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Topic · Communication

Social Media and Politics

Social Media and Politics is a research topic within Communication. Science Explorer counts 53k research works in it since 1950. 9.9% of them reached the world's top 10% most cited for their field and year.

This cluster of papers explores the impact of digital media, particularly social media, on public discourse, political participation, and the concept of deliberative democracy. It delves into topics such as the digital divide, online communication, civic engagement, and the role of information technology in shaping the public sphere.

  • Social Media
  • Digital Divide
  • Political Participation
  • Deliberative Democracy
  • Online Communication
  • Media Use
  • Information Technology
  • Civic Engagement
  • Networked Individualism
  • Internet Access
Research works
53k
fractional, since 1950
In the world top 10%
5.3k
per year above
Top-10% rate
9.9%
share of its works in the world top 10%
Growth, 2018-21 → 2022-25
+9%
the tick is no change
Largest producer
United States
34% of the 10 largest, 2022-now
Social Media and Politics

Which countries lead Social Media and Politics research?

By volume, the United States and China publish the most (2.9k and 919 works in 2022-now).

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 United States 2.9k works
  2. 2 China 919 works
  3. 3 Germany 842 works
  4. 4 United Kingdom 755 works
  5. 5 Brazil 679 works
  6. 6 Spain 602 works
  7. 7 Türkiye 569 works
  8. 8 Indonesia 449 works
  9. 9 India 434 works
  10. 10 Australia 386 works

How concentrated that is

The same countries as shares of everything the list above accounts for. A node where two countries do two thirds of the work and one spread evenly across twelve read alike as a ranking and not at all alike here.

United States: 33.8%China: 10.8%Germany: 9.9%United Kingdom: 8.9%6 others listed: 36.7%34%largest
United States2,875 · 33.8%China919 · 10.8%Germany842 · 9.9%United Kingdom755 · 8.9%6 others listed3,119 · 36.7%

Shares of the rows listed above, not of the whole node.

Which institutions lead Social Media and Politics research?

By volume in 2022-now, University of Amsterdam publishes the most Social Media and Politics research, followed by University of Zurich and University of Vienna.

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 University of AmsterdamNetherlands 74 works
  2. 2 University of ZurichSwitzerland 56 works
  3. 3 University of ViennaAustria 54 works
  4. 4 Universidad Complutense de MadridSpain 51 works
  5. 5 Centre National de la Recherche ScientifiqueFrance 50 works
  6. 6 The University of Texas at AustinUnited States 48 works
  7. 7 University of HelsinkiFinland 47 works
  8. 8 University of MichiganUnited States 45 works
  9. 9 Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität MünchenGermany 44 works
  10. 10 Freie Universität BerlinGermany 44 works

Who are the leading researchers in Social Media and Politics?

The most-cited researchers publishing on Social Media and Politics include Dan J. Stein, Icek Ajzen and Albert-Ĺaszló Barabási.

  1. 1 Dan J. Stein South Africa 306k citations
  2. 2 Icek Ajzen United States 267k citations
  3. 3 Albert-Ĺaszló Barabási United States 223k citations
  4. 4 Harry Eugene Stanley United States 198k citations

Ranked by citations received across their whole record, among researchers with at least three works on this topic.

What are the most cited papers in Social Media and Politics?

The most cited paper in Social Media and Politics is "Social Network Sites: Definition, History, and Scholarship" (danah boyd, Nicole B. Ellison, 2007), with 16,252 citations. Next come "Framing: Toward Clarification of a Fractured Paradigm" (16,026) and "The Benefits of Facebook “Friends:” Social Capital and College Students’ Use of Online Social Network Sites" (9,954).

Most cited papers
#PaperReleasedCitations
1 Social Network Sites: Definition, History, and Scholarship danah boyd, Nicole B. Ellison · Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication Open access Oct 2007 16,252
2 Framing: Toward Clarification of a Fractured Paradigm Robert M. Entman · Journal of Communication Dec 1993 16,026
3 The Benefits of Facebook “Friends:” Social Capital and College Students’ Use of Online Social Network Sites Nicole B. Ellison, Charles W Steinfield, Cliff A.C. Lampe · Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication Open access Jul 2007 9,954
4 The Agenda-Setting Function of Mass Media Maxwell McCombs, Donald Lewis Shaw · Public Opinion Quarterly 1972 9,297
5 Social Media and Fake News in the 2016 Election Hunt Allcott, Matthew Aaron Gentzkow · The Journal of Economic Perspectives May 2017 6,749
All 100 most cited papers, with filters and sorting

Where is Social Media and Politics research done?

The largest centres of Social Media and Politics research in 2022-now are London (United Kingdom), Beijing (China), Madrid (Spain) and Istanbul (Türkiye). Among places with at least 20 works in it, it is an unusually large share of all research in Roskilde, Ariel and Mannheim.

Largest cities, 2022-now

  1. 1 LondonUnited Kingdom 180 works
  2. 2 BeijingChina 165 works
  3. 3 MadridSpain 151 works
  4. 4 IstanbulTürkiye 128 works
  5. 5 AmsterdamNetherlands 111 works
  6. 6 São PauloBrazil 111 works
  7. 7 New YorkUnited States 111 works
  8. 8 BerlinGermany 104 works
  9. 9 Hong KongChina 100 works
  10. 10 MoscowRussia 97 works

Where it is the local speciality

  1. RoskildeDK · 30.4 works14×
  2. ArielIL · 23.2 works14×
  3. MannheimDE · 37.2 works12×
← less than its size predicts1×more →

Location quotient: how much more of its research is in Social Media and Politics than the world average.

See Social Media and Politics on the map

Where is the best place to study Social Media and Politics?

Among universities, judged by research, University of Vienna, University of Amsterdam and Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München score highest, combining citation excellence, specialisation, size, growth and international reach. Research strength is one signal when choosing where to study; it does not measure teaching.

0%20%40%mean 24.3%fractional works in this field (log) →share of work in the world top 10% →University of ViennaUniversity of Amster…Ludwig-Maximilians-U…University of Zurich
above the meannear itbelow it

One dot per university in the first ten of the table below, at the default weights. The upper left is the interesting corner: small places doing unusually strong work.

Citation excellenceshare of its work in the world top 10%, 2022-now and all time averaged
40%
Specialisationhow much of its work is in this field, counted up to 10× the world share
10%
Sizeits output in this field, on a log scale
30%
Growthoutput growth, counted from -20% to +20%
10%
Internationalshare of its work with a co-author abroad
10%
Each slider sets a weight; the share it gets of the score is beside it.
#UniversityScoreTop 10%SpecialisationWorksGrowth
1University of ViennaAustria 87.528.6%8.7×54 +42.2%
2University of AmsterdamNetherlands 82.127.2%10.2×74 -29.0%
3Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität MünchenGermany 76.025.7%4.2×44 +31.3%
4University of ZurichSwitzerland 74.521.2%6.6×56 -3.9%
5Freie Universität BerlinGermany 71.120.4%8.6×44 +26.8%
6Stanford UniversityUnited States 69.926.7%2.0×37 +0.7%
7Nanyang Technological UniversitySingapore 69.427.0%2.8×28 -1.0%
8University of GroningenNetherlands 68.919.3%3.8×32 +25.6%
9Vrije Universiteit AmsterdamNetherlands 68.822.1%4.8×24 +35.6%
10Northeastern UniversityUnited States 68.424.8%5.2×20 +27.4%

Universities only. The score blends citation excellence (40%), size (30%), specialisation (10%), growth (10%), international reach (10%), 2022-now; growth compares 2018-21 with 2022-25 and counts up to +20%, since a jump from a small base is mostly noise.

Every institution in Social Media and Politics, country by country

Is Social Media and Politics research growing?

Output in 2022-2025 was 9% higher than in 2018-2021, peaking in 2023. The fastest-growing topics are Social Media and Politics.

still counting19801990200020102020
grewheldshrank

The same series as a ribbon: one cell per year, darker for more. The line above answers how much; this answers when.

Its share of all research

Growing output can still be a shrinking share: all of science grows. This is Social Media and Politics as a percentage of every work published that year, 0.062% in 2024.

still counting0.025%0.050%0.075%Social Media and Politics0.055% in 202519801990200020102020

Fractional works of Social Media and Politics over all fractional works that year. How the balance of science has shifted.

How much of it reaches the world top 10%

Year by year.

still counting5%10%15%Social Media and Politics10.0% in 2025200020102020

Of each year's works in it, the share that reached the world's 10% most cited for their field and year. A field is the world for its own topics, so there is no other line to hold it against.

Which topics inside it are moving

Growth and decline on one axis around a shared zero. Two lists side by side hide the thing that matters: whether the growth dwarfs the decline, or the other way round.

Questions people ask

Who researches social media and politics?

By volume in 2022-now, University of Amsterdam publishes the most Social Media and Politics research, followed by University of Zurich and University of Vienna. By volume, the United States and China publish the most (2.9k and 919 works in 2022-now).

All 1,273 questions in the Question Catalogue

Discussion

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