Research Guides: Media Accuracy, Media Bias, and Media Trends: Benefits of Social Media

Research Documenting the Potential Benefits of Social Media

Activism and Social Media: Youth Participation and Communication by Antonio Cortés-Ramos, Juan Antonio Torrecilla García, Miguel Landa-Blanco, Francisco Javier Poleo Gutiérrez and María Teresa Castilla Mesa
Publication Date: 2021
Sustainability
“In a hyperconnected world, youth participation in social movements becomes more relevant. Their interest is reflected in the enormous potential that this social participation of young people has through networks and virtual platforms, becoming an informal communication model with characteristics to be an effective vehicle for social transformation.”

Benefits and Harms of Social Media Use: A Latent Profile Analysis of Emerging Adults by Brian TaeHyuk Keum, Yu-Wei Wang, Julia Callaway, Israel Abebe, Tiana Cruz & Seini O’Connor
Publication Date: 2022
Current Psychology
“…regardless of which profile of social media use individuals fit within, it appeared that students who participated in our study experienced a combination of both beneficial and harmful outcomes associated with social media use.”

Can Social Media Participation Enhance LGBTQ+ Youth Well-Being? Development of the Social Media Benefits Scale by Shelley L. Craig, Andrew D. Eaton, Lauren B. McInroy, Vivian W. Y. Leung, and Sreedevi Krishnan
Publication Date: 2021 (January-March)
Social Media + Society
"Social media sites offer critical opportunities for lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans, queer, and other sexual and/or gender minority (LGBTQ+) youth to enhance well-being through exploring their identities, accessing resources, and connecting with peers. ... Younger adolescents were generally more likely to use social media for beneficial factors than older youth."

Twitter as a Tool for Social Movement: An Analysis of Feminist Activism on Social Media Communities. by Li, M., Turki, N., Izaguirre, C. R., DeMahy, C., Thibodeaux, B. L., & Gage, T.
Publication Date: 2021
Journal of Community Psychology, 49(3), 854-868.
“Study 2 followed up Study 1 to examine tweets that explicitly engaged in the digital/hashtag movements through discussions of relevant political and social issues or through suggestions to promoted social actions … Our findings suggested that users who actively engaged in the movement tended to share resources, express their views on political issues, and to promote certain social actions (e.g., protest and vote).”

Who Benefits Most from Using Social Media, the Socially Rich or the Socially Poor? by Pouwels, J. L., Keijsers, L., & Odgers, C.
Publication Date: 2022
Current Opinion in Psychology
“… accessibility of social media forms the basis of the rich-get-richer hypothesis: Individuals who already have a rich offline social network are particularly likely to use social media as an avenue to further strengthen their social capital … In contrast, according to the poor-get-richer hypothesis, socially poor individuals, who may have the most to gain from online interactions, should benefit the most from social media use in terms of (online) social capital.”