Social media in qualitative research: Challenges and recommendations

The emergence of social media on the Internet provides an opportunity for information systems researchers to examine new phenomena in new ways. However, for various reasons qualitative researchers in IS have not fully embraced this opportunity. This paper looks at the potential use of social media in qualitative research in information systems. It discusses some of the challenges of using social media and suggests how qualitative IS researchers can design their studies to capitalize on social media data. After discussing an illustrative qualitative study, the paper makes recommendations for the use of social media in qualitative research in IS.