Seventeen Years of Journalism and Social Media Research: A Bibliometric Analysis

Öz

Social media and journalism studies hold a prominent place in the communication field. The growing number of social media users and expanding sphere of influence have riveted scholars to journalism and social media research. Therefore, it is crucial to evaluate the research on the relationship between social media and journalism in mass communication. Against this backdrop, this study aimed to examine social media and journalism-related research in international academic publications using bibliometric analysis to determine its typologies over the years. For that purpose, publications on the relationship between social media and journalism were accessed between January 2007 and June 2023 in journals indexed in SSCI, SCI-Expanded, AHCI, and BKCI-SSH on the Web of Science (WoS) database. The study employed RStudio’s “Biblioshiny,” developed for bibliometric analysis, and the “VOSviewer” package program. Results indicated a growing number of studies on journalism every year, with most studies conducted in the communication field. It was also found that Digital Journalism had the most publications and citations, while “social media” and “journalism” were the most frequently used keywords. Results are expected to illuminate social media and journalism and guide prospective studies on the relationship between the two fields.

Anahtar Kelimeler

• Communication
• Social Media
• Journalism
• Bibliometrix
• Journalism Studies

On Yedi Yıllık Gazetecilik ve Sosyal Medya Araştırması: Bibliyometrik Bir Analiz

Öz

İletişim alanında yapılan araştırmalar içinde sosyal medya ve gazetecilik çalışmaları önemli bir yer tutmaktadır. Özellikle de artan kullanıcısı sayısı ve etki alanı genişleyen sosyal medyayla birlikte gazetecilik ve sosyal medya arasındaki ilişkiyi konu edinen araştırmaların sayısında da önemli oranda artış yaşanmıştır. Dolayısıyla kitle iletişim alanında sosyal medya ve gazetecilik ilişkisini konu edinen araştırmaların genel bir değerlendirilmesinin yapılması önemlidir. Bu araştırmanın amacı, uluslararası akademik yayınlarda yayımlanan sosyal medya ve gazetecilikle ilişkili araştırmaların bibliyometrik analiz tekniği ile incelenmesi ve konuyla ilgili yapılan araştırmaların yıllar içerisindeki tipolojilerinin belirlenmesidir. Bu amaçla, Ocak 2007 yılından 2023 yılı Haziran ayına kadar Web of Science (WOS) veri tabanında bulunan SSCI, SCI-Expanded, AHCI ve BKCI-SSH indekslerinde yer alan dergilerde yayımlanan sosyal medya ve gazetecilik ilişkisini konu edinen araştırmalara ulaşılmıştır. Araştırmada bibliyometrik analiz tekniği için geliştirilen R-studio'nun "bibliometrix” paketinin bir web arayüzü "biblioshiny" ve “VOSviewer” paket programı kullanılmıştır. Araştırma sonucunda, sosyal medya ve gazetecilikle ilgili araştırmaların her geçen yıl arttığını göstermekle birlikte en fazla araştırmaların iletişim alanında yapıldığı görülmüştür. Konuyla ilgili en fazla araştırma yayımlayan ve atıf alan derginin Digital Journalism olduğu tespit edilirken en sık kullanılan anahtar kelimelerin ise sosyal medya ve gazetecilik kelimelerinin olduğu elde edilen bulgular arasındadır. Araştırma sonuçlarının hem sosyal medya hem de gazetecilik alanlarına ve alanların ilişkisiyle ilgili gelecekte yapılacak araştırmalara ışık tutacağı öngörülmektedir.

Anahtar Kelimeler

• İletişim
• Sosyal Medya
• Gazetecilik
• Bibliyometrik
• Gazetecilik Çalışmaları

Kaynakça

1. Acharya, U., Pathak, T., KC, B., Karki, B., Bhandari, R., Shrestha, U., & Dahal, R. (2012). National survey on nepali journalists. Nepal: Center for Media Research, 1–28.
2. Adornato, A. (2021). Mobile and social media journalism: A practical guide for multimedia journalism (2nd edition). Routledge.
3. Arciuli, J., Carroll, J., & Cameron, D. (2008). The use of applied drama in crisis management: An empirical psychological study. Australian Journal of Emergency Management, 23(3), 3–8.
4. Aria, M., & Cuccurullo, C. (2017). Bibliometrix: An R-tool for comprehensive science mapping analysis. Journal of Informetrics, 11(4), 959–975. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.joi.2017.08.007
5. Artwick, C. G. (2014). News sourcing and gender on Twitter. Journalism, 15(8), 1111–1127. https://doi.org/10.1177/1464884913505030
6. Boone, G., Secci, J., & Gallant, L. (2010). Emerging trends in online advertising. Doxa Communicacion, 5(2), 241–253. Bradford, S. C. (1948). Documentation (2nd Edition). Crosby Luckwood.
7. Brandtzaeg, P. B., Lüders, M., Spangenberg, J., Rath-Wiggins, L., & Følstad, A. (2016). Emerging journalistic verification practices concerning social media. Journalism Practice, 10(3), 323–342. https://doi.org/10.1080/17512786.2015.1020331
8. Broersma, M., & Graham, T. (2012). Social media as beat. Journalism Practice, 6(3), 403–419. https://doi.org/10.1080/17512786.2012.663626

9. Broersma, M., & Graham, T. (2013). Twitter as a news source. Journalism Practice, 7(4), 446–464. https://doi.org/10.1080/17512786.2013.802481
10. Bullard, S. B. (2015). Editors use social media mostly to post story links. Newspaper Research Journal, 36(2), 170–183. https://doi.org/10.1177/0739532915587288
11. Cahlik, T. (2000). Search for fundamental articles in economics. Scientometrics, 49(3), 389–402. https://doi.org/10.1023/a:1010533506061
12. Cobo, M. J., López‐Herrera, A. G., Herrera‐Viedma, E., & Herrera, F. (2011). Science mapping software tools: Review, analysis, and cooperative study among tools. Journal of The American Society for Information Science and Technology, 62(7), 1382–1402. https://doi.org/10.1002/asi.21525
13. Cottle, S. (2011). Reporting the Arab uprisings: Notes for research. Journalism: Theory, Practice and Criticism, 12(5), 647–659.
14. Dawson, N., Molitorisz, S., Rizoiu, M. A., & Fray, P. (2023). Layoffs, inequity and COVID-19: A longitudinal study of the journalism jobs crisis in Australia from 2012 to 2020. Journalism, 24(3), 531–559. https://doi.org/10.1177/1464884921996286
15. Doğu, B. (2020). Turkey’s news media landscape in Twitter: Mapping interconnections among diversity. Journalism, 21(5), 688–706. https://doi.org/10.1177/1464884917713791
16. Fung, I. C. H., Fu, K. W., Ying, Y., Schaible, B., Hao, Y., Chan, C. H., & Tse, Z. T. H. (2013). Chinese social media reaction to the MERS-CoV and avian influenza A (H7N9) outbreaks. Infectious Diseases of Poverty, 2, 1–12. https://doi.org/10.1186/2049-9957-2-31
17. Garfield, E. (1980). Bradford’s law and related statistical patterns. Essays of an Information Scientist, 4(19), 476–483.
18. Guidry, J. P., Carlyle, K., Messner, M., & Jin, Y. (2015). On pins and needles: How vaccines are portrayed on Pinterest. Vaccine, 33(39), 5051–5056. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.vaccine.2015.08.064
19. Gulyás, A. (2017). Social media and journalism: Hybridity, convergence, changing relationship with the audience and fragmentation. In B. Franklin & S. Eldridge (Eds.), Routledge companion to digital journalism studies (pp. 396–406). Routledge.
20. Heravi, B. R., & Harrower, N. (2016). Twitter journalism in Ireland: Sourcing and trust in the age of social media. Information, Communication & Society, 19(9), 1194–1213. https://doi.org/10.1080/1369118X.2016.1187649
21. Hermida, A. (2010). Twittering the news. Journalism Practice, 4(3), 297–308. https://doi.org/10.1080/17512781003640703
22. Hermida, A. (2012). Tweets and truth. Journalism Practice, 6(5-6), 659–668. https://doi.org/10.1080/17512786.2012.667269
23. Hermida, A., Fletcher, F., Korell, D., & Logan, D. (2012). Share, like, recommend. Journalism Studies, 13(5), 815–824. https://doi.org/10.1080/1461670X.2012.664430
24. Hermida, A., Lewis, S. C., & Zamith, R. (2014). Sourcing the Arab Spring: A case study of Andy Carvin’s sources on Twitter during the Tunisian and Egyptian revolutions. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, 19(3), 479–499. https://doi.org/10.1111/jcc4.12074
25. Jain, R., Oh, C. H., & Shapiro, D. (2022). A bibliometric analysis and future research opportunities in multinational business review. Multinational Business Review, 30(3), 313–342. https://doi.org/10.1108/MBR-01-2022-0001
26. Jenkins, H. (2006). Convergence culture: Where old and new media collide. New York University Press.
27. Jouët, J., & Rieffel, R. (2015). La sociabilité des journalistes sur Twitter: Entre performativité, ambivalence et multidimensionnalité [The sociability of journalists on Twitter: Between performativity, ambivalence, and multidimensionality]. Sur le Journalisme, 4(1), 18–33.
28. Kara, N., Çubukçuoğlu, B., & Elçi, A. (2020). Using social media to support teaching and learning in higher education: An analysis of personal narratives. Research in Learning Technology, 28. https://doi.org/10.25304/rlt.v28.2410
29. Knight, M. (2012). Journalism as usual: The use of social media as a newsgathering tool in the coverage of the Iranian elections in 2009. Journal of Media Practice, 13(1), 61–74. https://doi.org/10.1386/jmpr.13.1.61_1
30. Kubilay, Ç., & Ova, N. (2022). Türkiye’de sosyal medya ve gazetecilik literatürü: hakemli dergi makaleleri üzerine bibliyometrik bir analiz [Social media and journalism literature in Turkey: A bibliometric analysis of peer-reviewed journal articles]. Yeni Medya, 2022(12), 117-139. https://doi.org/10.55609/yenimedya.1096527
31. Kuyucu, M. M. (2020). Social media and journalism. In H. Babacan, M. Eraslan, & A. Temizer (Eds.), Academic studies in social sciences (pp. 72–85). Ivpe Cetinje.
32. Kürkçü, D. D. (2016). Türkiye’de ulusal ve yerel gazetelerin Twitter kullanımı [Twitter usage of national and local newspapers in Turkey]. The Journal of Academic Social Science Studies, 5(46), 85–101. http://dx.doi.org/10.9761/JASSS3442
33. Lasorsa, D. L., Lewis, S. C., & Holton, A. E. (2012). Normalizing Twitter: Journalism practice in an emerging communication space. Journalism Studies, 13(1), 19–36. https://doi.org/10.1080/1461670X.2011.571825
34. Lecheler, S., & Kruikemeier, S. (2016). Re-evaluating journalistic routines in a digital age: A review of research on the use of online sources. New Media & Society, 18(1), 156–171. https://doi.org/10.1177/1461444815600412
35. Lee, S. H. (2015). A bibliometric analysis of the field of records management: A case study of Records Management Journal, 1989-2013 [Unpublished master's thesis]. University of Toronto.
36. Lewis, S. C. (2012). The tension between professional control and open participation: Journalism and its boundaries. Information, Communication & Society, 15(6), 836–866. https://doi.org/10.1080/1369118X.2012.674150
37. Lewis, S. C., & Molyneux, L. (2018). A decade of research on social media and journalism: Assumptions, blind spots, and a way forward. Media and Communication, 6(4), 11-23. https://doi.org/10.17645/mac.v6i4.1562
38. Lewis, S. C., & Molyneux, L. (2019, January 8–11). Social media and journalism: 10 years later, untangling key assumptions [Conference presentation]. Proceedings of the 52nd Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences, Maui, Hawaii.
39. Lysak, S., Cremedas, M., & Wolf, J. (2012). Facebook and Twitter in the newsroom: How and why local television news is getting social with viewers? Electronic News, 6(4), 187–207. https://doi.org/10.1177/1931243112466095
40. Marwick, A., & Boyd, D. (2011). I tweet honestly, I tweet passionately: Twitter users, context collapse, and the imagined audience. New Media & Society, 13(1), 114–133. https://doi.org/10.1177/1461444810365313
41. Mathews, N., Bélair-Gagnon, V., & Carlson, M. (2023). "Why I quit journalism": Former journalists’ advice giving as a way to regain control. Journalism, 24(1), 62–77. https://doi.org/10.1177/14648849211061958
42. McGregor, S. C. (2019). Social media as public opinion: How journalists use social media to represent public opinion. Journalism, 20(8), 1070–1086. https://doi.org/10.1177/1464884919845458
43. McGregor, S. C., & Molyneux, L. (2020). Twitter’s influence on news judgment: An experiment among journalists. Journalism, 21(5), 597–613. https://doi.org/10.1177/1464884918802975
44. Mercier, A. (2013). Twitter l'actualité: Usages et réseautage chez les journalistes français [Twitter news: Uses and networking among French journalists]. Recherches en Communication, 39, 111–132. https://doi.org/10.14428/rec.v39i39.49643
45. Molyneux, L. (2015). What journalists retweet: Opinion, humor, and brand development on Twitter. Journalism, 16(7), 920–935. https://doi.org/10.1177/1464884914550135
46. Molyneux, L., & Holton, A. (2015). Branding (health) journalism: Perceptions, practices, and emerging norms. Digital Journalism, 3, 225–242. https://doi.org/10.1080/21670811.2014.906927
47. Molyneux, L., Holton, A., & Lewis, S. (2018). How journalists engage in branding on Twitter: Individual, organizational, and institutional levels. Information, Communication & Society, 21(10), 1386–1401. https://doi.org/10.1080/1369118X.2017.1314532
48. Okubo, Y. (1997). Bibliometric indicators and analysis of research systems: Methods and examples. OECD Science, Technology and Industry Working Papers, 1997/01. OECD Publishing.
49. Park, C. S., & Kaye, B. K. (2023). Applying news values theory to liking, commenting and sharing mainstream news articles on Facebook. Journalism, 24(3), 633–653. https://doi.org/10.1177/14648849211019895
50. Paulsen, S., & Herder, R. A. (2014). Social media references in newspapers. Journalism Practice, 8(5), 542–551. https://doi.org/10.1080/17512786.2014.894327
51. Phuvipadawat, S., & Murata, T. (2010, 31 August– 3 September). Breaking news detection and tracking in Twitter [Conference presentation]. 2010 IEEE/WIC/ACM International Conference on Web Intelligence and Intelligent Agent Technology, Washington, DC, USA.
52. Poell, T., & Borra, E. (2012). Twitter, YouTube, and Flickr as platforms of alternative journalism: The social media account of the 2010 Toronto G20 protests. Journalism, 13(6), 695–713. https://doi.org/10.1177/1464884911431533
53. Pritchard, A. (1969). Statistical bibliography or bibliometrics? Journal of Documentation, 25, 348–349.
54. Rauchfleisch, A., Artho, X., Metag, J., Post, S., & Schäfer, M. S. (2017). How journalists verify user-generated content during terrorist crises: Analyzing Twitter communication during the Brussels attacks. Social Media + Society, 3(3), 1–13. https://doi.org/10.1177/2056305117717888
55. Schifferes, S., Newman, N., Thurman, N., Corney, D., Göker, A., & Martin, C. (2014). Identifying and verifying news through social media: Developing a user-centred tool for professional journalists. Digital Journalism, 2(3), 406–418. https://doi.org/10.1080/21670811.2014.892747
56. Segado-Boj, F. (2020). Research on social media and journalism (2003-2017): A bibliometric and content review. Transinformação, 32. https://doi.org/10.1590/1678-9865202032e180096
57. Sheffer, M. L., & Schultz, B. (2010). Paradigm shift or passing fad? Twitter and sports journalism. International Journal of Sport Communication, 3(4), 472–484. https://doi.org/10.1123/ijsc.3.4.472
58. Shi, J., Duan, K., Wu, G., Zhang, R., & Feng, X. (2020). Comprehensive metrological and content analysis of the public–private partnerships (PPP) research field: A new bibliometric journey. Scientometrics, 124, 2145–2184. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11192-020-03607-1
59. Shi, Y., & Li, X. (2019). A bibliometric study on intelligent techniques of bankruptcy prediction for corporate firms. Heliyon, 5(12), e02997. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.heliyon.2019.e02997
60. Singer, J., Domingo, D., Heinonen, A., Hermida, A., Paulussen, S., Quandt, T., & Vujnovic, M. (2011). Participatory journalism: Guarding open gates at online newspapers. John Wiley & Sons.
61. Tandoc, E. C., Lim, Z. W., & Ling, R. (2018). Defining “fake news”: A typology of scholarly definitions. Digital Journalism, 6(2), 137–153. https://doi.org/10.1080/21670811.2017.1360143
62. Taşkıran, İ., & Kırık, A. M. (2016). Gazetecilerin sosyal medyayı haber kaynağı olarak kullanımı: Medya profesyonellerinin bakış açılarını tespit etmeye yönelik bir araştırma [Use of social media as a news source by journalists: A study to determine the perspective of media professionals]. Intermedia International E-journal, 3(4), 213–241. https://doi.org/10.21645/intermedia.2016319269
63. Turner, W. A., & Rojouan, F. (1991). Evaluating input/output relationships in a regional research network using co-word analysis. Scientometrics, 22(1), 139–154. https://doi.org/10.1007/bf02019279
64. Van Eck, N., & Waltman, L. (2009). Software survey: Vosviewer, a computer program for bibliometric mapping. Scientometrics, 84(2), 523–538. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11192-009-0146-3
65. Van Eck, N., & Waltman, L. (2017). Citation-based clustering of publications using CitNetExplorer and Vosviewer. Scientometrics, 111(2), 1053–1070. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11192-017-2300-7
66. Van Leuven, S., Deprez, A., & Raeymaeckers, K. (2014). Towards more balanced news access? A study on the impact of cost-cutting and Web 2.0 on the mediated public sphere. Journalism, 15(7), 850–867. https://doi.org/10.1177/1464884913501837
67. White, E. L. (2012). New media in the newsroom: A survey of local journalists and their managers on the use of social media as reporting tools. University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
68. Yanık, A., & Batu, M. (2019). Yeni medyada aktivizm hareketleri üzerine zengin medya kısır aktivizm tartışmaları [Rich (new) media poor activism debates on activism movements in new media]. Connectist: Istanbul University Journal of Communication Sciences, (56), 179–208. https://doi.org/10.26650/CONNECTIST2019-0011
69. Yaşa, H. (2024). Sosyal medya gazeteciliği [Social media journalism]. In Y. Bayram (Ed.), Temel gazetecilik kavramlar, teknikler, yenilikler [Basic journalism: Concepts, techniques, innovations] (pp. 509–535). Akademisyen Yayınevi Kitabevi.
70. Yaşa, H., & Şen, R. (2024). Hız, üretüketici ve sonsuz kaydırma kavramları ekseninde sosyal medya kültürü [Social media culture in the axis of speed, prosumer and ınfinite scrolling]. RumeliDE Dil ve Edebiyat Araştırmaları Dergisi, (40), 553–575. https://doi.org/10.29000/rumelide.1502887
71. Zhang, X., & Li, W. (2020). From social media with news: Journalists’ social media use for sourcing and verification. Journalism Practice, 14(10), 1193–1210. https://doi.org/10.1080/17512786.2019.1689372
72. Zubiaga, A. (2019). Mining social media for newsgathering: A review. Online Social Networks and Media, 13, 1–24. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.osnem.2019.100049
73. Zupic, I., & Čater, T. (2015). Bibliometric methods in management and organization. Organizational Research Methods, 18(3), 429–472. https://doi.org/10.1177/1094428114562629