Big Social Data Approaches in Internet Studies: The Case of Twitter

Abstract

Well beyond Internet Studies itself, but arguably led by it to a considerable extent, there has been a turn towards computational methods in the study of social and communicative phenomena at large scale. This “computational turn” has commonly been described as a turn towards “big data” or, more specifically, towards “big social data,” and it continues to drive the development of new research methodologies, approaches, and tools. Internet Studies has been an advocate of “big data” approaches, because the field connects several core disciplines that use “big data” methods – media, communication and cultural studies, the social sciences, and computer science. Equally, the major objects of research in Internet Studies – including platforms, search engines, mobile apps and devices, and Internet technologies and networks themselves – are key sources of “big data” on user interests, attitudes, and activities. Proponents of such approaches suggest that it is becoming possible to “study society with the Internet,” while others ask critical questions about which observations are privileged and which are discounted as the logic of “big data” influences research agendas.