Social Media Data and Tools

Tools that collect social media data:

• NCapture plug-in for NVivo
  • NCapture is a free web-browser extension for Chrome that enables researchers to gather web content--including data from YouTube, LinkedIn, websites, and online PDFs--to import into NVivo. 
  • When capturing data from Facebook for the first time, researchers need to authorize NCapture. 
  • Email datahelp@gmu.edu for help with NVivo.
  • *Due to the changes made to Twitter's API, NCapture can no longer function as designed with Twitter data.*

Advanced collection methods:

• Facebook Graph API
  • The Graph API is the primary way to get data into and out of the Facebook platform. It is an HTTP-based API that apps can use to programmatically query data, post new stories, manage ads, upload photos, and perform a wide variety of other tasks.
  • Researchers need to register as a Facebook Developer and create a Facebook App.

Other resources:

• Data Knowledge Hub for Monitoring Online Discourse
  • The Data Knowledge Hub for Monitoring Online Discourse (Data Knowledge Hub) is an initiative that aims to provide a central resource for researchers, social scientists, data scientists, journalists, practitioners, and policy makers interested in monitoring social media and online discourse more broadly.
• Social Media Research Toolkit
  • The Social Media Research Toolkit is a list of 50+ social media research tools curated by researchers at the Social Media Lab at Ted Rogers School of Management, Ryerson University. The kit features tools that have been used in peer-reviewed academic studies. Many tools are free to use and require little or no programming.