Passive crowdsourcing of social media in environmental research: A systematic map

TLDR

Social media data can enhance understanding of human‑environment interactions and inform conservation and environmental management. This study systematically maps the use of social media data in environmental research and identifies key development priorities such as data integration, quality assurance, ethics, and long‑term access. The authors conducted a systematic mapping review of 169 studies to chart how social media data are applied in environmental research. The review reveals that most studies focus on human behavior and perceptions, with Twitter and Flickr most frequently used, and that while the field offers large‑scale, real‑time insights, it also faces challenges of data heterogeneity, noise, bias, ethics, and uncertain future availability.

Abstract

The analysis of data from social media and social networking sites may be instrumental in achieving a better understanding of human-environment interactions and in shaping future conservation and environmental management. In this study, we systematically map the application of social media data in environmental research. The quantitative review of 169 studies reveals that most studies focus on the analysis of people's behavior and perceptions of the environment, followed by environmental monitoring and applications in environmental planning and governance. The literature testifies to a very rapid growth in the field, with Twitter (52 studies) and Flickr (34 studies) being most frequently used as data sources. A growing number of studies combine data from multiple sites and jointly investigates multiple types of media. A broader, more qualitative review of the insights provided by the investigated studies suggests that while social media data offer unprecedented opportunities in terms of data volume, scale of analysis, and real-time monitoring, researchers are only starting to cope with the challenges of data's heterogeneity and noise levels, potential biases, ethics of data acquisition and use, and uncertainty about future data availability. Critical areas for the development of the field include integration of different types of information in data mashups, development of quality assurance procedures and ethical codes, improved integration with existing methods, and assurance of long-term, free and easy-to-access provision of public social media data for future environmental researchers.