Overview

There have been a number of calls for social media and other technology companies to share data with researchers for a wide variety of scholarly purposes. In particular, there is interest among researchers, policy makers, and the general public in how social media data can improve scholarly understanding of well-being. While social media data is typically logged for the purposes of providing digital services and not for the purposes of scholarly research, social media data has the potential to contribute to understanding of well-being when combined with other sources of data such as from surveys or other behavioral studies.

This pilot program aims to share certain Instagram data with independent academic researchers to use in conjunction with their own study data on social or emotional health. This pilot program will allow selected academic researchers to obtain consent from their study participants to share select data from their Instagram account(s). This pilot program will enable rigorous, transparent, and ethical research on the social and emotional health of teens and young adults.

The submission and review processes will be administered by the Center for Open Science (COS) with the substantive peer review managed by an academic Editorial Board convened by COS. Meta will not evaluate or be involved in the selection of submissions at any step in the process, except to respond to the data requests.

Using innovative methods from the open science movement to promote rigor and transparency of research, this pilot presents a new approach to industry-academia partnerships for accessing industry data.

Research Focus Areas

Proposed studies must fit into one or more of the following research areas to be considered for the pilot (see the RFP for details):

• Strength Comparisons. Studies investigating or comparing differences in potential positive and negative associations of Instagram use with other potential correlates of the social or emotional health of teens.
• National or Regional Comparisons. Studies investigating or comparing differences across countries or regions of the world in potential positive or negative associations of Instagram and other social media use with the social or emotional health of teens and young adults.
• Social, Cultural, and Contextual Understanding. Studies comparing differences across other large population groups in potential positive or negative associations of Instagram and other social media use with the social or emotional health of teens or young adults.
• Explanations for Observed Associations. Studies investigating why statistical relationships between Instagram and social or emotional health of teens or young adults might be observed.

If you have any questions, contact us at contactmetapilot@cos.io.