Facebook Is “For Old People”—So Why Are We Still Studying It the Most? A Critical Look at Social Media in Science
Social media (SM) platforms allow users to communicate rapidly, exchange information, and create and share real-time content. Currently, 4.5 billion people use social media worldwide, making it an influential part of daily life. Beyond information sharing, social media facilitates communication, tra...
Saved in:
| Main Authors: | , , , , , |
|---|---|
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
MDPI AG
2025-04-01
|
| Series: | Journalism and Media |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2673-5172/6/2/62 |
| Tags: |
Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
|
| _version_ | 1839653594807140352 |
|---|---|
| author | Kamil Maciuk Michal Apollo Julia Skorupa Mateusz Jakubiak Yana Wengel David C. Geary |
| author_facet | Kamil Maciuk Michal Apollo Julia Skorupa Mateusz Jakubiak Yana Wengel David C. Geary |
| author_sort | Kamil Maciuk |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Social media (SM) platforms allow users to communicate rapidly, exchange information, and create and share real-time content. Currently, 4.5 billion people use social media worldwide, making it an influential part of daily life. Beyond information sharing, social media facilitates communication, transfers information, and serves as a platform for advertising and shaping public opinion. Researchers analyse these aspects to understand and describe societal realities. The primary purpose of this paper is to analyse social media’s impact on global research. The research included an analysis of the most popular social platforms, considering the number of Web of Science (WoS) articles relating to them and the year in which the platform was established or the Monthly Active Users (MAU) factor. Data were collected based on the WoS database in the topic (which contains texts of title, abstract, author keywords, and Keywords Plus) of the articles, where phrases containing names of SM platforms were used. Quantitative research is a type of research that analyses data numerically to find relationships and statistical regularities of searched phrases. The impact of social media on the dissemination of research and findings was analysed based on the results of the study and also on the literature data. This research reveals a lack of correlation between the number of articles indexed in the WoS and the MAU of individual social media platforms. This observation raises an important question: do social media researchers focus on studying the platforms used by the majority, thereby providing a more accurate representation of current social dynamics? This article is helpful for researchers, policymakers, and social media platform developers seeking to understand the role of social media in shaping modern communication and public discourse. The most important finding of the paper is the low correlation between the number of SM users and the impact of social media platforms on learning, as exemplified by the Twitter (Note: Twitter was an American social networking service rebranded as X in 2023. As the period of data analysed in this paper covered the years up to 2022, the authors decided to stay with the name Twitter) platform, which is the 17th largest SM platform but is the 2nd (after Facebook) in implications for science. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-c6f2a9e955b941dabcc04ad1b51d6c90 |
| institution | Matheson Library |
| issn | 2673-5172 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-04-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Journalism and Media |
| spelling | doaj-art-c6f2a9e955b941dabcc04ad1b51d6c902025-06-25T14:03:06ZengMDPI AGJournalism and Media2673-51722025-04-01626210.3390/journalmedia6020062Facebook Is “For Old People”—So Why Are We Still Studying It the Most? A Critical Look at Social Media in ScienceKamil Maciuk0Michal Apollo1Julia Skorupa2Mateusz Jakubiak3Yana Wengel4David C. Geary5Department of Integrated Geodesy and Cartography, AGH University of Krakow, 30-059 Krakow, PolandInstitute of Earth Sciences, University of Silesia in Katowice, 40-007 Katowice, PolandFaculty of Polish Studies, Jagiellonian University, 31-007 Krakow, PolandDepartment of Environmental Management and Protection, AGH University of Krakow, 30-059 Krakow, PolandArizona State University Joint International Tourism College (HAITC), Hainan University, Haikou 571155, ChinaDepartment of Psychological Sciences, University of Missouri, Columbia, MO 65201, USASocial media (SM) platforms allow users to communicate rapidly, exchange information, and create and share real-time content. Currently, 4.5 billion people use social media worldwide, making it an influential part of daily life. Beyond information sharing, social media facilitates communication, transfers information, and serves as a platform for advertising and shaping public opinion. Researchers analyse these aspects to understand and describe societal realities. The primary purpose of this paper is to analyse social media’s impact on global research. The research included an analysis of the most popular social platforms, considering the number of Web of Science (WoS) articles relating to them and the year in which the platform was established or the Monthly Active Users (MAU) factor. Data were collected based on the WoS database in the topic (which contains texts of title, abstract, author keywords, and Keywords Plus) of the articles, where phrases containing names of SM platforms were used. Quantitative research is a type of research that analyses data numerically to find relationships and statistical regularities of searched phrases. The impact of social media on the dissemination of research and findings was analysed based on the results of the study and also on the literature data. This research reveals a lack of correlation between the number of articles indexed in the WoS and the MAU of individual social media platforms. This observation raises an important question: do social media researchers focus on studying the platforms used by the majority, thereby providing a more accurate representation of current social dynamics? This article is helpful for researchers, policymakers, and social media platform developers seeking to understand the role of social media in shaping modern communication and public discourse. The most important finding of the paper is the low correlation between the number of SM users and the impact of social media platforms on learning, as exemplified by the Twitter (Note: Twitter was an American social networking service rebranded as X in 2023. As the period of data analysed in this paper covered the years up to 2022, the authors decided to stay with the name Twitter) platform, which is the 17th largest SM platform but is the 2nd (after Facebook) in implications for science.https://www.mdpi.com/2673-5172/6/2/62social mediaweb 2.0social networking sitesFacebookTwitterInstagram |
| spellingShingle | Kamil Maciuk Michal Apollo Julia Skorupa Mateusz Jakubiak Yana Wengel David C. Geary Facebook Is “For Old People”—So Why Are We Still Studying It the Most? A Critical Look at Social Media in Science Journalism and Media social media web 2.0 social networking sites |
| title | Facebook Is “For Old People”—So Why Are We Still Studying It the Most? A Critical Look at Social Media in Science |
| title_full | Facebook Is “For Old People”—So Why Are We Still Studying It the Most? A Critical Look at Social Media in Science |
| title_fullStr | Facebook Is “For Old People”—So Why Are We Still Studying It the Most? A Critical Look at Social Media in Science |
| title_full_unstemmed | Facebook Is “For Old People”—So Why Are We Still Studying It the Most? A Critical Look at Social Media in Science |
| title_short | Facebook Is “For Old People”—So Why Are We Still Studying It the Most? A Critical Look at Social Media in Science |
| title_sort | facebook is for old people so why are we still studying it the most a critical look at social media in science |
| topic | social media web 2.0 social networking sites |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2673-5172/6/2/62 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT kamilmaciuk facebookisforoldpeoplesowhyarewestillstudyingitthemostacriticallookatsocialmediainscience AT michalapollo facebookisforoldpeoplesowhyarewestillstudyingitthemostacriticallookatsocialmediainscience AT juliaskorupa facebookisforoldpeoplesowhyarewestillstudyingitthemostacriticallookatsocialmediainscience AT mateuszjakubiak facebookisforoldpeoplesowhyarewestillstudyingitthemostacriticallookatsocialmediainscience AT yanawengel facebookisforoldpeoplesowhyarewestillstudyingitthemostacriticallookatsocialmediainscience AT davidcgeary facebookisforoldpeoplesowhyarewestillstudyingitthemostacriticallookatsocialmediainscience |