RISE_SMA · RISE Social Media Analytics

The purpose of RISE_SMA is to create an interdisciplinary, international network of excellent scholars and practitioners in the field of social media analytics (SMA). Given the ubiquity of social media, and the immense amount of new social media data continuously created, there is a growing need to derive meaningful insights from this “big” social data by combining different methods. Application areas range from crisis communication and political communication to marketing research and customer acquisition for businesses. The need for more interdisciplinary and international cooperation is especially evident in the two focus areas of RISE_SMA: crisis communication and the societal impact of social media. First, understanding the communication activities unfolding amongst ordinary citizens, and communicating crucial information to them in a timely and coordinated manner during a crisis is a prerequisite for the effective mitigation of its consequences. Practitioners in the field would benefit from more intensive collaboration with researchers, and researchers would benefit from better understanding the needs of decision-makers. At the same time, the wider impact of social media on society is still unclear. Recent advancements in technology have led to the emergence of new communication patterns; their impact and meaning have yet to be understood. On the one hand social media have been highlighted for enabling new forms of citizen engagement that strengthens civic participation at local and national levels, but on the other hand social media have been criticised for enabling the emergence of disconnected echo chambers in which political propaganda can circulate unchallenged. Hence, there is an urgent need for comprehensive concepts as well as methods which exist independent of particular current platforms and applications. Based on research in these fields, practical recommendations need to be derived and technical solutions need to be developed.