Social Media Assessments around the Globe

Social media is an ever-increasing aspect of the internet presence and daily life. Despite certain challenges in defining the construct, researchers have realized the possibility that social media can allow for the measurement and assessment of a wide variety of variables. Throughout the ever-growing number of social media sites and apps across countries and languages, there is an abundance of formats that researchers can utilize, such as photo, text, location, video, and more. In this book chapter, we conducted a literature search and identified four constructs that are most frequently studied using social media (i.e., personality, emotion/affect/mood, life satisfaction, and political views). We then summarized a list of studies that use social media to investigate these four constructs. Additionally, social media offers unique opportunities for researchers to assess various cross-cultural data, which can present its own challenges. We also provide examples of the potential opportunities and challenges, as well as ethical and technical considerations for researchers to keep in mind.