Mapping HCI research methods for studying social media interaction: A systematic literature review

• Published in: Computers in human behavior Vol. 129; p. 107131
• Main Authors: Shibuya, Yuya, Hamm, Andrea, Cerratto Pargman, Teresa
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elmsford Elsevier Ltd 01-04-2022; Elsevier Science Ltd
• Subjects: Digital media; Human-computer interaction; Human-computer interface; Literature reviews; Man-Machine-Interaction (MMI); Methodology; människa-maskin-interaktion (MMI); Research methodology; Social computing; Social media interaction; Social networks; Systematic literature review; Trends; Social computing; Social media interaction; Methodology; Systematic literature review
• ISSN: 0747-5632; 1873-7692; 1873-7692
• DOI: 10.1016/j.chb.2021.107131

In the last decades, researchers in Human-computer interaction (HCI) took numerous efforts to investigate people's social media interaction. To understand how researchers in HCI have studied social media interaction, we examined 149 peer-reviewed articles published between 2008 and 2020 in major HCI conference proceedings and journals. We systematically reviewed the methodologies HCI researchers applied, the research topics these methods covered, and the types of data collected. Through the analysis, we make three contributions: We (1) pinpoint the topic trends by identifying three phases in the study of social media interaction in HCI. Namely, the early phase (2008–2012) focused on user behavior, the growing phase (2013–2016), focused on privacy and health, and the latest phase (2017–2020) focused on design. (2) We map methodological trends in the study of social media interaction in HCI. We also illustrate the trends in relation to the types of data collected in the selected works and, (3) identify underexplored study areas.
•The systematic review of HCI research methods applied to study social media interaction includes 149 peer-reviewed articles published between 2008 and 2020 in major HCI venues and journals.•The review identifies three research phases: the early phase focused on user behavior (2008-2012), the growing phase on privacy and health (2013–2016), and the latest phase on design (2017–2020). These phases differ according to the research methods applied and the studied topics in each phase.•Questionnaires and surveys (40 out of 149) and interviews and focus groups (39 out of 149) are the most popular methods in the study of social media interaction in HCI over time. Physical trace logs and diary documentation are the least used.•Twenty-two articles out of 149 (15%) apply mixed methods. These articles show high potentials to go beyond one dimension of social media data to the various dimensions of the context behind it.•No HCI methods, explicitly building upon the feminist approaches, were found for the study of social media interaction although the great research opportunities that the feminist lens brings to this research domain.