Introduction to Social Media Research

Mrs Ashiya Abdool Satar is an academic in the Department of Communication Science at the University of South Africa (UNISA). She has diverse research interests that mirror her educational pursuits in the areas of organizational communication, media studies, inclusive education, and Open Distance and e-Learning (ODeL) in the Higher Education sector. Ashiya is currently involved in projects focusing on active youth citizenship, social justice, media identity and representation, public sector communication, and inclusive education, with a particular focus on the universal design for learning (UDL) approach. Prof Charmaine du Plessis is a Full Professor in the Department of Communication Science at Unisa and an NRF rated researcher. Apart from a PhD in Communication (UNISA), she also holds a Postgraduate Diploma in Marketing Management (UNISA) and a certificate in Brand Management (University of Cape Town). She has published and presented widely both locally and internationally. Some publications include papers in accredited journals and conference proceedings while she also contributed chapters to several books. She also supervises numerous Masters and Doctoral students. Prof du Plessis specialises in brand communication with a focus on content marketing on social media. She was a communication practitioner at the Department of Trade and Industry and a marketing and public relations practitioner at Unisa’s College of Human Sciences respectively before becoming an academic.

• Introduction to social media for research; Introduction to the social media research process; Prominent theoretical frameworks in social media research; Using a qualitative research approach in social media research; Using a quantitative research approach in social media research; Using a mixed methods approach in social media research; Sampling social media data; Collecting social media data; Analysing social media data; Ethical issues in social media research; Implications of new media data