Issues in information behaviour on social media

Abstract

ABSTRACTBackground. Social media present a rich environment to study information behaviour, as much of the user interaction is recorded and stored in publicly accessible repositories and on personal devices.Objectives. This paper surveys the literature of the past nine years on information behaviour related to social media, focusing especially on social networking sites and online discussion forums. It reviews the characteristics of social media users and use, the predominant types of information behaviour, and new types of information found in user-contributed content.Results. Studies have found clear age, gender and national differences, and differences between local citizens and foreigners, in the frequency and purpose of social media use, the choice of social media sites, number of online friends, and types of information posted. Social media users typically share experiential and practical knowledge in the context of everyday life. Informational support provided by social media users is complemented with socio-emotional support. Predominant types of information behaviour include asking (i.e. request for information), answering with information, unsolicited information sharing, and information integration. Browsing and monitoring are important types of information seeking behaviour on social media. Users use a combination of information behaviours, information sources, and online as well as offline sources for information needs that are important to them.Conclusion. Social media are evolving into important sources of information that complement traditional information sources. They provide an opportunity to study types of information behaviour related to human interaction, that are difficult to study in physical environments.INTRODUCTIONSocial media applications have encroached into all areas of our lives, and are having a major impact on how we live, work, play, learn, socialize and vote! Social media in its various manifestations present a golden opportunity and rich environment to study information behaviour, as much of the information (in text, image and video format) are recorded and stored in publicly accessible repositories and on personal devices. Yet there is a paucity of social media research from the perspective of information behaviour.Information behaviour covers a wide range of user behaviour in relation to information and information systems, including information need generation, information creation, seeking, encountering, sharing, giving, assessment, management and use. These are studied in the context of different kinds of tasks in work, everyday and play environments. All these aspects of information behaviour can be studied in the context of social media use.Social media is a broad concept covering a wide range of Internet applications that support social communication between individuals (whether direct or indirect, synchronous or asynchronous), with an emphasis on:* interaction between users (i.e. conversation or dialogue),* user-generated content, and* building of online relationships and communities (adapted from Turban, King & Lang, 2011).They support all kinds of social interactions, mediated and captured by Internet applications including mobile applications. The online communities that evolve exhibit social and collaborative information behaviour that can be studied.Social media can also refer to the user-generated content resulting from the online social interaction. Blackshaw and Nazzaro (2004) referred to it as consumer-generated media (CGM) [that] describes a variety of new sources of online information that are created, initiated, circulated and used by consumers intent on educating each other about products, brands, services, personalities, and issues (p. 2). The user-generated content reflects information behaviour, but also contains information that users can search for, browse and consume. …