ABSTRACT
Social media analytics can be guided by a number of theoretical and methodological frameworks, including critical theory and critical data studies; digital ethnography and narrative analysis techniques. There are a number of qualitative and quantitative data analysis methods that can be used by those undertaking social media analytics and those that are chosen depend on epistemology, theoretical perspective, methodological framework, purpose of research and research question. Social media analytics is used as a research method in various disciplines and fields of study including computer sciences, communication studies, sociology, psychology, politics, education, business and health and medicine. N. Marres and C. Gerlitz and P. Brooker et al. provide relevant and interesting discussions for those interested in methods and methodology of social digital media. A method that is closely related to, and can be part of, social media analytics, is social media mining: a useful introduction to concepts, principles and methods for social media mining is provided by R. Zafarani et al.
