SOSYAL MEDYA EKSENLİ İLETİŞİM ARAŞTIRMALARI: KONULAR, KURAMLAR, YÖNTEMLER

Today, social media research occupies an important place in the communication discipline. The most likely reason for this is that with the increasing prevalence of social media, communication scholars have turned their attention to this area. This study focuses on social media research in the communication discipline. The aim of the study is to reveal research trends and patterns of social media-based communication research. To achieve this, the study analyzes 120 articles published between 2011 and 2020 in academic journals indexed in Web of Science and with a high number of citations. By using qualitative content analysis technique, each article was examined and coded under six categories: (i). primary topic of the study, (ii). use of theories or theoretical models, (iii). types of sample, (iv). research methods, (v). social media platform, (vi). research area/locations. The findings help to understand general research trends and patterns in social media research conducted in the communication discipline.