Panel presented as part of the 2017 Data Power Conference (Ottawa, ON, June 23, 2017) Anatoliy Gruzd (@gruzd), Jenna Jacobson (@jacobsonjenna), Priya Kumar (@link_priya), Philip Mai (@phmai)

1. TheEthics of Social
Media Data
Use for Research
Anatoliy Gruzd Jenna Jacobson Priya Kumar Philip Mai
@gruzd @jacobsonjenna @link_priya @phmai
1
Funded by:

2. Outline
4.Research
Results
3. Group
Activity
2. Social
Media Data
Stewardship
1. About the
Social
Media Lab
@SMLabTO SocialMediaData.org 2

3. We are an interdisciplinary academic research laboratory

4. ▪ Online Communities
▪ Social Network Analysis (SNA)
▪ Information Visualization & Dashboard
▪ Text Mining
▪ Distributed Computing
▪ Computer Mediated Communication
▪ Director of Research
▪ Director of Business & Communications
▪ Post Docs, Project Manager, PhD
Students, Master and Undergraduate
students
▪ Faculty Research Collaborators across
Canada and abroad (USA, UK, Russia,
Brazil, HK, S. Korea)
@SMLabTO
Our ExpertiseOur Team

5. At the Social Media Lab We Study…
How can social media
support online
communities, social
activism & political
engagement?
What does it mean to
be “influential”
online?
How can social media
help to enhance
teaching & learning
in higher education?
Is
happiness/swearing
contagious online?
What predicts user
engagement on
social media?
Is information privacy
dead in the social
media age?
@SMLabTO SocialMediaData.org
@SMLabTO

6. At the Social Media Lab We Organize…
International Conferences and Events
SocialMediaAndSociety.org AltmetricsConference.com
@SMLabTO

7. At the Social Media Lab We Develop…
Social Media Analytics Software
@SMLabTO

8. Anatoliy Gruzd
@SMLabTO
SOCIAL MEDIA RESEARCH TOOLKIT
socialmediadata.org
A Curated List of 50+
Peer Tested & Peer
Reviewed Social Media
Research Tools.
No Coding Required
(OK…maybe some
coding req.)

9. Outline
4.Research
Results
3. Group
Activity
2. Social
Media Data
Stewardship
1. About the
Social
Media Lab
@SMLabTO SocialMediaData.org 9

10. 1.8B
users
600M
users
300M
users
Growth of Social Media Data

11. How to
Access | Collect | Analyze | Preserve
the Full Stream of Social Media Data?
@SMLabTO SocialMediaData.org 11

12. Social Media Data Stewardship Defined
Social Media Data + Data Stewardship =
processes related to all aspects of managing social media data including
Collection Storage Analysis Publishing Reuse Preservation
@SMLabTO SocialMediaData.org 12

13. Self-
collected/
reported
Public
APIs
Data
Resellers
Collection Storage Analysis Publishing Reuse Preservation
Social Media Data Stewardship:
Collection
@SMLabTO SocialMediaData.org 13

14. Social Media Data Stewardship:
Storage and Analysis
Collection Storage Analysis Publishing Reuse Preservation
Cloud &
Distributed
Computing
Data &
Information
Organization
Analytics Visualization

15. Collection Storage Analysis Publishing Reuse Preservation
Last update in 2013
Social Media Data Stewardship:
Publishing & Preservation
+
Cost prohibitive, constraints
on data sharing outside the team
=
Limited scope / "Spritzer" version
ofTwitter grabs
+ =
= ?
@SMLabTO SocialMediaData.org 15

16. Collection Storage Analysis Publishing Reuse Preservation
@SMLabTO SocialMediaData.org 16

17. Social Feed Manager
https://gwu-libraries.github.io/sfm-ui/
Tweet ID Datasets
http://www.docnow.io/catalog/
Collection Storage Analysis Publishing Reuse Preservation
Social Media Data Stewardship:
Publishing & Preservation
@SMLabTO SocialMediaData.org 17

18. Ethical Considerations
Collection Storage Analysis Publishing Reuse Preservation
Social Media Data Stewardship:
Ethics
@SMLabTO SocialMediaData.org 18

19. Human Subject
Research
• In Canada research that
involves human participants is
governed by the Tri-Council
Policy Statement
•Ethical Conduct for Research
Involving Humans (TCPS)
http://pre.ethics.gc.ca/
Ethical Considerations

20. TCPS on Internet Research
•REB review is also not required where research uses
exclusively publicly available information that may contain
identifiable information, and for which there is no reasonable
expectation of privacy.
•Cyber-material such as documents, records, performances,
online archival materials or published third party interviews to
which the public is given uncontrolled access on the
Internet for which there is no expectation of privacy is
considered to be publicly available information.
(TCPS 2014 Ed,p.16)
REB - Research Ethics Boards
Ethical Considerations
@SMLabTO SocialMediaData.org 20

21. •There are publicly accessible digital sites where there is a
reasonable expectation of privacy.
•When accessing identifiable information in publicly accessible
digital sites, such as Internet chat rooms, and self-help groups
with restricted membership, the privacy expectation of
contributors of these sites is much higher.
•Researchers shall submit their proposal for REB review
(see Article 10.3).
(TCPS 2014 Ed, p.16)
Ethical Considerations
@SMLabTO SocialMediaData.org 21
TCPS on Internet Research

22. •Where data linkage of different sources of publicly
available information is involved, it could give rise to
new forms of identifiable information that would raise
issues of privacy and confidentiality when used in
research, and would therefore require REB review
(see Article 5.7).
(TCPS 2014 Ed, p.16)
Ethical Considerations
@SMLabTO SocialMediaData.org 22
TCPS on Internet Research

23. Ethical Considerations
Collection Storage Analysis Publishing Reuse Preservation
Social Media Data Stewardship:
Ethics
• Objective: Develop a conceptual model of Social Media Data Stewardship based on
both industry & research practices as well as social media users’ attitudes and
perceptions.
@SMLabTO SocialMediaData.org 23

24. Systematic Review of Relevant Literature
(Golder et al., 2017)
• Review of empirical studies on
attitudes toward the ethics of
research using social media
• 1996 onwards, 16 databases, 2
Internet search engines
• Search strategy: “social media”,
“ethics”, “qualitative research”
• Excluded: non-research discussion
papers, individual look-ups, privacy,
or security (cyberbullying, bank fraud)
papers
3895 records retrieved after duplicates
removed
3783 records excluded by
title+abstract
132 full-text papers
examined
112 papers excluded
based on full-text
17 studies
@SMLabTO SocialMediaData.org 24

25. User’s AttitudesTowardThe Ethics of
Research Using Social Media
What explains these discrepancies?
• Research project focus
• Different Methodologies
• Surveys, interviews, observational
• Type of Platform
• Type of Data/Information
• Who are the participants?
• users, lurkers, researchers
From Golder et al. 2017
@SMLabTO SocialMediaData.org 25

26. KeyTakeaways from the Literature
• Social Media Research Ethics → not a one size fits all framework
• Complex boundaries between publicly available data and privacy
• Lack of understanding of how to uphold anonymity
@SMLabTO SocialMediaData.org 27

27. Some factors we are examining in the
Social Media Data Stewardship initiative…
Whether/how users’ privacy
expectations depend on …
1. Who is using their information?
2. For what purposes? and
3. What types of information?
@SMLabTO SocialMediaData.org 28
Our focus is on publicly
available social media data!

28. Outline
4.Research
Results
3. Group
Activity
2. Social
Media Data
Stewardship
1. About the
Social
Media Lab
@SMLabTO SocialMediaData.org 29

29. Focus of Today’s Workshop
@SMLabTO SocialMediaData.org 30
Who For what purpose What information

30. Examples of Social
Media Data Use
Facebook
Who
Block
inappropriate
content
For what purpose
Photos
What information
https://www.theverge.com/2017/4/5/15189618/facebook-revenge-porn-photo-
matching

31. Examples of Social
Media Data Use
Security
Agency
Who
Identify real
or potential
threats
For what purpose
Location-
based
information
What information
https://www.forbes.com/sites/kalevleetaru/2016/10/12/geofeedia-is-just-the-tip-
of-the-iceberg-the-era-of-social-surveillence/#10b6941a40e2

32. Examples of Social
Media Data Use
Car
insurance
company
Who
Price car
insurance
For what purpose
Facebook
posts and
likes
What information
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/nov/02/admiral-to-price-car-
insurance-based-on-facebook-posts

33. Group Activity
In a group, discuss user’s comfort level with a third-party accessing information about
them or posted by them publicly on social media based on:
Group1:Who
• Academic
researcher
• Marketer
• Financial institution
• Employer
• Journalist
• Government
• Legal professional
• …
Group2:Forwhatpurpose
• Credit check
• Insurance claim
• Public health
monitoring
• Law enforcement
• Political polling
• Suicide prevention
• Tenant application
review
• …
Group3:Whatinformation
• Posting frequency
• Location
• Photos
• Posts
• Topics
• Sentiments
• Communication
network
• Friends’ list
• …

34. Prompts
1. How do you think the public
would respond?
1. How do you foresee this data
sensitivity might change over
time?
1. Has this activity impacted your
thinking of how to handle
public social media data in your
research?
Activity
• In groups, you will be given
a social media activity deck
• Discuss the sensitivity and
comfort of social media
data with your group
• Place your groups’ answers
on the map

35. Get Involved!
Specialist Meeting (Toronto, July 27, 2017)
http://socialmediadata.org/2017/specialist-meeting/
Social Media LabVisiting Scholar Program
http://socialmedialab.ca/visit/
@SMLabTO SocialMediaData.org 38

36. Image Credit
• StartupDepot [CC BY-SA 4.0] viaWikimedia Commons
• https://www.flickr.com/photos/losangelesdistrict/4910928280
@SMLabTO SocialMediaData.org 39

37. TheEthics of Social
Media Data
Use for Research
Anatoliy Gruzd Jenna Jacobson Priya Kumar Philip Mai
@gruzd @jacobsonjenna @link_priya @phmai
40
Funded by: