Bibliometric analysis of literature on social media trends during the COVID-19 pandemic

Rujing Xin · Yi Jing Lim

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scientometrics and bibliometrics research Misinformation and Its Impacts Communication and COVID-19 Impact

Abstract

Purpose This study employs bibliometric analysis to map the research landscape of social media trending topics during the COVID-19 pandemic. The authors aim to offer a comprehensive review of the predominant research organisations and countries, key themes and favoured research methodologies pertinent to this subject. Design/methodology/approach The authors extracted data on social media trending topics from the Web of Science Core Collection database, spanning from 2009 to 2022. A total of 1,504 publications were subjected to bibliometric analysis, utilising the VOSviewer tool. The study analytical process encompassed co-occurrence, co-authorship, citation analysis, field mapping, bibliographic coupling and co-citation analysis. Findings Interest in social media research, particularly on trending topics during the COVID-19 pandemic, remains high despite signs of the pandemic stabilising globally. The study predominantly addresses misinformation and public health communication, with notable focus on interactions between governments and the public. Recent studies have concentrated on analysing Twitter user data through text mining, sentiment analysis and topic modelling. The authors also identify key leading organisations, countries and journals that are central to this research area. Originality/value Diverging from the narrow focus of previous literature reviews on social media, which are often confined to particular fields or sectors, this study offers a broad view of social media's role, emphasising trending topics. The authors demonstrate a significant link between social media trends and public events, such as the COVID-19 pandemic. The paper discusses research priorities that emerged during the pandemic and outlines potential methodologies for future studies, advocating for a greater emphasis on qualitative approaches. Peer review The peer-review history for this article is available at: https://publons.com/publon/10.1108/OIR-05-2023-0194 .

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2009Users of the world, unite! The challenges and opportunities of Social Media 1983Positive Events and Social Supports as Buffers of Life Change Stress 1 2019Systematic Literature Review on the Spread of Health-related Misinformation on Social Media 2020COVID-19 and the 5G Conspiracy Theory: Social Network Analysis of Twitter Data 2007Which h-index? — A comparison of WoS, Scopus and Google Scholar 2020A bibliometric analysis using VOSviewer of publications on COVID-19 2011The use of Twitter hashtags in the formation of ad hoc publics 2020Chinese Public's Attention to the COVID-19 Epidemic on Social Media: Observational Descriptive Study

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