Social Media Research, Human Behavior, and Sustainable Society

Quan Li, Wenbo Wei, Nian Xiong, Daici Feng, Xinyue Ye and Yongsheng Jiang
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Quan Li: School of Resource and Environmental Sciences, Wuhan University, Wuhan 430079, China
Wenbo Wei: School of Resource and Environmental Sciences, Wuhan University, Wuhan 430079, China
Nian Xiong: School of Resource and Environmental Sciences, Wuhan University, Wuhan 430079, China
Daici Feng: School of Resource and Environmental Sciences, Wuhan University, Wuhan 430079, China
Xinyue Ye: Department of Geography, Kent State University, Kent, OH 44240, USA
Yongsheng Jiang: School of Statistics and Mathematics, Zhongnan University of Economics and Law, Wuhan 430073, China

Sustainability, 2017, vol. 9, issue 3, 1-11

Abstract: A bibliometric analysis was conducted to review social media research from different perspectives during the period of 2008–2014 based on the Science Citation Index and Social Science Citation Index database. Using a collection of 10,042 articles related to social media, the bibliometric analysis revealed some interesting patterns and trend of the scientific outputs, major journals, subject categories, spatial distribution, international collaboration, and temporal evolution in keywords usage in social media studies. The research on social media has been characterized by rapid growth and dynamic collaboration, with a rising number of publications and citation. Communication, Sociology, Public, Environment & Occupational Health, Business, and Multidisciplinary Psychology were the five most common categories. Computers in Human Behavior was the journal with the most social media publications, and Computers & Education ranked first according to the average citations. The two most productive countries were the U.S. and UK, delivering about half of the publications. The proportion of China’s internationally collaborative publications was the highest. The University of Wisconsin, the University of Michigan, and Harvard University were three most productive institutions. Several keywords, such as “Facebook”, “Twitter”, “communication”, “Social Networking Sites”, “China”, “climate change”, “big data” and “social support” increasingly gained the popularity during the study period, indicating the research trends on human behavior and sustainability.

Keywords: bibliometric analysis; social media; collaboration; human behavior; sustainable society (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2017
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (9)

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