A manifesto for data sharing in social media research

Abstract

More and more researchers want to share research data collected from social media to allow for reproducibility and comparability of results. With this paper we want to encourage them to pursue this aim - despite initial obstacles that they may face. Sharing can occur in various, more or less formal ways. We provide background information that allows researchers to make a decision about whether, how and where to share depending on their specific situation (data, platform, targeted user group, research topic etc.). Ethical, legal and methodological considerations are important for making this decision. Based on these three dimensions we develop a framework for social media sharing that can act as a first set of guidelines to help social media researchers make practical decisions for their own projects. In the long run, different stakeholders should join forces to enable better practices for data sharing for social media researchers. This paper is intended as our call to action for the broader research community to advance current practices of data sharing in the future.