Exploring Scholarly Trends in Social Media Research Involving Older Adults Through Bibliometric Analysis and Topic Modeling

This research provides a comprehensive analysis of the research terrain concerning the intersection of social media and older adults. Through bibliometric analysis this research explores the existing literature on the subject, identifies key scholars in the field, provides insight into the historical context, present trends, and potential areas for future research. From the web of science data base, we retrieved 1211 articles. The analysis posits that the scholarly endeavours in the field of social media and older adults kick started in 2009, attaining zenith in 2023. Concurrently, citations per year hit an all-time high during the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020 with 3226 citations. Norm O’Rouke emerged as the leading researcher in the field. Notably, the United States has been the most prolific contributor to the research investigating the intersection between older adults and social media. Meanwhile, Germany distinguished as the most extensive research collaborator on the subject. Abstract clustering using topic modeling indicates that scholars in this field may delve into the topics such as dementia, pain management, COVID-19 related issues and psychological well-being to enhance comprehension on the social media adoption among older adults. Additionally, emerging topics like TikTok and misinformation (fake news) appear to be the novel dimensions to incorporate. The insights from this bibliometric analysis aim to assist researchers, especially those at the inception of their exploration into social media penetration among older adults. These insights can further guide in determining specific areas within the field to concentrate on, identifying dimensions to explore, and selecting potential collaborators for research endeavours.