An Agenda for Comparative Social Media Studies: The Value of Understanding Practices From Cross-National, Cross-Media, and Cross-Platform Perspectives

Mora Matassi*, Pablo J. Boczkowski

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

11 Scopus citations

Abstract

We argue the descriptive fit and heuristic power of social media scholarship is much increased when incorporating a comparative turn. To this end, we offer analytical categories for organizing research that has sought to (a) rely on multicountry data from nations worldwide; (b) place the use of social media in relation to other media; and (c) examine more than one platform at a time. Building on these three strands of comparative scholarship from communication and media studies, we propose future research trajectories in comparative social media studies highlighting cross-national, cross-media, and cross-platform dimensions of social media use. Specifically, we focus on two possible pathways that seem especially fruitful: histories and languages. We conclude by reflecting on the theory-building potential of exploring the intersections across the three types of comparative work.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)207-228
Number of pages22
JournalInternational Journal of Communication
Volume15
StatePublished - 2021

Keywords

  • comparative studies
  • cross-national
  • cross-platform
  • crossmedia
  • history
  • language
  • social media
  • theory building

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Communication

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