“Heterogeneous couplings”: Operationalizing network perspectives to study science‐society interactions through social media metrics

Noortje Marres,Rodrigo Costas,Sarah de Rijcke

doi:10.1002/asi.24427

Abstract

AbstractSocial media metrics have a genuine networked nature, reflecting the networking characteristics of the social media platform from where they are derived. This networked nature has been relatively less explored in the literature on altmetrics, although new network‐level approaches are starting to appear. A general conceptualization of the role of social media networks in science communication, and particularly of social media as a specific type of interface between science and society, is still missing. The aim of this paper is to provide a conceptual framework for appraising interactions between science and society in multiple directions, in what we call heterogeneous couplings. Heterogeneous couplings are conceptualized as the co‐occurrence of science and non‐science objects, actors, and interactions in online media environments. This conceptualization provides a common framework to study the interactions between science and non‐science actors as captured via online and social media platforms. The conceptualization of heterogeneous couplings opens wider opportunities for the development of network applications and analyses of the interactions between societal and scholarly entities in social media environments, paving the way toward more advanced forms of altmetrics, social (media) studies of science, and the conceptualization and operationalization of more advanced science‐society studies.

Highlights

Social media objects would take the form of acts (e.g., tweets, mentions, shares, etc.), users (e.g., tweeters, bloggers, commentators, etc.), or specific socio-technical features (e.g., hashtags, likes, etc.) from social media platforms, interacting with science objects
In the seminal Altmetrics Manifesto (Priem, Taraborelli, Groth, & Neylon, 2010), altmetrics were conceptualized as both science filters and alternative forms of capturing impact outside the academia
These early propositions could be seen as instances of heterogeneous couplings, in which non-scientific elements would serve as filters of science objects, denoting reception, and interest beyond the academia itself

Summary

Introduction

Social media objects would take the form of acts (e.g., tweets, mentions, shares, etc.), users (e.g., tweeters, bloggers, commentators, etc.), or specific socio-technical features (e.g., hashtags, likes, etc.) from social media platforms, interacting with science objects. Based on the previous idea of two-mode networks of heterogeneous couplings, it is possible to suggest a further enlargement of the multiplicity of social media objects that can be combined with science objects.

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