organize your data in a meaningful way. For example, you could remove irrelevant and duplicate posts. You could also organize your data in document groups, e.g., based on the social media platform, a time range, a hashtag, or whatever category is important to your social media research.

Organize your data in Document groups

You may add variables to the imported social media data depending on your research design. For example, when investigating social media trends over time, it can be handy for further analysis to add variables such as the date and timing of the post. To do so, simply go to the “Variables” tab and click “List of Document Variables.” By clicking “New variable,” you can add new variables, specify their type, and define missing values.

Add document variables to improve your social media research

Depending on your research approach, you might benefit from an overview of the data before creating and applying codes, e.g., when following an inductive approach. In other cases, you might already have codes in mind and use them prior to summarizing the data, e.g., in deductive approaches.

When following an inductive approach, you might want to get a basic understanding of the collected social media data and base your codes on the actual content. MAXQDA offers numerous tools, allowing you to get a quick overview. Especially useful when working with big data, such as in social media research, are MAXQDA’s auto-coding and AI-based tools.

Summarize social media data with AI Assist

We acknowledge that AI can assist researchers in qualitative data analysis as well as in other areas of life. Therefore, we developed the AI Assist add-on – your virtual research assistant. AI Assist features several tools that can facilitate your social media research. AI Assist’s Summarize Document function is handy for a quick content overview. This feature creates a summary of entire documents, e.g., of a post and its replies, which it stores in Document Memos. To let AI Assist summarize your document, right-click on it in the Documents window, and choose AI Assist > Summarize Document. You can edit and refine the summary within the Document Memo. These summaries might help you get an idea about the key points discussed and develop codes accordingly.

With AI-generated summaries you can speed up your social media research

Automatically analyze the public’s sentiment

Often, people performing social media research are not interested in every single opinion of every single individual but in the general sentiment towards a topic, politician, issue, or product. With MAXQDA, you can perform a sentiment analysis in no time. To perform a sentiment analysis, open the Smart Coding Tool in the Codes tab. Since the Smart Coding tool works on the level of coded segments, you need to dummy-code your data prior to the sentiment analysis. When importing YouTube comments, comments and replies are automatically coded. However, when importing data through other means, such as via the WebCollector, you may want to manually create the codes ‘post’ and ‘reply’ to quickly code your data. Subsequently, you can perform automatic sentiment analysis by clicking on the button “Analyze Sentiments.” To autocode your social media data with the respective sentiment, click “Autocode Segments with Sentiment.” Then, MAXQDA creates the code ‘Sentiment’ with the identified sentiments as subcodes. By looking at the code frequencies you get a first impression of the general public sentiment.

Autocode the sentiment of your social media data

Subsequently, you can use MAXQDA’s retrieval function to, e.g., focus your social media research on negative posts. To do so, simply activate the documents of interest and the code ‘Sentiment’ > ‘Negative’. All text segments coded with this code will be displayed in the Retrieved Segments window. If you plan to create subcodes, for example to divide the negative sentiment into reasons why people dislike your product, you can again use the Smart Coding tool. Select the code ‘Negative’ from the Code tree on the left site and MAXQDA will display only the segments with a negative sentiment to which you can apply additional codes.

Summarize coded segments with AI Assist

Rather than going through the ‘Negative’ posts individually, you can again use the power of artificial intelligence to create a summary of the coded segments. To do so, right-click the code ‘Negative’ in the Codes window and select AI Assist > Summarize coded segments. Similarly, to the Summarize Document feature, AI Assist will add the summary in a memo.

Step 5: Categorize your social media research data

In many qualitative research projects, including social media research, coding/categorizing your data is an important step. When working inductively, the AI-generated summaries might provide initial ideas for codes. When working deductively, you probably already have codes in mind. With MAXQDA you can easily create codes, assign code colors, and define rules for coding in the New Code window regardless of your approach. Furthermore, you can organize your codes hierarchically. But there is more – MAXQDA allows you to create emoticodes which might come handy when analyzing social media data. For more information on various coding methods, you can refer to:

Learn more about coding with MAXQDA

Autocode your social media data

Especially useful for big data is MAXQDA’s Text Search & Autocode feature, which is located in the Analysis tab. This feature allows you to search for keywords and automatically code them. You can also use logical operators, such as OR, to search for a list of keywords simultaneously e.g., to find all synonyms of a word with just one search. If you are interested in certain concepts, you can create dictionaries of keywords defining the concept and search for multiple concepts at once (search for the whole dictionary). To do so, you first need to create a dictionary. Therefore, go to the MAXDictio tab and select Dictionaries.

Search & autocode important keywords for your social media research

Generate subcode suggestions with AI Assist

In the coding of qualitative data, researchers often start with broad codes, intending to refine them in a later step of the social media research. Alongside the Smart Coding Tool, which is ideal for code refinement, as explained earlier, AI Assist’s “Suggest Subcodes” is another valuable tool. You can use this feature to to get subcode suggestions. Simply, right-click on a code and select AI Assist > Subcode Suggestions.

Step 6: Aggregate & present your results

A crucial step involves consolidating your social media research results into a format that is easily understandable for others. For example, charts and visualisations can aggregate huge amount of data in an easily comprehensible graph that answers your research question. Of course, MAXQDA has integrated visualisation and charting tools. Some tools that might be especially useful for presenting social media data are presented in the following sections.

Word Cloud for visualizing the most frequent words

MAXQDA’s World Cloud, which can also be used with data that hasn’t been coded, is one of the most appropriate visualization tools in social media research. Select the document(s) that serve as the basis for your word cloud and generate a visual representation of the most recurring words. To exclude frequent, yet non-informative words such as ‘the’ or ‘a,’ you can apply a stop word list to the data, effectively filtering out these ubiquitous terms. We offer several Stop Word Lists in several languages on our website, so you don’t have to create one yourself.

Get Stop Word Lists

Word Cloud displaying the most frequent words of YouTube comments

Visualize trends

If your social media research analyzes a topic over time, the Trends function might also interest you. Currently, MAXQDA offers Word Trends, Code Trends, and Dictionary Categories Trends. To explore how code or word frequencies change across time, you should store your social media data in distinct documents – one document per time range. While Word Trends can be used even when the data is not coded, Code Trends requires coded data. No matter whether you are using Code or Word trends, select Trends for multiple documents. Then, select the documents (and codes) of interest and MAXQDA will visualize them. For example, you can use the Code Trends tool on auto-generated sentiment codes to investigate how sentiments towards a topic change over time.

Aside from analyzing trends across time, you can also use MAXQDA’s Trends tool to compare reactions, e.g., between different social media plattforms. To do this, you need to organize your data as follows: create a separate document for each social media plattform containing all posts of interest. Next, choose your preferred Trends tool and again choose trends for multiple documents. In case you are interested in how a discussion evolves in a comment section, given that the data is stored in one document, you can opt for the single document trends feature. MAXQDA splits the document in 10 segments, allowing you to see how word/code frequencies look across them.

Visualizing sentiment trends for #maxqda across weeks

Write your report with QTT

Questions-Themes-Theories (QTT) provides an innovative workspace for gathering important visualizations, notes, segments, and other analytical results. It is an excellent tool for organizing your thoughts and crafting your social media research report. To get started, create a dedicated worksheet for your topics and research questions, and populate it with pertinent analysis elements extracted from other MAXQDA functions. For example, you can incorporate your Trends visualization to a QTT worksheet by clicking on the button, as shown in the screenshot below. Exploratory coded segments related to a set of social media posts can be added to the QTT worksheet via the context menu. For each imported element you can add insights. Furthermore, you have the option to add your conclusions and theories, as well as your research design. Subsequently, you can view all analysis elements and insights to write your final conclusion. The new Questions-Themes-Theories tool is designed to assist you finalize your social media research. With just one click, you can export your worksheet and use it as a starting point for your social media research report.

Add a visualization to a QTT worksheet

We offer a variety of complimentary learning materials to help you get started with your social media research. Check out the recording of a spotlight session on analyzing social media data with MAXQDA which was held at the MAXDAYS conference in 2023. In addition, the free book “The Practice of Qualitative Data Analysis,” provides ten case studies with brief real-world examples, demonstrating MAXQDA’s practical applications.

Spotlight Session: Analyzing Social Media Data with MAXQDA

The Practice of Qualitative Data Analysis

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54 answers to the most common social media questions

Written by by Natalie O'Grady

Published on  April 22, 2024

Reading time  14 minutes

With the social media landscape constantly evolving, there’s always something new to learn for both novice and experienced marketers alike. Naturally, you might have many pressing social media marketing questions you’re embarrassed to ask because they seem like common knowledge. But no social media question is too simple because it can be challenging to catch up, especially in 2024, when changing social media regulations bring something different every day.

In this post, we answer some of the most common and important social media questions. Besides general FAQs, we’ll also tackle platform-specific questions. Let’s get started!

Table of contents:

General social media questions

Instagram faqs, facebook faqs, youtube faqs, linkedin faqs, 1. how many people are on social media.

As of January 2024, a total of 5.04 billion people around the world use social media, putting the worldwide social media penetration rate at 62%.

2. What is the most popular social media platform?

Based on user count alone, Facebook continues to be the most popular social media platform. It had 3 billion monthly active users in Q4 2023.

3. How long does the average person spend on social media per day?

As of 2024, the average social media user spent around 2 hours and 23 minutes per day on social media according to Statista . Interestingly, this is down from 2 hours and 31 minutes the previous year.

4. What is the fastest-growing social media platform?

While Facebook remains the largest overall platform at three billion users, TikTok has climbed to the fifth largest platform in a short time, with 1.5 billion users. YouTube, WhatsApp and Instagram round out the top five largest platforms.

5. What’s the best time to post on social media?

The best time to post on social media depends on several factors. While your choice of platform and your industry both matter, your audience activity plays the biggest role. You should look at your post performance to get valuable data about the perfect post timing for your business.

You can also use our guide on the best time to post as a starting point before you find what works best for your business and industry.

6. How often should I post on social media?

Again, this largely depends on your audience. While you definitely should publish at least one post every day, you should see if posting more often will make any difference in your performance. Once you find a posting frequency that works for you, create a publishing calendar , and follow it consistently.

7. Which social media platform should I use to promote my business?

Having a presence on all popular platforms can be counterproductive if not executed with a strategy. Instead, focus on the platforms that are highly popular among your target audience. The best platforms to use will vary for each business. Check out our guide on how to choose the best social media channels for your business.

8. How do I get started with social media marketing?

There are a few things you need to begin marketing on social media—a goal, target audience and strategy. Determine what you want to achieve through social media marketing and what types of people you want to attract. Then create a social media strategy to streamline and organize your approach.

9. What kind of content should I post?

This also depends on your industry and what appeals to your target audience, although visuals typically take the cake on social media. Try out some of our social media post ideas and see which ones perform the best to find out what type of content your audience likes.

10. How can I get more followers on social media?

Growing your social media following involves a lot of planning and strategizing as well as posting the right content and targeting the right audience. Use our comprehensive guide on how to grow your social media audience to get started.

11. Can I use social media to build a B2B marketing strategy?

Absolutely. With 53% of consumers saying their social media usage has increased over the last two years, your target audience is active on these platforms more than ever. Sprout’s Social Listening tools provide indepth insights including demographic information such as audience segmentation based on factors like age, gender and location when analyzing social conversations about a specific topic for a more comprehensive grasp of your prospects.

Leverage our guide to building a customer-centric B2B social media strategy to start planning.

12. How can I use social media data for market research?

Annual market research is critical for keeping your overall marketing strategy ahead of the curve, and social media data is ripe with actionable insights. Uncover useful insights like audience intent, trends your customers are following and how customers are using your products and services. We have a full article on ways to use social media for market research to get you started.

13. What are the best social media metrics to track?

It’s important to track social media metrics that are important to your organization. Vanity metrics like follower growth and audience still tell a part of your overall story, and can be useful to include. You’ll also want to consider customer satisfaction metrics like reply time, total response volume and customer satisfaction scores (CSAT). Awareness is trackable through metrics like reach, and customer retention is spotlighted in reviews and net promotor score (NPS). Find a full list of suggestions in our guide to the best social media metrics to track in 2024.

14. How can I build an effective influencer marketing strategy?

Influencer marketing has evolved greatly over the years; no longer are brands required to shell out major money for sponsorships with celebrities. The type of influencer you need will depend on your brand persona and target audience. You don’t always need macro influencers with millions of followers to make an impact; micro-influencers with niche followers might just be what your brand needs. Here is a complete guide on the key considerations you need to keep in mind to build an  effective influencer marketing strategy.

Influencer marketing tools like Tagger are pivotal in optimizing influencer marketing efforts. They help you find the right influencers from thousands of vetted content creators, manage contract negotiations and analyze campaigns in real time so you get prompt performance insights and use them to improve your strategy.

15. What are the best metrics to track for influencer marketing?

Once you’ve got a solid influencer marketing strategy built, hone in on what metrics you need to track, such as post performance and the influencer’s overall account performance. We suggest these 10 best metrics to track for influencer marketing including audience engagement and website traffic.

16. How many active users does Instagram have and can it really help my brand?

Over 2 billion users are active on the platform monthly. Additionally, there are over 200 million business accounts on Instagram. And on average, most Instagram users are between the ages of 18 and 34. Learn more Instagram stats .

Instagram data reveals that 70% of consumers research brands and products on the platform for their next purchase. Instagram is also the most-used platform for influencer marketing and 80.8% of marketers plan to use it to strengthen their influencer marketing strategy in 2024. Instagram Stories has further solidified the network’s status as the primary platform to promote visual content and  Instagram Story ads has resulted in more advertisers promoting their products through Instagram Stories than ever before.

There are several apps you can use to enhance your Instagram marketing strategy —apps that can save you time and effort in content creation, scheduling and reporting. Check out a curated list of Instagram apps you’ll need to meet your marketing goals on the platform.

17. How many followers does the average Instagram user have?

The average Instagram personal account has about 150 followers . For public influencer accounts, the number varies widely; an account is considered a micro-influencer with around 1,000 followers.

18. What percentage of Instagram followers sees your post?

While Instagram hasn’t made anything official, many users have noticed that their posts reach only about 7% of their followers. This is because the platform prioritizes posts from accounts you regularly interact with.

19. What is the average age of Instagram users?

On average, most Instagram users are between the ages of 18 and 34. Learn more Instagram demographic stats .

20. Does Instagram sell your information?

No. According to Instagram’s data policy , the network promises to never sell your information. It does, however, share analytics data about users’ activity and preferences with third-party partners such as advertisers and analytics services.

21. What information does Instagram collect?

Besides your device information, Instagram collects the content, communication and information you provide. This can include metadata about your content such as the location. It also collects information about how you use the platform and the people, accounts and hashtags you interact with. Read the full Instagram data policy to learn more.

22. Can you export Instagram followers?

Yes. While not in the Instagram app itself, several tools such as IGExport and Phantombuster will let you export your Instagram followers into a .csv file.

23. Is there a way to download Instagram posts?

Instagram gives you an option to download a copy of all the posts you’ve shared on the platform. Find out how to do this through the Instagram Help Center . As for posts shared by other people, Instagram won’t let you download them directly but you can use third-party apps like DownloadGram and Ingramer. Check out Instagram’s terms of use for image downloading, reposting and embedding.

24. How do you save someone else’s picture on Instagram?

Click on the “Save” button at the bottom of the post and Instagram will add it to your collection. This isn’t the same as downloading a photo or video. To download a picture, you’ll need to use third-party apps.

25. How can I see who saved my pictures on Instagram?

Instagram doesn’t give you the option to see who’s saved your posts, but with an Instagram Business Profile can find out how many times a post has been saved. You can find this information under Post Insights.

26. How do you remove pictures from Instagram?

To remove pictures or videos you’ve posted on Instagram, tap on the “Options” button above your post and then choose “Delete.” You’ll need to tap “Delete” again to confirm that you want to remove the post from Instagram.

27. How do you get your “Top Live” on Instagram?

You could access this “Top Live” section at the top of your “Explore” page before, but Instagram has since removed it. Your curated “Explore” page may show suggested Lives alongside Reels and regular posts.

28. How can I share live video replays?

Choose “Share Video” when you see the option at the bottom of your screen once the broadcast ends. You’ll also get the option to “Download Video” in case you want to save it to your camera roll or “Delete Video” if you don’t want to keep it.

29. How can I see who is live on Instagram?

When someone you follow goes live on Instagram, you’ll see their profile picture at the top of your Feed with a colorful ring around it along with the word “Live.” Tap on the profile picture to start watching their live video.

30. How can I see active users on Instagram?

If users are currently active, you’ll see a green dot next to their profile picture and username. You won’t be able to see this feature if users have turned off their activity status.

31. What is Threads and can I use it for my brand?

Threads is a social platform with a similar structure to Twitter/X that connects directly to Instagram. Users can sign up for Threads via their Instagram account.

Threads can be a piece of your overall social strategy and leveraged in much the same way you use Twitter. One thing to note is that your audience on Threads will likely be identical to your Instagram audience. This offers new ways for your brand to engage with this specific following, reaching them in a different format.

32. How do I get started with Threads?

You can set up a Threads account through your established Instagram account. Download the Threads app from the App Store or Google Play Store and login with your Instagram credentials to get started. The username you use on Instagram will carry over to Threads, and you’ll have the option to customize your profile and bio on the new platform. If you already have the Instagram app downloaded, you can also search “Threads” and tap the ticket icon that appears in the search bar. Read everything you need to know about getting started with Threads.

33. What is Meta Business Suite?

Meta Business Suite is a desktop and mobile app that lets you connect both your Facebook and Instagram accounts in one place. Connect your Facebook and Instagram business pages to Meta Business Suite and dive into scheduling posts, parsing data insights and connecting third party tools like Sprout Social . You can manage Facebook, Instagram, Messenger posts, ads and communications and track their content performance. You can also add and manage an Ad account with Business Manager.

34. What is the Creator Studio for Facebook and Instagram?

Creator Studio is a platform that allows brands and content creators to manage their content, track audience engagement and monetize content on Meta platforms. There are several tools you can use on the platform; we recommend reviewing our full guide to Creator Studio for Facebook and Instagram .

35. What are the best times to post on Facebook?

The short answer is whenever your target audience is most often on the platform. The longer answer is that it varies by industry and day of the week. In general, Monday through Thursday, 8 a.m. to early afternoon are the best times to post, with any time on Sunday being the worst. You can get more specific in our guide to the best times to post on Facebook .

36. How can you schedule Facebook posts?

It’s difficult to imagine running an entire social media strategy without being able to schedule Facebook posts . There are a few ways you can schedule content ahead of time. First, navigate to the main dashboard of the Meta Business Suite. From here, choose the planner tab and then “Create Post.”

You also have two options for scheduling posts in Sprout. The first is by choosing the “Compose” icon, drafting your post and then choosing a time to schedule. The other path is to use Sprout Queue, found in the “Publishing” tab of your Sprout dashboard. This is a great option when you have content you don’t need to go out at a specific time, as you can let the Sprout Queue choose the best option with the Viral Post feature.

37. How do hashtags work on Facebook for businesses?

Hashtags on Facebook are great for tracking influencer campaigns as well as trending topics. They can be used to categorize conversations your brand is having on the platform. Make sure you avoid spaces between words and all forms of punctuation in the hashtag.

TikTok FAQs

38. how many active users does tiktok have.

As of 2024, TikTok has over 1.5 billion monthly active users. This makes it the fifth most popular social media platform in the world.

39. How often should I post on TikTok?

TikTok suggests a best practice of posting one to four times a day, and experimenting with times and types of content. Ultimately, how often you post on TikTok should be guided by your audience and how often you can intentionally create quality content to share.

40. What are the best times to post on TikTok?

The optimum times to post on TikTok are generally Tuesday to Wednesday, in two time blocks: 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. or 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. To get more specific, we have a guide to the best times to post on TikTok broken down by industry.

41. How do I get started with ads on TikTok?

TikTok offers a wide variety of ad types, including both video and image. To get started, you’ll need to create an account on TikTok Ads Manager . Once you’re all signed up, dive into our full guide to ads on TikTok for next steps, including how to install the TikTok Pixel on your website.

42. How do I increase my TikTok engagement rate?

The number one approach to increasing your TikTok engagement rate is to focus on quality over quantity.. For example, posting a well-planned and executed video once a week will give you better results than posting subpar content multiple times a week. Also ensure you post at optimal times (see above) and invite your audience to engage in the comments.

43. How can I use TikTok for influencer marketing?

As a video-forward platform, TikTok is a goldmine for brands looking to strengthen their influencer marketing strategy. There are over 100,000 influencers on TikTok in the US alone. Using TikTok in your influencer strategy involves identifying the right influencers, tracking trending hashtags and keeping a pulse on conversations relevant to your brand. Read more in our guide to TikTok for influencer marketing .

44. What are YouTube Shorts and how can I use them to promote my brand?

Consumers love short-form content . If you’re familiar with Instagram’s Reels or TikTok in general, YouTube Shorts will feel similar. These vertical videos tend to be 60 seconds or less, and creators use them as standalone pieces or to share clips of their longer videos. You can use the same approach you would with TikTok, tweaking to speak specifically to your YouTube subscribers.

45. Are marketers using YouTube Stories?

Yes! According to a report, 59% of marketers currently using YouTube plan to increase their usage. This was the largest percentage of any social media platform.

46. How do I promote my videos on YouTube?

YouTube’s Help page offers an in-depth guide on how to promote videos on YouTube. Suggestions include cross-posting, interacting with your audience and using Google Ads for Video.

47. How can I optimize my videos on YouTube?

Search engine optimization (SEO) is key to making sure your videos get in front of your target audience. There are several things to consider—thankfully, we have a guide for YouTube SEO that breaks it down.

48. What are YouTube hashtags and why should I use them?

YouTube hashtags are similar to hashtags on other platforms. They help you categorize your content and help users find your videos. However, on YouTube, hashtags come with a few extra benefits in the SEO realm. Hashtags help YouTube understand the context of your video, and increase the chances of your content getting in front of the right people.

49. How can I use YouTube for influencer marketing?

YouTube is the second most popular platform for influencer marketing, and it’s easy to see why. With options for both short form and long-form videos, brands can work with influencers to tell visual, engaging stories in multiple ways. Use our YouTube influencer marketing guide to build your strategy.

50. How many members does LinkedIn have around the world?

Globally, LinkedIn membership exceeds 900 million in 200 countries and regions.

51. How can I create an effective LinkedIn Business Page?

Creating an effective LinkedIn Business Page comes down to building and managing it like a true marketing asset. There are many different sections, sub pages and approaches that allow you to be creative and explore new ways to connect with your target audience.

52. Are LinkedIn Ads worth the hype?

Linked Ads can bring a high return on investment. LinkedIn is rated the number one platform for B2B lead generation, and brands have seen a 33% increase in purchase intent from ad exposure on LinkedIn. Marketers say they see two times higher conversion rate on LinkedIn.

53. How do LinkedIn hashtags work?

LinkedIn hashtags are keywords and phrases that help bring your content to your target audience.. You can add them to your posts and on your business and personal pages. Unlike other platforms, LinkedIn heavily encourages using multiple hashtags, including a space where you can select up to three relevant hashtags for your business page.

54. What are the most important LinkedIn metrics to track?

Ultimately, your brand may have specific metrics you want to track, even if these don’t appear on common “most important” lists. However, we recommend focusing on data in the visitors, followers and engagement spaces. These LinkedIn metrics will give you a solid look at how your content is performing and who is coming to your page.

Bonus Question

Did we answer most of your social media questions?

Let us know if you have any other pressing questions about social media or platform FAQs that you’d like us to answer. We understand that things change quickly and you need answers just as fast. Be sure to check out our social media stats to understand the landscape better across all social platforms.

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The Top 10 Most Interesting Social Media Research Topics

Finding social media research topics you’re interested in is tricky. Social media is a fairly new field, and the constant arrival of new technology means that it’s always evolving. So, students have a lot to think about in their search for topics.

In this article, we’re going to walk you through social media research paper topics that are timely and relevant. We’ll also show you examples of social media research topics you can get inspiration from. Lastly, we’re going to lay out some social media research questions you can ponder while formulating your topic.

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What makes a strong social media research topic.

A strong social media research topic requires clarity of focus. This means that your topic must be timely, relevant, and coherent. This allows your research topic to be compelling and easily understandable to others.

Tips for Choosing a Social Media Research Topic

• Know the trends. Learning what social media topics are trending allows you to know the relevant issues and emergent themes in the field of social media. This also lets you know what topics are well-researched and which ones are still emerging.
• Explore knowledge gaps. Knowing what previous researchers have written prevents you from repeating knowledge that has already been explored and shared. Nobody wants to reinvent the wheel when doing research. Exploring knowledge gaps lets you increase the impact of your work and identify opportunities for further research.
• Choose something that you’re interested in. Diving deep into a topic that you’re interested in motivates you to learn more about it. The research process becomes more engaging when you know you care about your topic.
• Be specific. Knowing what you want to research and what you don’t want to research are keys to the research process. This entails narrowing down your topic to a specific area, subject, theme, or relationship. You want to know the scope and the limitations of your study.
• Check your timeframe. Limiting your topic to a specific timeframe helps in narrowing down what you need to study. For example, you can decide to study a phenomenon that has emerged in just the last three years. By doing this, you’re making sure that your research is both specific and relevant.

What’s the Difference Between a Research Topic and a Research Question?

The difference between a research topic and a research question is in the scope. Research topics tend to be broader than research questions. Research topics focus on a specific area of study within a larger field, while a research question further narrows down what you are researching. A good research question allows you to write on your topic with greater precision.

How to Create Strong Social Media Research Questions

The key to creating strong social media research questions is learning enough about your topic to know where the gaps are. This means that you have to conduct a thorough social media literature review, reading previous studies until you have a handle on what’s been said and what questions are still unanswered. Your question will emerge from this preliminary research.

Top 10 Social Media Research Paper Topics

1. a comparative review of facebook, instagram, and tiktok as primary marketing platforms for small businesses.

A lot of small businesses have flocked to various social media sites to market their products and services. Social networking sites like Facebook, Instagram, and Tiktok are platforms that deliver constant online content to their users. Comparing the marketing and advertising strategies of these online platforms will shed light on how social media helps businesses .

2. The Influence of Social Media on Mental Health

Mental health has been an important topic in social media research these past few years. Social media use and its connection to mental health has even been the subject of systematic reviews. This means that there’s a huge body of previous studies that you can look to when developing your research question.

Exploring both the positive effects and negative impacts of social media sites on mental health helps people and firms establish guidelines that help user communities. This research topic might also cover strategies for helping social media users improve their mental health.

3. The Role of Social Media in Political Campaigning

Social media is a new tool for political campaigning. Exploring what social media strategies have been conducted by politicians running for office helps in determining how social media aids in political campaigning. Studying new strategies like user-generated content for political campaigning allows you to know how voters interact with political candidates.

4. The Role of Social Media in Disinformation

The rise of fake news has coincided with the rise of social networking websites. This topic involves dissecting how social media technologies allow certain types of online content to thrive and make it easier for bad actors to spread disinformation.

5. How Social Media Can Benefit Communities

More and more social issues have been popularized through online content. Diving deep into how social media can facilitate organizational networking lets you compare the traditional and new organizing strategies being created in digital spaces. It also lets you understand how social media activity influences trends in virtual communities.

6. The Effects of Social Media Exposure on Child Development

Children also use social media sites. Some children use social networking sites under the supervision of their parents, and some do not. Social interaction, online or not, affects how children develop. Studying the psychological effects of social media exposure lets you know how social media may improve or derail the growth of children.

7. How Communication Has Evolved Through Social Media

Body language, tone of voice, and other non-verbal cues are absent in online forms of communication. In their place, emojis and other new ways to express thoughts and emotions have appeared. Learning how social media changes the way we talk to one another allows you to develop a theory of communication that takes into account the role of digital communities.

8. Social Media Platforms as Primary News Sources

A lot of people now are getting their daily dose of news and current events through social media. News networks have also established their social media presence on platforms that they can use to deliver news and current events to their audiences. Researching this topic lets you investigate the changes and innovations in information dissemination.

9. How Social Media Paves Way for Non-Traditional Advertising

Regular social media posts, advertisements, and other forms of online content aren’t the only ways businesses market to their audiences. Social media has paved the way for user-generated content and other non-traditional types of online marketing. With this topic, you can learn social media marketing strategies that have been capitalized on the social connection fostered by social networking websites.

10. Impacts of Social Media Presence on Corporate Image

More businesses increasingly build and curate their digital presence through various social networks. Knowing how a business can improve its corporate image through social media influence clarifies the role of technology in modern economics and online marketing.

Other Examples of Social Media Research Topics & Questions

Social media research topics.

• Social Media Addiction and Adolescent Mental Health
• The Rise of Social Media Influencers
• The Role of Social Media Sites as Political Organizing Tools Under Repressive Governments
• Social Media Influencers and Adolescent Mental Health
• How Social Media Is Used in Natural Disasters and Critical Events

Social Media Research Questions

• How was Facebook used as a political campaigning tool in the 2020 United States presidential election? 
• What social platforms are the most effective in influencing consumer behavior?
• How does user-generated content boost the credibility of a business?
• How do different types of online content disseminated through popular networks affect the attention span of people?
• What are the most effective forms of online content and social media strategies for increasing sales conversions for small businesses?

Choosing the Right Social Media Research Topic

Choosing the right social media research topic helps you create meaningful contributions to the discipline of social media studies. Knowing the most popular topics in the field can make you an expert on social media. By reading up on previous studies, you will not only be more informed but you will also be in a position to make a positive impact on future studies.

Studying the relationship between social media and different fields produces valuable knowledge. Even if you’re only interested in exploring one social platform or a single social media event or phenomenon, your research can help people better understand how social media engagement changes the face of social relationships in the world at large.

Social Media Research Topics FAQ

Social media is a computer-based technology that allows digital communities to exchange information through user networks. Various social media networks specialize in text, photo, or video transfer. All of these are ways for people on the Internet to share information and ideas with each other.

Social media research is important because it helps you contribute to the growing body of knowledge about digital social settings. In 2021, according to DataReportal, at least 4.88 billion people around the world use the Internet . The more that people connect with each other through the social media domain, the more their quality of life changes, for better or worse.

According to Statista, the most popular social media platforms right now are Facebook, YouTube, and WhatsApp , each of which has at least two billion users. These social networks allow users to share text, picture, and video content with one another.

People use social media to connect with each other, share information, and entertain themselves. Social media sites can broadly serve all of these purposes or be focused on just one of these functions.

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• MIND, BODY, WONDER

I dream of … trending topics? Here's how social media can become the stuff of nightmares

New research shows that social media doesn't only impact mental health during waking hours but may also negatively impact sleep and dream quality as well.

A   recent   study   links social media use with poor sleep quality and a greater prevalence of nightmares.  

It’s the latest in a series of studies that links adolescents’ frequent use of social media with worrisome mental health outcomes—and the first to focus on the negative psychological toll it may be having on dream quality and related sleep disturbances. Other distressing outcomes stemming from the use of networking platforms such as TikTok, Instagram, X, and Facebook include greater incidences of   depression , increased loneliness   and isolation , and higher   risk of   cyberbullying   and   suicide .

"As social media becomes increasingly intertwined with our lives, its impact may even influence our dreams (as) we found that individuals who spend more time on the platforms during their waking life are more prone to experiencing nightmares," says Reza Shabahang, lead author of the study and a research psychologist at Flinders University in Australia.  

This occurs, in part, because the content one sees there “about bullying, political fights, distressing news, and social comparisons adds emotional distress, which can lead to bad dreams," says Shelby Harris, a clinical psychologist and a neuroscientist at Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York City, who was not involved in the research.  

The findings are consistent with   other research   on sleep quality related to social networking platforms and reveal another way their use can negatively impact overall health—even as social media-related nightmares are still thought to be rare and the study has limitations such as being self-reported and cross-sectional, thereby not proving its findings as causal.

How social media impacts dreams

The new research followed what Shabahang's research team defined as a "social media-related nightmare scale," which was constructed based on previous nightmare classifications, related literature, and other studies that have explored outside influences on dream quality.  

Following this scale, 595 study participants noted the frequency of their social media activity and how commonly and intensely they experienced nightmares related to the technology.    

Examples of commonly reported nightmares included conflicts with other social media users, disturbing news stories, doom scrolling, being unable to access one’s social media   account,   and feelings of victimization, helplessness, and loss of control.    

These social media-related nightmares, "were associated with increased anxiety, lower peace of mind, poor sleep quality, and nightmare distress," says Asad Khan, the lead author of a   related   study   and a biostatistician at The University of Queensland's School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences.

And while people may sometimes experience such adverse outcomes due to other external factors, "the novelty of this study is that these themes are in the specific context of social media," says Pamela Rutledge, director of the Media Psychology Research Center in California, who was not involved in the research.  

She explains that the study is effective, in part, because it's based on the   research-supported   “continuity hypothesis of dreaming,”—a model of dreaming that posits that what we experience during the day shows up in our dreams.  

Consistent with this model, "people who focus on social media more—especially in an anxious or negative way—would therefore be the people expected to have more nightmares related to social media," says Deirdre Leigh Barrett, a dream and sleep researcher at Harvard Medical School and the former president of   the International Association for the Study of Dreams.  

This focus is key, because   how   people use these platforms likely directly affects dream quality. For example, Shabahang notes that people who use social media primarily to connect with family and friends are less likely to experience negative dreams than people who use it compulsively to engage in contentious debates online or to follow accounts that regularly highlight distressing news.  

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Regardless of one’s intentions, upsetting information or negative interactions commonly occur across the social platforms as their algorithms are “specifically designed to physiologically and psychologically arouse emotions and feed into media addiction, making the brain and body want even more social media input," says Maida Lynn Chen, a sleep medicine physician and the director of the Pediatric Sleep Disorders Center at Seattle Children's Hospital in Washington.

How social media affects sleep quality

Beyond unpleasant and distressing dreams, the Flinders study and   other related research   shows that poorer sleep quality and sleep disruptions are also generally more common among people who overuse social media applications.  

"A large   body of research   supports the association between screen-based media consumption time as a whole and poorer   sleep health in minors   and possibly   in adults as well ," says Anthony Levasseur, a sleep researcher at the Center for Advanced Research in Sleep Medicine in Montreal, Canada.  

Indeed, Khan's   2024 study   of more than 200,000 social media users shows   that social media habits and behaviors that interfere with work and school responsibilities and negatively impact interpersonal relationships can cause enough stress to boost one’s odds of getting a lousy night’s sleep.

A nother study   shows that when teens learn of missed opportunities or events on social platforms, they experienced a fear of missing out (FOMO) intense enough they can lose sleep.

"Any socially- or emotionally-triggering experience can lead to rumination, which could affect both your ability to fall asleep or stay asleep,” says Lauren Hale, co-author of a   recent related study   and the graduate program director of the Population Health and Clinical Outcomes Research program   at Stony Brook University in New York.  

She says sleep is affected by social media use in more practical ways as well such as through push notifications, noises and vibrations, or other alerts that interrupt or prevent sleep.  

Even more plain, Chen says “if your eyes are open doing something else, you're not sleeping.” She also says that highly engaging content with fast-paced imagery results in a more alert brain "that is not primed for sleep."

Another related issue is "disrupted circadian rhythm due to the blue light emitted from your electronic device," explains Ben Carter, a professor of medical statistics at King's College London in the United Kingdom. This light stimulates   the blue-light-sensitive ganglion cells   of the retina, which are photoreceptors in the eye that communicate with the gland responsible for the production of melatonin, explains Levasseur. "This ends up   suppressing the production of melatonin , which is the hormone that stimulates drowsiness," he explains.  

While   research shows   that some people are more sensitive to blue light stimulation than others, affected melatonin levels have nevertheless   been shown to   increase alertness at bedtime, making it more difficult to fall or stay asleep.  

Why it matters  

All this affects the sleep quality of individuals already likely to be catching too few Z’s.

Recent data   shows 20 percent of people getting less than five hours of sleep each night with more than 50 percent getting only six to seven hours nightly. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention   recommends getting   between   seven to eight hours "of good-quality sleep" every night in order to avoid issues related to sleep deprivation.  

Ongoing sleep deprivation has been linked to decreased   immune health , increased risk of   cardiovascular disease   and   Alzheimer's disease , impaired   cognitive function , decreased   metabolic health , and higher   rates of   obesity   and associated health risks such as diabetes.   "Chronic poor sleep is also a   precursor and mediator   of depression and anxiety," adds Carter.  

To prevent sleep deprivation related to social media use, Hale says it's important for parents to check their own social networking habits and screen use before bedtime and to establish technology-related boundaries as they talk with their kids about healthy sleep routines and behaviors.

She emphasizes limiting access to highly engaging or distressing content too close to bedtime and to “charge phones in a central location overnight, so you don’t bring your phone with you to bed."  

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From Zero to Viral: Your 2024 Social Media Marketing Strategy Handbook

Perhaps one of the biggest human flaws is that we tend to be a bit impatient.

We speed date, eat fast food, use emojis instead of words, pay for overnight shipping, and get started with social media without knowing why or what to expect.

The world is moving faster than ever before. New trends and technology seem to appear overnight, and it’s becoming increasingly difficult to keep pace. So, you get the temptation to jump on the social media bandwagon without a clear picture in mind of what you want to achieve.

But, diving in without a sense of what it encompasses and how it can benefit your business can do more harm than good.

This comprehensive guide will teach you everything you need to know about how to build a social media marketing strategy that delivers value to your audience and helps your business grow.

Is social media marketing about engagement or selling?

The importance of social media for business, but what is social media marketing, what are the benefits of a social media marketing strategy, how do you create a social media marketing strategy for your business, should you outsource or keep it in-house.

“Social media’s” main role in this online marketing game is revealed by the first word in the  phrase. It is about engaging first and selling second. It is human and social. Do this well and selling your product becomes easier. Your content will define your brand. It is achieved with images, videos and content that humanizes your business.

Social media’s value is not always captured by first-click or last-click attribution models. This value includes:

• Brand awareness
• Customer loyalty
• Engagement through social conversations
• Engagement due to content
• Offline channel transactions
• Personal referrals due to awesome content that adds value

These are hard to put a value against but they are real but soft metrics and should be in your marketing tactics tool box.

Not too long ago, businesses considered social media as just a passing trend, a distraction for kids with nothing better to do with their time than to scroll through endless news feeds.

Nowadays, it’s becoming clearer every day that social media is one of the most powerful marketing tools businesses have ever seen.

Get this: there are 3.77 billion global internet users, and over 2.8 billion active social media users (related: marketing statistics ). If social media were a country, it would be the biggest nation in the world.

We Are Social

Don’t forget that due to its gargantuan size, social media can provide you with more exposure and brand awareness than any other traditional marketing tool out there. Some of the most popular platforms have become such an integral part of our lives that we are willingly telling the world about our needs, preferences, problems, and burning desires.

Savvy businesses know how to benefit from the huge amount of data that users generate in real time. Sure, the numbers are overwhelming  – every day, people send over  500 million Tweets , upload  95 million photos and videos on Instagram, and like  4.5 billion posts on Facebook . But, behind this mammoth amount of information, there are valuable insights about your customers: who they are, what they like, and what they are willing to pay for.

Social media has made it easier for brands to eavesdrop on the conversations their customers are having and take part in the discussion. Social networks can also help you gather information about your audience and create better marketing messages that fit their profile.

So, there’s no question that social media can benefit your business greatly.

Imagine you are taking your first scuba diving lesson. You are given the equipment without being told what each item is, how it works, and why you need it. You wouldn’t feel too comfortable diving into the deep dark depths of the ocean without knowing how to differentiate between your submersible pressure gauge and your dive computer.

The same stays true for getting started with social media marketing without understanding what it is or how it works.

According to Wikipedia , social media marketing refers to the use of social networks to promote a product or service.

That’s a rather broad and superficial definition, don’t you think?

Let me take a swing at it.

For me, social media marketing refers to the use of social media platforms to identify and connect with key audiences in a meaningful way.

Sure, your goal is to increase brand awareness, generate leads, and promote your products or services. But, you can’t do that without building meaningful relationships with your network first.

Unlike traditional marketing, where you bombard prospects with sales messages – social media is a two-way process. You need to listen, engage, show empathy, become involved, and provide value if you want to create a seamless relationship with your prospects that can eventually lead to sales.

If you can’t do that, your social media marketing is likely to fail.

Social media has become such an integral part of a brand’s marketing efforts, that over  97% of marketers are using it .

Unfortunately, not all businesses seem to understand the benefits social media can bring. Recent studies show that about  50% of small businesses aren’t using social media marketing to promote their products/services.

That’s huge.

More than that, 25% of those businesses say that they don’t even plan to use social media in the future.

Apparently, there is a big gap between those who understand the value social media can bring and those who still see it as a passing trend.

If you’re one of the few businesses that struggle to see the value of social media marketing, here are some benefits to consider:

Brand recognition

Consumers tend to buy from the brands that they recognize. Social media can get your business in front of the right people and entice them to engage with your brand even when they aren’t ready to make a purchase.

Humanizing your brand

Establishing yourself as an authority

Social media is an excellent platform to share helpful content that proves your expertise. Respond to industry-related questions, participate in discussions, and share valuable resources with your network to become an authority in your niche.

Improving your customer service

You may think that social media is a waste of time, but your audience expects you to be there. 67% of consumers go to social media for customer service. And, this statistic is four years old; you can only imagine that the numbers have increased since then. But that’s not all: consumers expect brands to respond to their request within 24 hours or even sooner. So, while you’re ignoring social media, prospects are talking about your business online.

This list could go on forever. Social media can also help drive traffic to your site, assist with link building for SEO, keep an eye on your competitors, and so on.

But the real question is how can you build and implement a winning social media marketing plan that will reap all of these rewards.

“If you fail to plan, you are planning to fail.” – Benjamin Franklin

This quote has withstood the test of time, and it’s never been more relevant than in the world of digital marketing and social media.

Unfortunately, many business owners and digital marketers approach social media haphazardly with no clear direction. They “need to have a presence”, so they set up pages on every social platform out there, and start publishing inconsistent content.

If you want to make the most of the social media for your business, first you need to understand what you are trying to achieve. Then you need to create a structured and specific approach for moving towards that goal.

Here are the key areas you should consider when putting together a social media marketing plan for your business.

Social media research

You know that understanding your audience’s needs and expectations are vital to social media marketing success. So it’s important that social media research becomes a key part of your ongoing social media strategy.

And, it makes perfect sense if you think about it: the more you know about your customers, the easier it becomes to create content that caters to their specific needs.

There’s just one problem: the volume of conversation on social media is so big that it can feel like an insurmountable task to look for potentially valuable insights.

Don’t panic yet. With the right approach, social media research is doable.

First, start by asking the right questions.

Imagine that you are a web design company and want to know what people are talking about when it comes to photography sites. Some of the possible questions you may ask are: How are people responding to this topic? What themes are the most popular? What are the other web design companies mentioned when it comes to photography site themes?

Now that you have your questions and topics, create a list of the possible words and phrases your audience might be using to discuss this area of interest. Keep in mind that people often use slang on the internet or misspell words, so try to include some fringe key terms in your list too.

Jump on social media, starting with the most relevant platform for your audience, and use the search feature to see what people are saying about your list of topics.

Here is an example search using Twitter, where you can quickly filter the information by people, geography, language and so on:

Look at your results and refine the list. Exclude anything that isn’t relevant to what you’re looking for or doesn’t provide any useful information.

With your data at hand, try to answer some basic questions, such as what is the overall sentiment for websites in this space, what audience categories are the most vocal about it, and so on.

Don’t be afraid to take your research a step further and explore what’s beneath the surface.

This information can frame your approach to marketing your product or service offerings to this group of people.

Paid vs. organic social media

If done right, social media marketing can help you grow your business without burning a hole in your budget. Of course, that takes time, patience, and a lot of hard work.

Perhaps paid social media advertising is a better option when it comes to increasing brand awareness, traffic generation, and customer acquisition.

Well, let’s find out, shall we?

Organic social media marketing can help you put your business in front of the right audience for free (apart from your time of course). That is if you learn the rules of the game and play by them.

Here’s the thing: just as with search engine optimization, the algorithm for each social network changes regularly. Facebook, for instance, has significantly dropped the  average organic reach for businesses in recent years and it plans to lower it even more in the future. The social network has made it clear that it will only show content that is useful, relevant, and valuable.

Here is an interesting graphic from AgoraPulse that gives you an idea of the organic reach on Facebook broken down by industry:

It’s no surprise that retail is sitting smack bang at the bottom of that list, given the direct response nature of buying products online and how it can be directly attributed to Facebook advertising spend.

Yes, cracking the algorithm and getting your content in front of your audience is becoming increasingly difficult, but there are a few advantages to relying on organic social media rather than paying attention straight away:

• Being consistent can benefit your business long-term by developing authority;
• If you have a tight marketing budget, it’s much more affordable;
• Your audience likely trust “organic” engagement and messaging, more than they do paid advertisements;

On the flip side, paid social media advertising can help you achieve your goals faster, but its longevity is limited. A paid campaign will stop driving traffic and leads the moment you switch it off, but evergreen social media content can generate ROI indefinitely.

In the end, there’s no absolute winner. You need to look at your metrics and budget to decide which option fits your business best. The reality is that each of the social networks is businesses themselves, and they need to monetize their audience to stay in existence. As this industry continues to mature, the ease of organic reach will continue to decrease. So if you think that social media is a “free” way to market your business, you will end up being disappointed.

Picking the right social media platforms

One of the biggest mistakes small business owners make is that they see “social media” as a homogenous entity. Sure, Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram are all social networks, but they are so different that everything from the audience to the style is unique.

So, how can you ensure that you’re focusing on the social networks that benefit your business’ goals?

Here are some things to keep in mind:

• Consider User Demographics : Size isn’t always important. Instagram may be one of the fastest growing networks, but if you are a B2B company selling SaaS services to logistics companies, then it would make more sense to focus your resources on LinkedIn and Twitter.
• Resources: Do you have the skills or personnel to create the right content for the networks you’ve chosen? Instagram and Pinterest, for example, require creative images and videos while Twitter emphasizes quality articles.
• Time: Unless you have a dedicated social media marketing department, you won’t be able to post on every social media channel. Keep in mind that you should aim to post daily on each network.

In the beginning, focus your effort on the social network(s) that are MOST relevant to your customer group, and give them your best shot. As a rule, I’d recommend picking your customer’s top 3 most frequented networks and sticking to them to start.

How often you should post on social media

CoSchedule looked at 14 different studies and found the ideal social media frequency that allows you to engage with your network, drive engagement and traffic, and keep your business top of mind, without annoying your audience.

Here’s what that came up with:

• Facebook: Studies suggest that you should post just once or at most twice a day to Facebook. Anything more than that can come off as spam;
• Twitter: Neil Patel found that 15 Tweets per day is the sweet spot that gets you all the benefits of social media marketing;
• Pinterest: Between 15 and 30 posts per day will bring you the best results on this network;
• Google+: No, Google+ is not dead. In fact, it can benefit your SEO greatly. Just make sure to post relevant content at least twice per day;
• LinkedIn: One post per day is more than enough for LinkedIn;
• Instagram: Major brands post just 1-2 images per day on Instagram. If you have more content that you want to share with your audience, use the Instagram Stories feature;

That all seems like a lot of work, right? Posting consistently on social media is made far easier with social media scheduling tools such as AgoraPulse :

The best time to post on social media

Just like everything else in life, timing is crucial to social media marketing success.

Picture this: you’ve spent hours working on an article that is insightful and packed with helpful information. Excited about the result, you share it with your network. But, to your surprise and disappointment, almost no one notices it.

That’s how important timing is.

So, what’s the best time to post on social media?

Here are some numbers :

• Facebook: The best time to post on Facebook is on Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. The best hours are 9 AM, 1 PM and 3 PM.
• Twitter: The best time to post on Twitter is Wednesday between 5 and 6 PM;
• Pinterest: Saturdays are your best days for connecting with your Pinterest audience. The best hours are 2 PM, 9 PM, and even late at night (2 AM;)
• LinkedIn: Midweek posting (Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday) early in the morning (between 7 and 8 AM) or in the afternoon (5-6PM) is your ideal time;
• Instagram: One of the things that make Instagram so great is that users are active throughout the week. But, for maximum engagement, make sure not to skip Mondays and Thursdays at any time except for 3-4PM;
• Google+: The best time to post on Google+ is on Wednesdays, between 9 and 11 AM.

Again, you can pre-schedule content to be posted at these times rather than needing to be active all day every day yourself!

Using social media strategy to influence SEO

Google uses over  200 ranking factors to decide which content to show high in search engine results. Social media signals are among the less significant factors, but none the less can still impact your rankings.

According to Matt Cutts , the correlation between social signals and ranking position is extremely high. Sites that have numerous social signals perform better than those with fewer signals.

Sure, correlation is not causation, but the role social signals play in SEO is becoming more and more evident. If you create and share high-quality content on social media, people are more likely to like it, share it, and link to it. That builds your traffic, your credibility, and your reputation. All that can, in turn, lead to a higher ranking.

The other thing to consider is that your social media pages will most likely show up on page one of a search result when someone is looking for your brand. This is extremely important for authority and brand recognition.

Growing a social media audience

By now, you probably understand that social media is a fantastic way to promote and grow your business.

But, how do you attract those first fans and followers? How do you get started when you have no audience?

• Getting Likes, Followers, and Shares: You can do a lot of different things to increase your visibility. You can (and should) add links to your social media profiles to your site, engage with other people, leverage hashtags, add links to your social media accounts in your email signature, and so on. But, all your efforts will fail if the content you share with your network provides no value. Before anything else, ensure you create quality content on a regular basis .
• Facebook: At the moment, Facebook is all about video. Reports have shown that live videos get 29% times more views than traditional content. That can translate into a broad audience reach that will kick start your social media strategy. But just be aware that these trends come and go, and you will need to adapt with the changing times.
• Facebook Messenger: Messenger is trending at the moment, and a lot of marketers believe this is the future – a channel that could compete directly with email marketing. With Facebook Messenger you can use Chatbots to engage with prospects, and also expand your reach with Messenger Ads . It’s still evolving as a social media marketing tactic, but something you should keep an eye one.
• Facebook Pages vs. Facebook Groups: Both Facebook Pages and Facebook Groups have their advantages and disadvantages. However, unlike a Facebook Page, where some of your audience might be there just to benefit from discounts and coupons, in a Facebook Group people are interested and engaged in a particular topic. By joining one, you can take part in the discussion and prove yourself as an industry expert. Facebook Groups also get much better organic reach, compared to Business Pages, so it makes a lot of sense to combine the two in your strategy.
• Twitter: Twitter is a very interactive medium. Retweet, Like, Reply, and engage with followers and other users as often as possible to grow your audience. If you want to spark quick growth and sustain it over time, consider using a service such as Social Quant .

• Pinterest: “Collaboration” is the key term to Pinterest success. Invite bloggers and influencers in your niche to contribute to your boards. That way, you can increase your exposure and network.
• Snapchat: If you want to build an audience on Snapchat, then you should come up with a storyline. Don’t just post random photos or videos. Build a narrative that will keep users engaged.

Social listening & why it should be part of your social media markteting strategy

Do you know what the most underestimated (and under-utilized) element of a social media marketing strategy is?

It’s listening.

Here’s why: to be able to deliver high-quality content to your audience, you need to learn about their perspective. The only way to reach that level of understanding is to become a very good listener.

Everything from brand mentions, likes, comments, forum discussions, and even your competition can reveal something valuable about your prospects. This information can help you improve customer engagement, understand how your audience perceives you in comparison to your competitors, uncover pain points that no one is addressing, or identify industry influencers.

Make sure to monitor keywords, such as your brand name and handles, your competitors’ names, your product names, your campaign’s keywords, your hashtags, and the names of key people in your company.

Tools like Mention make this much easier than it was when social media first came about.

Social media community management

You can’t build a successful social media marketing plan if you’re ignoring your fans and followers. Yes, answering comments, sending welcome/thank you direct messages, and linking and sharing posts is time-consuming, but it’s what social media is all about.

One great example of this is Hilton Hotels who have a dedicated Twitter profile for customer support:

Carve out at least one hour per day to dedicate to social media community management. Make an effort to respond to those mentioning your brand – it will benefit you in the long run. Use tools such as AgoraPulse , or Mention to make it easier to schedule posts and to listen to conversations.

Social media advertising

I spoke briefly about the battle between paid and organic social media earlier, and it’s not a black and white outcome.

In fact, whilst most of my energy is put towards growing a social media presence organically, with the limitations of organic reach it is becoming more important to invest in social media advertising as part of your plan.

In reality, the customer journey is never a straight line. Prospects go through different stages before they decide whether they are interested in your products or not. If they encounter just one touch point, the chances they’ll convert are extremely low.

To get consistent outcomes from social media marketing, you need to create as many touch points as possible, and advertising provides the most controlled and measurable way of doing so.

Here’s an approach to social media advertising that makes sense in combination with quality content and an organic growth strategy:

• Create high-quality content and publish it on your website;
• Promote it organically to ensure it reaches the widest audience possible;
• Add a cookie (Facebook or Twitter pixel) to your website that captures the information of people who visit and engage with your content;
• Remarket your future content (and offers) to the audience that has shown interest in your brand;
• Generate qualified leads that already trust you;
• Rinse and repeat;

Social media management tools

Social media can get pretty overwhelming. You need to create content, schedule it, engage with your network, promote posts, share other people’s content, manage your community, and so on.

Fortunately, there are plenty of tools you can use to take some of the pressure off your shoulders. Some of the best one’s available today are: AgoraPulse , Buffer , HootSuite , and Social Oomph.

For a more comprehensive look at the best social media management tools available, read this post .

Social media reporting and ROI

The final piece of the puzzle to consider when constructing your social media marketing strategy, is to decide how you will track results.

A study from  Convince & Convert  found that 41% of companies had no idea whether or not their social media efforts were successful.

That’s unacceptable… Are you really going to invest all of that time and money into something that “might” be working?

Here’s a quick 3-step process for tracking the ROI of your social media marketing:

Step 1 – Set SMART goals

SMART goals are – specific, measurable, achievable, realistic and timely goals.

Eg. Increase customer conversions from social media by 10% this quarter

Step 2 – Understand the metrics that contribute to those goals

What metrics will tell you whether or not your goal has been achieved?

For this to work, you need to set up a baseline set of metrics that tell you where you are currently sitting.

In the example above, you could set up a “Goal” in Google Analytics that tells you when someone converts into a customer, based on an event they trigger or page they visit. Then, if you use the appropriate URL parameters in your social media sharing, you will be able to determine how many people have converted into customers directly from social media.

Read this post for an in-depth look at setting up Google Analytics goals.

Step 3 – Track those metrics

Use Google Analytics, or any number of 3rd party social media monitoring and reporting tools, to track these metrics and improve your strategy over time.

For example,  AgoraPulse has some amazing reporting on your social media activity – such as post engagement, follower counts, interactions, impressions and clicks.

Choosing to outsource or hire in-house talent, to plan and execute your social media marketing strategy, can be a challenging decision.

There are a number of pros and cons to consider…

The pros of hiring in-house social media talent

• They understand your business more intimately
• They can take action (typically) more quickly when required
• They are immersed in your culture
• You have control of your marketing

The cons of hiring in-house social media talent

• They may not have the expertise, specialization or experience that an outsourced solution has
• The cost is more, and the risk is higher if you need to replace them
• It prevents you from being able to scale quickly
• It’s hard to find great talent

If you’re looking to hire someone in-house, here is a post about the essential skills of a social media manager .

Or, if you’re looking to outsource your social media marketing, PromoRepublic offer a done-for-you service that starts at $97 a month .

Creating a social media marketing plan from scratch can feel both exciting and overwhelming at the same time.

You know it will benefit your business, but there are so many factors you need to consider that it seems almost impossible to get started.

Hopefully, this guide will make it a little easier to see the light at the end of the tunnel.

In the end, what choice do you have?

Your customers are online, they are engaging on social networks and expecting you to do the same. So you can ignore that fact, or you can embrace it.

Now it’s your turn…

What questions do you have on your mind about social media marketing? Leave them in the comments below.

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A majority of Americans say they use YouTube and Facebook, while use of Instagram, Snapchat and TikTok is especially common among adults under 30.

Table of contents.

• Acknowledgments
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To better understand Americans’ use of social media, online platforms and messaging apps, Pew Research Center surveyed 1,502 U.S. adults from Jan. 25 to Feb. 8, 2021, by cellphone and landline phone. The survey was conducted by interviewers under the direction of Abt Associates and is weighted to be representative of the U.S. adult population by gender, race, ethnicity, education and other categories. Here are the  questions used for this report , along with responses, and  its methodology .

Despite a string of controversies and the public’s relatively negative sentiments about aspects of social media, roughly seven-in-ten Americans say they ever use any kind of social media site – a share that has remained relatively stable over the past five years, according to a new Pew Research Center survey of U.S. adults.

Beyond the general question of overall social media use, the survey also covers use of individual sites and apps. YouTube and Facebook continue to dominate the online landscape, with 81% and 69%, respectively, reporting ever using these sites. And YouTube and Reddit were the only two platforms measured that saw statistically significant growth since 2019 , when the Center last polled on this topic via a phone survey.

When it comes to the other platforms in the survey, 40% of adults say they ever use Instagram and about three-in-ten report using Pinterest or LinkedIn. One-quarter say they use Snapchat, and similar shares report being users of Twitter or WhatsApp. TikTok – an app for sharing short videos – is used by 21% of Americans, while 13% say they use the neighborhood-focused platform Nextdoor.

Even as other platforms do not nearly match the overall reach of YouTube or Facebook, there are certain sites or apps, most notably Instagram, Snapchat and TikTok, that have an especially strong following among young adults. In fact, a majority of 18- to 29-year-olds say they use Instagram (71%) or Snapchat (65%), while roughly half say the same for TikTok.

These findings come from a nationally representative survey of 1,502 U.S. adults conducted via telephone Jan. 25-Feb.8, 2021.

With the exception of YouTube and Reddit, most platforms show little growth since 2019

YouTube is the most commonly used online platform asked about in this survey, and there’s evidence that its reach is growing. Fully 81% of Americans say they ever use the video-sharing site, up from 73% in 2019. Reddit was the only other platform polled about that experienced statistically significant growth during this time period – increasing from 11% in 2019 to 18% today. 

Facebook’s growth has leveled off over the last five years, but it remains one of the most widely used social media sites among adults in the United States: 69% of adults today say they ever use the site, equaling the share who said this two years prior.  

Similarly, the respective shares of Americans who report using Instagram, Pinterest, LinkedIn, Snapchat, Twitter and WhatsApp are statistically unchanged since 2019 . This represents a broader trend that extends beyond the past two years in which the rapid adoption of most of these sites and apps seen in the last decade has slowed. (This was the first year the Center asked about TikTok via a phone poll and the first time it has surveyed about Nextdoor.)

Adults under 30 stand out for their use of Instagram, Snapchat and TikTok

When asked about their social media use more broadly – rather than their use of specific platforms – 72% of Americans say they ever use social media sites.

In a pattern consistent with past Center studies on social media use, there are some stark age differences. Some 84% of adults ages 18 to 29 say they ever use any social media sites, which is similar to the share of those ages 30 to 49 who say this (81%). By comparison, a somewhat smaller share of those ages 50 to 64 (73%) say they use social media sites, while fewer than half of those 65 and older (45%) report doing this.

These age differences generally extend to use of specific platforms, with younger Americans being more likely than their older counterparts to use these sites – though the gaps between younger and older Americans vary across platforms.

Majorities of 18- to 29-year-olds say they use Instagram or Snapchat and about half say they use TikTok, with those on the younger end of this cohort – ages 18 to 24 – being especially likely to report using Instagram (76%), Snapchat (75%) or TikTok (55%). 1 These shares stand in stark contrast to those in older age groups. For instance, while 65% of adults ages 18 to 29 say they use Snapchat, just 2% of those 65 and older report using the app – a difference of 63 percentage points.

Additionally, a vast majority of adults under the age of 65 say they use YouTube. Fully 95% of those 18 to 29 say they use the platform, along with 91% of those 30 to 49 and 83% of adults 50 to 64. However, this share drops substantially – to 49% – among those 65 and older.

By comparison, age gaps between the youngest and oldest Americans are narrower for Facebook. Fully 70% of those ages 18 to 29 say they use the platform, and those shares are statistically the same for those ages 30 to 49 (77%) or ages 50 to 64 (73%). Half of those 65 and older say they use the site – making Facebook and YouTube the two most used platforms among this older population.

Other sites and apps stand out for their demographic differences:

• Instagram: About half of Hispanic (52%) and Black Americans (49%) say they use the platform, compared with smaller shares of White Americans (35%) who say the same. 2
• WhatsApp: Hispanic Americans (46%) are far more likely to say they use WhatsApp than Black (23%) or White Americans (16%). Hispanics also stood out for their WhatsApp use in the Center’s previous surveys on this topic.
• LinkedIn: Those with higher levels of education are again more likely than those with lower levels of educational attainment to report being LinkedIn users. Roughly half of adults who have a bachelor’s or advanced degree (51%) say they use LinkedIn, compared with smaller shares of those with some college experience (28%) and those with a high school diploma or less (10%).
• Pinterest: Women continue to be far more likely than men to say they use Pinterest when compared with male counterparts, by a difference of 30 points (46% vs. 16%).
• Nextdoor: There are large differences in use of this platform by community type. Adults living in urban (17%) or suburban (14%) areas are more likely to say they use Nextdoor. Just 2% of rural Americans report using the site.

A majority of Facebook, Snapchat and Instagram users say they visit these platforms on a daily basis

While there has been much written about Americans’ changing relationship with Facebook , its users remain quite active on the platform. Seven-in-ten Facebook users say they use the site daily, including 49% who say they use the site several times a day. (These figures are statistically unchanged from those reported in the Center’s 2019 survey about social media use.)  

Smaller shares – though still a majority – of Snapchat or Instagram users report visiting these respective platforms daily (59% for both). And being active on these sites is especially common for younger users. For instance, 71% of Snapchat users ages 18 to 29 say they use the app daily, including six-in-ten who say they do this multiple times a day. The pattern is similar for Instagram: 73% of 18- to 29-year-old Instagram users say they visit the site every day, with roughly half (53%) reporting they do so several times per day.

YouTube is used daily by 54% if its users, with 36% saying they visit the site several times a day. By comparison, Twitter is used less frequently, with fewer than half of its users (46%) saying they visit the site daily.

• Due to a limited sample size, figures for those ages 25 to 29 cannot be reported on separately. ↩
• There were not enough Asian American respondents in the sample to be broken out into a separate analysis. As always, their responses are incorporated into the general population figures throughout this report. ↩

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Large language models don’t behave like people, even though we may expect them to

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One thing that makes large language models (LLMs) so powerful is the diversity of tasks to which they can be applied. The same machine-learning model that can help a graduate student draft an email could also aid a clinician in diagnosing cancer.

However, the wide applicability of these models also makes them challenging to evaluate in a systematic way. It would be impossible to create a benchmark dataset to test a model on every type of question it can be asked.

In a new paper , MIT researchers took a different approach. They argue that, because humans decide when to deploy large language models, evaluating a model requires an understanding of how people form beliefs about its capabilities.

For example, the graduate student must decide whether the model could be helpful in drafting a particular email, and the clinician must determine which cases would be best to consult the model on.

Building off this idea, the researchers created a framework to evaluate an LLM based on its alignment with a human’s beliefs about how it will perform on a certain task.

They introduce a human generalization function — a model of how people update their beliefs about an LLM’s capabilities after interacting with it. Then, they evaluate how aligned LLMs are with this human generalization function.

Their results indicate that when models are misaligned with the human generalization function, a user could be overconfident or underconfident about where to deploy it, which might cause the model to fail unexpectedly. Furthermore, due to this misalignment, more capable models tend to perform worse than smaller models in high-stakes situations.

“These tools are exciting because they are general-purpose, but because they are general-purpose, they will be collaborating with people, so we have to take the human in the loop into account,” says study co-author Ashesh Rambachan, assistant professor of economics and a principal investigator in the Laboratory for Information and Decision Systems (LIDS).

Rambachan is joined on the paper by lead author Keyon Vafa, a postdoc at Harvard University; and Sendhil Mullainathan, an MIT professor in the departments of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science and of Economics, and a member of LIDS. The research will be presented at the International Conference on Machine Learning.

Human generalization

As we interact with other people, we form beliefs about what we think they do and do not know. For instance, if your friend is finicky about correcting people’s grammar, you might generalize and think they would also excel at sentence construction, even though you’ve never asked them questions about sentence construction.

“Language models often seem so human. We wanted to illustrate that this force of human generalization is also present in how people form beliefs about language models,” Rambachan says.

As a starting point, the researchers formally defined the human generalization function, which involves asking questions, observing how a person or LLM responds, and then making inferences about how that person or model would respond to related questions.

If someone sees that an LLM can correctly answer questions about matrix inversion, they might also assume it can ace questions about simple arithmetic. A model that is misaligned with this function — one that doesn’t perform well on questions a human expects it to answer correctly — could fail when deployed.

With that formal definition in hand, the researchers designed a survey to measure how people generalize when they interact with LLMs and other people.

They showed survey participants questions that a person or LLM got right or wrong and then asked if they thought that person or LLM would answer a related question correctly. Through the survey, they generated a dataset of nearly 19,000 examples of how humans generalize about LLM performance across 79 diverse tasks.

Measuring misalignment

They found that participants did quite well when asked whether a human who got one question right would answer a related question right, but they were much worse at generalizing about the performance of LLMs.

“Human generalization gets applied to language models, but that breaks down because these language models don’t actually show patterns of expertise like people would,” Rambachan says.

People were also more likely to update their beliefs about an LLM when it answered questions incorrectly than when it got questions right. They also tended to believe that LLM performance on simple questions would have little bearing on its performance on more complex questions.

In situations where people put more weight on incorrect responses, simpler models outperformed very large models like GPT-4.

“Language models that get better can almost trick people into thinking they will perform well on related questions when, in actuality, they don’t,” he says.

One possible explanation for why humans are worse at generalizing for LLMs could come from their novelty — people have far less experience interacting with LLMs than with other people.

“Moving forward, it is possible that we may get better just by virtue of interacting with language models more,” he says.

To this end, the researchers want to conduct additional studies of how people’s beliefs about LLMs evolve over time as they interact with a model. They also want to explore how human generalization could be incorporated into the development of LLMs.

“When we are training these algorithms in the first place, or trying to update them with human feedback, we need to account for the human generalization function in how we think about measuring performance,” he says.

In the meanwhile, the researchers hope their dataset could be used a benchmark to compare how LLMs perform related to the human generalization function, which could help improve the performance of models deployed in real-world situations.

“To me, the contribution of the paper is twofold. The first is practical: The paper uncovers a critical issue with deploying LLMs for general consumer use. If people don’t have the right understanding of when LLMs will be accurate and when they will fail, then they will be more likely to see mistakes and perhaps be discouraged from further use. This highlights the issue of aligning the models with people's understanding of generalization,” says Alex Imas, professor of behavioral science and economics at the University of Chicago’s Booth School of Business, who was not involved with this work. “The second contribution is more fundamental: The lack of generalization to expected problems and domains helps in getting a better picture of what the models are doing when they get a problem ‘correct.’ It provides a test of whether LLMs ‘understand’ the problem they are solving.”

This research was funded, in part, by the Harvard Data Science Initiative and the Center for Applied AI at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business.

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Journal of Pediatric Neuropsychology

Journal scope statement.

The Journal of Pediatric Neuropsychology publishes original peer-reviewed research focused on the needs of children and adolescents with neurodevelopmental or neurocognitive disorders. Manuscripts should have practical applications for a pediatric population in clinical, school, and/or forensic settings. Topics the Journal may consider publishing include neuropsychological assessment, evidence-based interventions, neurodevelopment, neurorehabilitation, psychopharmacology, neuroimaging, biomarkers, ethical and legal issues, test construction and psychometrics, and hospital to home and school transitions.

Please note that the Journal primarily publishes manuscripts with empirical research. Case studies and theoretical reviews will be considered only if they result in substantial contributions to the field. Please contact the editor-in-chief regarding commentaries, special issues, and book and test reviews.

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• APA, American Academy of Pediatric Neuropsychology announce publishing partnership

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NBA Legend Isiah Thomas Sparks Social Media Discussion With Intriguing Question

Ben stinar | 9 hours ago.

Isiah Thomas is one of the best players in NBA history.

After a legendary two-year college career with the Indiana Hoosiers, he went on to be among the best point guards in the NBA.

Thomas is currently one of the most active former players on X.

Recently, he sent out a question that sparked a discussion.

His post had over 55,000 impressions and nearly 200 comments in six hours.

Thomas wrote : "Has the emphasis on 3pt shooting decreased the need to be a freak athlete in the NBA?"

Has the emphasis on 3pt shooting decreased the need to be a freak athlete in the NBA? — Isiah Thomas (@IsiahThomas) July 28, 2024

X User @mariohostios responded: "I dunno, today's game requires more lateral move and range. 6'9" guys have to be able to cover ground quickly in all directions."

I dunno, today's game requires more lateral move and range. 6'9" guys have to be able to cover ground quickly in all directions. — mario hostios (@mariohostios) July 28, 2024

X User @CelticsForum0 responded : "At least temporarily a window has opened for less athletic guys because they can shoot. But probably what will happen is the freaks will grow up learning to shoot too. They have to adapt so they will"

At least temporarily a window has opened for less athletic guys because they can shoot. But probably what will happen is the freaks will grow up learning to shoot too. They have to adapt so they will — CelticsForum (@CelticsForum0) July 28, 2024

X User @UrbnRadioNation responded: "3 point shooting has eliminated the traditional power forward. Interesting experiment this season with the Sixers. Either Paul George or Caleb Martin will play the 4."

3 point shooting has eliminated the traditional power forward. Interesting experiment this season with the Sixers. Either Paul George or Caleb Martin will play the 4. — Urban Radio Nation.com (@UrbnRadioNation) July 28, 2024

X User @RezBallPod Responded: "No. I think the freak athlete still remains what scouts are looking for and would bet on teaching 1 or 2 NBA skills. Just from a practical standpoint the freak athlete is incredibly rare which is why they get emphasized and given more chances to succeed"

No. I think the freak athlete still remains what scouts are looking for and would bet on teaching 1 or 2 NBA skills. Just from a practical standpoint the freak athlete is incredibly rare which is why they get emphasized and given more chances to succeed — RezBall (@RezBallPod) July 28, 2024

Thomas played 13 seasons (all with the Detroit Pistons) and won two NBA Championships.

Ben Stinar is the NBA reporter for Fastbreak on FanNation.

Follow @BenStinar