research and social media23 Jul 2008 11:02 am
Everyone loves a list … so here is one for you, names in no particular order.
These are the folks I see as the leading scholars in communication fields actively doing research on various forms of social media. That means more than one article. These folks have research programs surrounding social media in communication.
- Denise Bortree. Though she’s a PR professor, most of her social media research examines how teenage girls present themselves and negotiate identity in social media spaces.
- Walter Carl. Dr. Word of Mouth, need I say more?
- Tom Johnson and Barbara Kaye. This political communication research duo started looking at the Internet as a political information source in 1998 & have moved into blogs over the past few years. Mostly focusing on use as an information source or credibility, their research is always top-notch.
- Tom Kelleher. He published what I’m pretty sure was the first piece on social media in PR literature with his blogs as relationship strategy piece in 2006. And yes, he’s even literally written the text book for online PR. Keep an eye out on Public Relations Review for more of his work.
- Lance Porter. He started with looking at how simple online tools made public relations practitioners more powerful and promotable in their organizations then went full scale social media with his research. He’s a great bridge of advertising and PR efforts, and has a pretty impressive civilian resume having been the executive director for Internet marketing at Disney.
- Monica Postelnicu. From jibjab to YouTube, a lot of Monica’s work focuses on user-generated viral political videos. She has also looked at the use of MySpace and other social media tools in politics.
- Trent Seltzer. He rocked the AEJMC PR division when his paper on blogs in PR won an award back in the day & has since published articles on social media in PR.
- Mihaela Vorvoreanu. Looking through the lens of usability, Mihaela’s makes recommendations for how organizations can create rich interactive experiences for their publics online.
You won’t see my name listed here, though I have done a good bit of work in the area. I figure you already know all about my research.
So who is missing from this list? Who do you think of when think of social media research?
I have NO idea why I left Alex Halavais off the list … but he totally deserves his spot on it. He does great work in social networks & showing the connectedness of it all. Excellent research.
I worked with Barbara Kaye when she was at Valdosta State years ago. She had me compose the HTML and scripting behind a survey on information habits for the 2000 election. Good stuff. I was impressed at how tirelessly she worked at contacting dozens of lists, boards, etc. encouraging people to participate.
Thank you for the mention, Kaye!
I don’t think of myself in those flattering terms you use in the title of your post…
My write-in candidate is Stephen Colbert. If he was good enough to make it as the top write-in candidate in Foreign Policy’s “The World’s Top 20 Public Intellectuals” list than why not here
(Yes, yes, yes … I know why not ;P)
I think it depends on how narrow/broad you want to define “communication” - but if you’re going for a broad definition, then here are my suggestions:
danah boyd (University of California-Berkeley), http://www.danah.org/papers/
Mark Tremayne (U of Texas), http://journalism.utexas.edu/facstaff/PROD75_007739.html
Axel Bruns (Queensland University of Technology), http://snurb.info/information
Lilia Efimova (Telematica Instituut), http://is.gd/15eG and http://blog.mathemagenic.com
Marcus Messner (Virginia Commonwealth U), http://is.gd/15eM
Jan Schmidt (Hans Bredow Institut), http://www.schmidtmitdete.de/english-content
Jill Walker Rettberg (University of Bergen), http://jilltxt.net/txt/
Robert Sprague (University of Wyoming), http://uwacadweb.uwyo.edu/SPRAGUE/
Thomas Pleil (Darmstadt University of Applied Sciences), http://www.oj.h-da.de/index.php?id=176
Michael L. Kent (University of Oklahoma), http://faculty-staff.ou.edu/K/Michael.L.Kent-1/
(… and the list could continue)
Related thought: maybe it’s time to revamp the Blog Research and References list (http://blogresearch.com/ref.htm), extend it to Social Media in general, and make it a collaborative effort - there is a need for a central repository of this kind of academic articles
Hopefully I will be on your list in two years after I finish my Masters degree…
Many familiar names there provided by Constantin! Good additions.
This is a great list, Kaye. One day…I hope to be considered on the list, as soon as I build up more research on the topic.
Thanks for including me on this list. You rock.