Facebook History Collector: A New Method for Directly Collecting Data from Facebook

Current Research Methods Used To Collect Data From Sns

A comprehensive review by Wilson, Gosling, and Graham (2012) examined the social science literature on Facebook and other online social networks. Overall, the authors concluded that researchers have studied Facebook from several key perspectives: descriptive analyses of Facebook users, motivations for Facebook use, identity presentation, social interaction on Facebook, and privacy-information disclosure. Existing research has utilized different ways to explore research questions relevant to people’s use of Facebook. These include (a) surveys and self-reports, (b) user ratings of mock-up or existing Facebook profiles, and (c) analyses of content retrieved directly from social media platforms. All of these approaches have provided useful data collection techniques. For example, by applying the self-report method, researchers have contributed to a burgeoning body of literature that facilitates our understanding of how and why people use social networking. Successfully employed in experimental studies, the mock-up profile is another viable alternative. Yet, the ability of these methods to capture real-time social media interactions is limited.