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Deep Data: Analyzing Power and Influence in Social Media Networks

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Second International Handbook of Internet Research

Abstract

Social media network analysis (SMNA) is an interdisciplinary Internet studies methodology which uses computational methods to track, map, and analyze the conduct of social relationships on social networking and social media platforms. Increasingly SMNA is being used to explore the nature of online sociality and to address questions about communicative power and influence. This chapter explores SMNA’s history, principles, and epistemological foundations, uses, and analytical methods, with a critical focus on the dimensions of researchers’ access to, interpretation, and governance of social media datasets. Each section explores methodological problems that arise during the capture, filtering, interpretation, and representation of real-time data flows in transnational, commercialized social media streams. Centrally the chapter interrogates and explores how researchers can derive deeper, better culturally informed information from big data flows.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Media & Communications, University of Sydney, Camperdown, NSW, Australia

    Fiona Martin & Jonathon Hutchinson

Authors
  1. Fiona Martin
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  2. Jonathon Hutchinson
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Correspondence to Fiona Martin or Jonathon Hutchinson .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Wilfrid Laurier University, Waterloo, Ontario, Canada

    Jeremy Hunsinger

  2. IT University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark

    Lisbeth Klastrup

  3. Bldg. 209, 3rd Floor, Curtin University, Bentley, Western Autralia, Australia

    Matthew M. Allen

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Martin, F., Hutchinson, J. (2018). Deep Data: Analyzing Power and Influence in Social Media Networks. In: Hunsinger, J., Klastrup, L., Allen, M. (eds) Second International Handbook of Internet Research. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-024-1202-4_19-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-024-1202-4_19-1

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  • Print ISBN: 978-94-024-1202-4

  • Online ISBN: 978-94-024-1202-4

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