C05 - The Use of Social Media in Research: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

Social media are pervasive and fully integrated into the lives of many individuals. Accordingly, they are excellent tools for researchers, not only in terms of recruiting and communicating with participants, but also as a rich source of data. That said, social media is a collective term for a range of online tools that are constantly evolving, making it tricky for IRBs and researchers to stay on top of the issues related to human subjects protections. Further, much of the public may not fully understand who can see the information they post and how that information may be used by researchers. Speakers will explore topics such as what is human subjects data on social media, legal or contractual issues, private-public continuum considerations, recruitment and informed consent issues (including around the use of social media by participants), data identifiability, and risk assessment.