Research Guides: Primary Sources: Social Media

Benefits

Social media can be a good tool for primary sources. Many modern events are documented in real time on social media platforms like X (formerly Twitter) and Instagram.

Challenges

People communicate on private networks, delete their accounts, or delete posts. Search to see if an archival or research institution has an archive of social media from the events you are researching.
Beware of bots or other disinformation actors.
If tweets are not in your primary language, you need to speak the language or find an effective way to translate the post or tweet.

Using social media in your research
Experts from the American Psychological Association explore the practicalities of observing human behavior through Facebook and Twitter.

Searching Social Media

A search engine like Google may or may not index the social media platform you want to search (or it may only search a short period of time).

Social media platforms don't always have good search tools. You can only search public posts, not any that are set to private.

X (formerly Twitter) Advanced Search
Must be signed into an account. Search by keyword, hashtag, or account name. Limit the date range to the time of the event.
Facebook Search
Must be signed into an account. Use the search bar at the top of the screen to search by keyword or hashtag, then limit your results on the left by date, location, or source.
Instagram
Search by keyword, hashtag, location, name, or account name.

Detecting Misinformation

Disinformation Action Lab
The Disinformation Action Lab (DAL) at Data & Society attempts to find innovative approaches to addressing some the complex dynamics underpinning the spread of propaganda and disinformation.
Bot Sentinel
Checks the activity of a Twitter account and gives it a score based on how likely the account is to be automated (a bot).