social media trends research paper

• Open access
• Published: 15 February 2024

Emerging trends in social media marketing: a retrospective review using data mining and bibliometric analysis

• Abu Bashar 1 ,
• Mohammad Wasiq 2 ,
• Brighton Nyagadza   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0001-7226-0635 3 , 4 &
• Eugine Tafadzwa Maziriri 5  

Future Business Journal volume  10 , Article number:  23 ( 2024 ) Cite this article

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Metrics details

The study conducts a comprehensive retrospective analysis of the social media marketing literature along with text mining and bibliometric analysis using data obtained from the Scopus database. The analysis is conducted for the literature published during 2007–2022 using VOSviewer application and Biblioshiny. The analysis revealed the publication trend and emerging themes in the research landscape of social media marketing. This study has pointed towards important theoretical and practical implications pertaining to the social media marketing. It contributes to the understanding of social media marketing research by identifying and listing the best journal, authors, country, documents, most occurred words, social and intellectual structure, and emerging research trends. The results revealed that social media marketing research is at the focal point of the researchers throughout the word. This study found that there are lack of studies from firm perspective especially small retailers; adoption of disruptive technologies such as AI, ML and block chain and its impact need more exploration.

Introduction

The term social media came in limelight in the early 1990s, and now, it became an inseparable entity of almost every individual having an estimated 2 billion + active users globally [ 24 ]. Social media is a dorm of computer-based programme that allows users to connect, create and share information and exchange views and ideas via specific virtual communities and groups (Aydin 2020). The advancement in technology especially mobile applications and cloud-based analytics had enabled firms to offer and connect to their customers in real time. The proliferation of e-commerce web and mobile applications gives rise to the tremendous growth of social media networks and has transformed the ways of communication between business and consumers who generally shares common interests and demographics [ 144 ]. Social media marketing can be regarded as a form of online marketing, and it has seen manifold growth in the recent past. The marketers are leveraging on social media platform to reach, interact, offer, and transact with their probable customers.

Many firms and brands are relying on the word-of-mouth marketing, and social media had played instrumental role in spreading word of mouth among their customers in a rapid manner that was never before. Additionally, the firms are leveraging social media network platform to expand globally [ 144 ]. Social media has influenced the way consumers were searching for information, evaluating them, and making purchase decision. Moreover, social media became an inseparable integral part of businesses to sustain in this digital disruptive world. The accessibility, ease of use, real-time bound activities and global reach have made social media as a unique marketing tool. Social media enables firm to create a virtual unique platform to mark their online presence, communicate with their target customers and engage with them to increase their revenue [ 90 ]. The increasing importance of social media as a marketing tool has attracted scholars especially researchers in the domain of online buying behaviour in the last decade. Therefore, existing literature on social media marketing is being continuously reviewed by scholars to understand the current trends and suggest the future directions. In recent years, researchers have studied the importance of social media in marketing from various aspects of its application. Few of the important bibliometric studies on social media marketing are mainly focussing on the social networks and platforms. Social media platforms and its role in the evolution and performance of social enterprise conducted by revealed that proper social media strategy is not only helping in increasing revenue and profitability, but also fostering confidence among the consumers. Similarly, bibliometric analysis on the pattern of co-creation , influencers , sentiments and stock market predictions and interactive digital marketing in the context of social media is conducted over the recent few years.

None of the current studies have focussed on the overall role, i.e. integrating and analysing studies focussed on behavioural intentions, impulse purchases, customer engagement, customer loyalty and recommender management of social media in the marketing landscape. The recent advancement in the mobile-based applications had forced the organizations to adopt marketing tools which are readily available to the consumers in real time [ 13 ]. This study is an attempt to gather quality articles pertaining to the marketing applications of social media and analyse its effectiveness as a marketing tool. This article will help the academicians to have a holistic idea about the research trends in social media marketing that will prove conducive to design marketing strategies for industry practitioners. To the best of our knowledge, such comprehensive review of social media as a marketing tool has never been conducted.

The rest of the article is organized as follows. The next section is based on the review of literature. The research methodology adopted for this study is described in section “ methods ”. Section “ Results ” is based on the data analysis and its interpretation, while limitations of this study and future research directions are presented in section “ Discussion ”. Conclusion is made in section “ Conclusions ”.

Review of literature

The current trends of the marketing research in the social media domain predicts that the traditional marketing is going to be entirely disrupted by the adoption of social media-based marketing. The marketing activities such as advertising, promotional programmes and branding seem to be entirely designed and applied using social media tools [ 144 ]. Social media adoption is on rise because of its wide presence in the masses and its easiness of access and operate. Therefore, social media became the first choice of the marketers to promote their products and services to reach to their target audience [ 39 ].

Social media is a specialized software application that connect people in an online environment, where they can interact with each other, share contents and their feedback in the relevant groups about their experiences with a brand or organization [ 137 ]. The marketers realized the importance of social media marketing and started using them as an integral part of their overall marketing strategies [ 89 ]. Social media platforms enable consumers to freely interact with their fellow users on these applications and discuss openly about the advantages or disadvantages of the products [ 20 , 80 ]. So, marketers look at social media as an opportunity to build their brand image and positively position their products in the mind of their target audience [ 123 ]. The word of mouth of the consumers is also of great concern for the firms, as it may harm the brand positioning if not managed in an appropriate manner [ 141 ].

Various social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat and LinkedIn are being used by companies based on their target audience and the products they promote. As noted by [ 74 ], Snapchat is more favourite among youths, LinkedIn is more useful for reaching to mature professionals, so the marketers are selecting the platforms that suits their marketing strategy. The literatures shows that social media users are reacting more on interactive advertising rather than informational one, and it promotes interactions and cultivates the in-group messaging among the users of a particular social media platform [ 11 ].

The synthesis of the recent literatures reveals that opinion leader is playing a crucial role around the online space, so the organizations need to select carefully their leaders who can foster confidence about the firm and positive image of the brands [ 25 ]. Moreover, content is the bone of the social media marketing, and marketers need to carefully select, design and present to their markets. The emotional appeals in the messaging and overall content have been found more influential as customers has responded more often as compared to any other appeals in the social media marketing space [ 92 , 109 ]. In a similar study, it has been found that consumers are finding live videos streaming more trustworthy and authentic as compared to pre-recorded videos [ 23 ].

Therefore, it can be concluded that social media marketing is having a greater impact on the firm, and it can bring variety of positive and negative outcomes. Studies have shown that social media marketing is having positive and substantial impact on the consumer behaviour and especially on consumer retention [ 52 ]. The social media marketing efforts also play an important role in shaping the positive purchase intentions [ 144 ], brand meaning [ 58 ], brand loyalty [ 128 ], brand sustainability (X. [ 142 , 143 ], hotels [ 76 ], luxury brands [ 10 ], educational institutions [ 83 ], brand equity [ 63 ], positive electronic word of mouth [ 87 ], intention to engage online[ 127 ], etc.

Previous review studies on social media marketing and its effectiveness highlighted important aspects of its applications in marketing processes. Review studies have either used a specific database like web of science/Scopus [ 7 , 93 ] or studied a specific relationship such as brand–consumer interaction [ 101 ] in the context of social media marketing. Moreover, previous review studies focussed on specific applications such as evolving trends in Facebook marketing [ 94 ], a comprehensive comparative review of social media and social networks [ 144 ] and rise of social media in sports [ 78 ]. Moreover, previous studies reviewed the influence and effectiveness of social media for a specific sector/industry such as medical [ 90 ], tourism [ 78 ], hospitality and business-to-business applications as a digital mediation [ 68 ]. There is a lack of studies which has comprehensively mapped the marketing applications of social media and measured its effectiveness using bibliometric analysis. This study is an attempt to holistically examine the applications and effectiveness of social media as a marketing tool using state-of-the-art bibliometric analysis.

The development and probable future trends of a field of study can be analysed using various review techniques that can fulfil the specific objective of research. A systematic literature review (SLR) is conducted to identify, analyse, evaluate and summarize the overall findings of research in a field; it focusses on the methodological approach, theoretical framework, etc. [ 95 ]. Meta-analysis is an empirical statistical technique which combines the results of multiple studies on a given problem and then estimate the overall effect and direction of the relationship (Hassan) [ 14 , 48 , 86 , 104 , 106 ]. While bibliometric technique is a computer-assisted methodology that helps in measuring performance by identifying the core theme, sub-themes, prolific authors, most influential country, intellectual and social structure of the research [ 6 , 48 ]. For current study, bibliometric research design is adopted to fulfil the objectives of the study which helps in identifying the major trends in social media marketing using network analysis techniques [ 135 ]. It is one of the most used research methods which enables analysis of large volume of data to statistically estimate and visualize the research trends in a particular field of study [ 103 ]. This method is widely employed by other researchers in analysis and predicting the future expansion of research in a particular domain of research [ 12 ], Hassan, [ 49 , 62 , 104 , 106 ].

This review is conducted in two steps; first, the descriptive analysis such as the trend of research publication, best authors and top journals of the social media research is presented and then co-citation and co-occurrence analysis are presented. For descriptive analysis, Biblioshiny applications of R is used; it allows researchers to explore their data and run descriptive analysis and present them in an intuitive tabular and graphic form [ 5 ]. While for co-citation and co-occurrence analysis, VOSviewer software application is employed, it is a tool which produce output in network form—the networks are the combinations of various clusters that enables researchers to find the trending themes and sub-themes in a given area of research [ 126 ].

Scopus database is used for searching and downloading articles based on the applications of social media in marketing. The TITLE-ABS-KEY was searched using most appropriate keywords pertaining to the application of social media in marketing. The keywords such as “Social media marketing”, “Social networking sites”, “Social media platforms”, “Facebook marketing”, “Social network advertising”, “Social media purchasing”, and “digital marketing using social media” were searched using variety of combinations of Boolean operators (AND/OR) syntax. The inclusion of articles is based on certain criteria such as span of publication during (2007–2022), written in English language, must be either research article or reviews, and most importantly, the main theme of the literature must be on the application of social media as a marketing tool.

First search results in 2753 research articles, which are then carefully investigated for the defined inclusion criteria, book chapters, conference papers, short notes, editorial notes, etc., were removed. Literatures published in languages other than English were removed. Then, the researchers looked at tittle and abstract of each article to make sure that the central idea of research is based on the aspects of social media as a marketing tool. The final sample consists of 1232 articles, which then exported in .CSV format for further processing and analysis.

The following table is a snapshot of the data used in this bibliometric analysis.

This dataset consists of 1232 articles out of which 1183 are research articles and 83 reviews articles as presented in Table  1 . There are 58,528 references cited in these studies and the average citations per documents stands at 23.23. These papers were published by 562 sources and written by 2953 authors. It is worth noting that 2994 authors have published on social media marketing, while only 173 documents are single-authored, and all other documents are multi-authored. Documents per author is 0.411, while 2.43 authors are there per document; it shows strong collaborations among authors and collaboration index stands at 2.71.

The following section presents the descriptive analysis of data that is conducted using the Biblioshiny application. The .CVS file of the final data was uploaded on web service provided by Biblioshiny called bibliometrix application for further analysis.

Annual publications

The trends of publication over the years are depicted in Fig.  1 ; it is obvious that this area of research started in the mid of 2000s that signifies the importance of adoption of social media tools for marketing activities. Since then, there have been an exponential increase in the number of publications. From 2015 onwards, there were substantial research for understanding the effectiveness of social media as a marketing tool. As we see that there are already 65 articles published by November 2022—at the time of data extraction for this study. The trend shows that there will be continued research efforts to unveil the various aspects of social media marketing that can help marketers to understand consumer behaviour and make winning marketing strategies.

Annual publication trends in applications of social media in marketing

From thematic perspective, the trend can be further classified into themes which have been identified from the analysis. The early age (2000–2009) of social media marketing can be attributed to its application in advertising on social media platforms and network. This era also fuelled the development of customer groups and community where customers can interact and express their views about brands. Adoption of disruptive technologies defines trends from 2010 to 2017; during this period, smart recommendation systems, automatic feedback analysis and grievance redressal mechanisms introduced on social media. The human machine interaction signifies the trends from 2018 till date. The introduction of social robots, integration of augmented and virtual reality, real-time behavioural intelligence and super personalization can be treated as emerging themes.

Influential sources

Table  2 illustrates the most important journals publishing on the applications of social media in marketing. Top 20 journals based on total number of publications along with their total citations, and indices of h, g and m are presented.

The “Journal of Research in Interactive Marketing” is the most productive journal which has published 56 articles and been cited by 1841 times. This journal is the top-notch source in the production and dissemination of research based on interactive marketing. Few of the important themes of this journal over the years are social media influencers [ 131 ], personalization [ 97 ], adoption of disruptive technologies such as artificial intelligence and machine learning for web personalization [ 50 ] and customer experience [ 4 ], brand–consumer interaction using social media [ 131 ].

The second influential journal publishing on social media marketing is “Journal of Business Research”. This journal published 25 quality articles and been cited 2207 times. This is interesting to note that it has published articles less than half of the “Journal of Research in Interactive Marketing” but cited more often than that. This journal has contributed in the comprehension of the phenomenon of social media marketing by publishing on important aspects such as fake news and social media marketing [ 30 ], social media and brand equity [ 145 ], customer engagement via social media [ 40 ] and use of social media for B2B marketing [ 122 ].

Sustainability (Switzerland) is the third most important source that publishes on social media marketing. It has published 20 articles and attracted only 197 citations since its starting publications. This journal is publishing important aspects of social media-based marketing such as implementation of green marketing using social media [ 85 ], impact of social media on environmental sustainability [ 27 ], digital co-creation [ 22 ] and role of social media in organizational sustainability [ 138 ].

The other journals in the list have also contributed immensely to the growth of social media marketing research and its implications for the businesses.

Most prolific authors

The most prolific authors researching and publishing on social media marketing are presented in Table  3 ; this selection is based on the number of papers published by an author over the period, and their total citations and h-index are also presented for a better comprehension. The first author in the list is Kumar V; he has published six quality articles on the applications of social media tools in marketing. Some of the most influential articles published are “Engaging luxury brand consumers on social media”, “Synergistic effects of social media and traditional marketing on brand sales: capturing the time-varying effects”, “Creating a measurable social media marketing strategy: Increasing the value and ROI of intangibles and tangibles for Hokey Pokey”, “Increasing the ROI of social media marketing” and “An evolutionary road map to winning with social media marketing”. All the above-mentioned articles are focussing on specific marketing applications of social media. The second author in the list is Dwivedi YK with four papers and 718 citations and with an h-index of 4. The important articles published are “Examining the impact of social commerce dimensions on customers’ value cocreation: The mediating effect of social trust”, “Measuring social media influencer index- insights from Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram”, and “Social media marketing: Comparative effect of advertisement sources”. With four publications and 664 citations, Rana NP is the third most influential authors in the research domain of social media marketing. The most influential literature published by Rana NP is “Do Social Media Marketing Activities Improve Brand Loyalty? An Empirical Study on Luxury Fashion Brands”, “Social media marketing: Comparative effect of advertisement sources”, “social media in marketing: A review and analysis of the existing literature”. Rana NP has authored various articles in collaboration with Dwivedi YK as well.

Most important documents

Table 4 presents the top research papers published on the application of social media in marketing. These papers are listed based on their number of citations it has attracted over the years. The top document is written by Kozinets RV and focussed on the importance of the virtual online crowd, where consumers come together to discuss, share their opinion that results in collective innovation. Moreover, this paper emphasizes on the proliferation of networking technology that made online collaboration easy to access and interact; technologies help innovation to take new heights that ultimately impact the consumption patterns of the consumers. This paper has been cited 1077 times with an annual average of 83.

The second influential document found in this dataset is about social media marketing that was published in 2012 and cited 996 times by then. This paper has analysed the importance of social media in marketing from important aspects such as self-expression, socializing, brand interactions and the social communities that have substantial influence on the consumer purchasing intentions and purchasing behaviour. In addition, this paper also touches the importance of the impulsive buying activities on social media platforms; consumers are getting intimated with intuitive advertisements on social media platforms and landing to the e-commerce websites that instigate impulse shopping urges [ 13 ].

The paper published by Journal of Business Research and written by Kim AJ stands third in the list of most influential articles. This paper has investigated the role of social media in enhancing the customer equity with a special focus on luxury fashion brands. This paper was published in 2012 and attracted 904 citations by then. This paper explored the influence of social media marketing activities on customer perceived value, brand equity and customer equity. The findings favour the proposition that customer equity is highly enhanced by social media marketing activities.

The other documents in the list have also been contributed to the understanding and expansion of the area of social media marketing research. Few of the important themes discussed in these papers are measuring ROI of social media, creative social media marketing activities, online reviews, user-generated contents, influencer marketing, etc.

Most productive countries

The countries contributed most to the research stream of social media marketing are illustrated in Table  5 . The countries are selected based on the number of citations of their articles. The greatest number of research articles are contributed by USA; it has produced 222 research papers, and these papers have been cited 7065 times with an average article citation of 31.82. It indicates the adoption of social media as a marketing tool in the USA; the researchers are studying the underlying factors which are crucial to understand consumer behaviour in the space of social media marketing activities.

Moreover, it also indicates that countries having better networking facilities and high bandwidth internet can exploit the advantages of social media marketing more efficiently than the countries not at par in terms of internet and networking facilities. The other two important countries are UK and China with 3195 and 1674 citations, respectively. It can be noticed that there is huge disparity among top 3 countries in terms of publications and number of times it had been cited. Nevertheless, the trend is showing that the proliferation of internet technology and availability of high-quality internet will boost the adoption of social media among users and social media marketing among the business firms.

Citation analysis of the documents

Citation analysis is the method of assessing the quality and impact of an organization, author, source, etc., derived from the quantitative analysis of the citations to references [ 103 ]. VOSviewer application is employed for this purpose, and minimum number of citations of a document was kept 10. The network thus obtained contains four clusters based on the grouping of a specific theme in social media marketing (Fig. 2 ).

Citation analysis of documents

The largest cluster (red) of the network is made up of 134 documents and consists of large nodes which specifies the greater number of citations these documents received over the time. The important aspects of social media marketing in this cluster are mainly focussed on the information processing that can be further used to make strategies pertaining to the social media consumers [ 88 ]; analysis of the online conversation among users is of enormous importance because it is crucial in affecting the consumer behaviour either positively or negatively about the firm and its products [ 2 , 31 , 66 ]. B2B semantics is useful for understanding the deep inside thoughts of the firms and their leaders that ultimately shapes their behaviour [ 34 , 128 ]. In addition, the application of big data analytics tools is for processing and analysing the large amount of data to learn pattern of consumer interaction and activities on the social media network platforms [ 55 , 74 , 110 ]. Another important consideration in this cluster is about the use of sentiment analysis and opinion mining for managing the expectations of the consumers and offering them most customized products as per their unique needs.

The green cluster, second major in the network, is made of 93 documents. This cluster of this citation network is found to accumulate documents that addressed the research concerns of consumer behaviour from the perspective of social media marketing. The role of social media-based marketing in shaping the consumer intention to purchase [ 37 , 84 , 123 ], the impact of personalized content and its impact on consumer behaviour [ 19 , 140 ], consumer social media participation and its impact on overall profitability of the firm [ 26 , 29 ], persuasive advertisement and its impact on customer engagement [ 42 , 67 , 113 ].

Third cluster (blue) consists of 69 documents on various important aspects of the social media marketing from the perspective of customer engagement. The documents which have formed the basis of this cluster are essentially addressing the concepts of mutual sustainable relationship between customers and e-retailers are perceived value that a customer assessed about the product of services that meets their unique expectations [ 44 , 82 ]. The service quality on the shopping websites and applications is crucial to persuade customers to revisit and explore which ultimately increase the chances of customer engagement, while poor service quality demoralizes customers and decreases the level of engagement significantly [ 34 , 133 , 134 ]. In addition, customer experience that includes important factors such as personalization, tailoring of offers to match unique expectation of customers, are substantial in the course of customer engagement [ 116 , 123 ]. Customer engagement cannot be achieved if customer satisfaction is not central to a firm, and it must be the prime focus, and marketers needs to make all possible efforts to not only satisfy, but also delight their target customers [ 33 , 41 , 43 ].

Keyword co-occurrence analysis

The keyword co-occurrence analysis can be referred to as a method of analysing the similarities and proximity between knowledge structure that is based on the semantics of the words which are closely related but not exactly the same [ 13 ]. For this analysis, VOSviewer software is employed, and it is among the best tools for scientific data visualization and mapping of co-occurrence of similar keywords to discover the emerging trends in a specific area of research [ 12 ].

The criteria for a keyword to be included in the network was that a keyword must have a frequency of at least 15. The frequency of occurrence is set as 15, to make sure the inclusion of significant keywords that can help in visualizing the scientific landscape. The network thus obtained is based on 235 keywords out of 4061 and presented in Fig.  3 . This network is based on three specific clusters having combined keywords pertaining to a specific aspect of the social media marketing.

Keywords co-occurrence analysis

The largest cluster of the network is represented by red colour and consists of 110 keywords. This cluster is made up of keywords that signifies the importance of technology in social media marketing and social networks. This cluster also explains the importance and adoption of disruptive technologies in the application of social media in marketing activities. The role of artificial intelligence [ 57 , 73 , 130 ], machine learning [ 72 , 74 , 109 ], learning algorithms [ 9 , 31 , 121 ], sentiment analysis [ 109 ], learning systems [ 9 , 130 ], CRM tools [ 29 , 125 ], customer interactions [ 42 , 117 ], customer reviews [ 116 , 124 ] and recommender applications [ 98 , 112 ] has been studied over the period to implement them efficiently for better business outcome. Moreover, this cluster is having important implications for the designers, developers, and implementers of the social media marketing campaigns; it is crucial for the organizations to first collect the large amount of data resulting from the customer exploration of their web portals and process them to learn the trends and expectations of the consumers. This comprehension can further be used to design marketing efforts across the channels to reach to target markets, motivate them to interact over social media and engage into activities that can lead to profitable business transactions.

The second largest cluster (green) consists of 64 keywords; careful analysis of this cluster reveals that this cluster has combined the keyword which is centred around consumer behaviour on social media platforms. The important perspectives of consumer behaviour that can be visualized in this cluster are perceived value [ 79 , 129 ], purchase intentions [ 52 , 99 , 100 ], brand value [ 17 , 115 ], brand loyalty [ 10 , 133 ], brand image [ 107 , 114 ], ethics [ 28 , 91 ], green behaviour [ 10 , 130 ], sustainability aspects [ 99 , 130 ], millennials [ 10 , 34 , 35 ], generation [ 39 , 118 ], and customer engagement [ 99 , 107 , 140 ]. Therefore, it is quite evident that social media tools are being used in almost all facets of consumer behaviour; the above studies also concluded that the use of social media marketing tools has a positive and substantial impact on consumer behaviour.

The third and last cluster (blue) of this network is made of 51 items. This cluster has accumulated keywords which are focussed on the human aspects of social media marketing. As it is obvious from the network that the largest node in this cluster is “human” and “humans”, which specifies the interaction of machine, i.e. computers with human [ 36 , 58 , 139 ]. The human computer interface is a trending research stream in social media marketing, where efforts are made to understand the best practices to interact with computers in a more efficient manner [ 129 , 136 ]. The another important concept in this cluster is about psychology which is quite important for the marketers to understand the cognitive process of consumer when presented with marketing stimuli using social media marketing tools [ 59 , 117 ]. Few other keywords which dominated this cluster are health education and monitoring health using social media applications [ 28 ], young adults [ 81 , 130 ], selection of advertising topics [ 1 , 51 ], etc.

Trends in social media marketing

The network analysis helps in the identifications of emerging trends in the research of social media marketing. The social media networks allow users to interact and share their thoughts and experience with a brand which in turn helps in viral marketing [ 120 ]. The possibility of sharing podcast and video contents has fuelled the interactivity among users [ 15 ]. The reviews and feedback are of enormous importance for the marketers to listen the voice of the customers and adapt accordingly [ 54 ].

One of the major trends is about real-time personalization on the social networks; the recommender system is recommending most sought-after products to the customer in real-time web exploration. The personalization in real time is achieved using technologies such as artificial intelligence, machine learning and predictive analytics that helps in gaining deeper insights into behavioural intentions [ 3 , 96 ].

The introduction of augmented reality and virtual reality is another latest trend that have revolutionized the way marketing was being carried out using social media networks. The augmented reality has enabled the customers to virtually look at desired aspects such as suitability, colour combinations, fittings and virtual trials [ 39 ]. It gives consumers the confidence to immediately decide to purchase and quick gratifications [ 119 ]. The impulse purchasing mechanism is also trending on social media platforms; the firms are appropriately designing and putting across their offerings that creates urge to buy impulsively [ 61 ].

Influencer marketing and brand endorsement are not a new trend, but it is one of the major trends that is going to stay for a while. The brands are associating with influencers who have huge followers and witnessed better results as good as running paid advertisement campaigns [ 39 ].

Live streaming has been adopted by various firms to reach to specific segments of their target markets using webinar or a platform showcase [ 18 ]. It gives them opportunity to socialize and interact with prospective customers and engage with them through Q & A sessions or collaborative contents [ 18 ].

Themes and sub-themes in social media marketing

The detailed analysis of the networks of citations and keyword co-occurrence analysis helps in identifying themes and sub-themes which are emerged from the clusters of the network. Table 6 is representing the main themes and sub-themes along with related studies.

Each research study is having certain limitations and so as this one. One of the major limitations is about citation bases analysis; the selection of articles is based on the number of citations it has received. There might be important studies on social media that may have not been included in the analysis because it did not receive many citations. Moreover, we selected research literature written in English language and either article or review paper; there might be quality articles that left behind.

As far as future direction of research is concerned, it is obvious that social media marketing is evolving at ever high pace and there is a need for deeper investigation into this phenomenon. Careful investigation of the networks unveils important areas of future research expansion. First, the adoption of social media among consumers, what are the factors that hinders the usage of social media and technological barriers that restricts the customers to use social media are needed to be explored further. Studies have shown that one of biggest barrier in the adoption of social networks and platforms is the availability of high speed affordable internet networks [ 132 ]. Therefore, TAM model needed to be revisited from social media perspective, and additional components can be added to understand the adoption of technology and social media applications. A versatile model could be developed that can be used in variety of technology adoption scenarios and can be generalized in various environments. There is a need of study to understand the firm capabilities required and preparedness to adopt social media marketing practices.

The second important area of research is from the firm perspective; still it is not very much clear that how disruptive digital transformation and technologies such as artificial intelligence, Internet of Things, machine learning, deep learning, etc., can be implemented to get maximum ROI and that can persuade consumers to transact with them. Studies have focussed on artificial intelligence applications such as recommendation system which is positively influencing the consumer behaviour especially purchase intention [ 10 , 53 ]. The future studies can help in building a comprehensive model that could be used by the firm to evaluate their investment, ROI, perceived value to customer and overall consumer behaviour.

Thirdly, there is a lack of study on the influence of social media marketing on small retail firms. More studies are warranted to seek clarity about the effectiveness of social media as a marketing tool for smaller firm, which social media tool and tactics will be more advantageous for these firms. Researchers are also encouraged to empirically explore the small retailer’s perspective of adopting social media tools for their marketing activities. There shall be a mechanism to gauge the outcome of social media marketing on their brand awareness, customer growth, sales, and overall profitability of smaller retailers.

Fourth important area of research could be the deliberations of the social content. Content is the core of social media platforms; studies have shown that consumers tend to get attracted and spend more time on the social network where they can create their own content in an easy manner. Content is also crucial in terms of its suitability across platforms and ethical implications.

Therefore, researchers can study and analyse the most appropriate content across the social media platforms, devices and for a specific business. Researchers can explore the critical aspects of social content such as most suitable content for C2C interaction, firm reaction on a specific customer content, content to combat competitions, etc.

Fifth area of future research could be the monitoring of social media, how a firm shall record and acknowledge complaints of the customers. The sub-themes in monitoring can be to find out the best listening mechanisms of consumer activities that can be further analysed using predictive analysis mechanism to develop strategies to engage customers in the way they might be looking for. Another investigation can be done to seek clarity about the mechanism of watching and listening customers, i.e. whether there should be a fully automated process or hybrid one. This is important for the firms to understand the probable capital investment in the implementation of monitoring and responding process. This subject can be further investigated from the CRM perspective. Research can be extended to understand the role of various social media platforms on customer engagement, and what should be the capability of the CRM to exploit maximum from customer created content.

Conclusions

Bibliometric analysis is performed to have a comprehensive understanding of the applications of social media for marketing activities. The aim of the research was to investigate the research trends and emerging themes using the Scopus database. The findings of the research reveal the most important journals, authors, documents, and their intellectual structure. Moreover, it is found that research in the application of social media as a marketing tool is growing at an ever-increasing rate. Scholars around the world are collaborating with each other to comprehend the phenomenon and suggest strategies that can help firms to exploit the power of social media platforms in their marketing tactics. The outcomes of the research shown that there are certain areas of social media marketing landscape which need more scholarly attention; current literature has not considered these essential factors in detail. The findings suggest that current extant literature can be expanded by appending research in the areas such as modelling social media marketing ROI, social content strategies, monitoring and responding social media activities, social media strategies for smaller retailers, etc. This study has enumerated important implications along with the analysis for the businesses. The outcomes would also be helpful for social media enthusiasts and prospective social media marketing researchers.

Availability of data and materials

Not applicable.

Abbreviations

Customer-to-customer

Customer relationship management

Return on investment

Technology acceptance model

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Bashar, A., Wasiq, M., Nyagadza, B. et al. Emerging trends in social media marketing: a retrospective review using data mining and bibliometric analysis. Futur Bus J 10 , 23 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1186/s43093-024-00308-6

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Research trends in social media addiction and problematic social media use: A bibliometric analysis

Alfonso pellegrino.

1 Sasin School of Management, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok, Thailand

Alessandro Stasi

2 Business Administration Division, Mahidol University International College, Mahidol University, Nakhon Pathom, Thailand

Veera Bhatiasevi

Associated data.

The original contributions presented in the study are included in the article/supplementary material, further inquiries can be directed to the corresponding authors.

Despite their increasing ubiquity in people's lives and incredible advantages in instantly interacting with others, social media's impact on subjective well-being is a source of concern worldwide and calls for up-to-date investigations of the role social media plays in mental health. Much research has discovered how habitual social media use may lead to addiction and negatively affect adolescents' school performance, social behavior, and interpersonal relationships. The present study was conducted to review the extant literature in the domain of social media and analyze global research productivity during 2013–2022. Bibliometric analysis was conducted on 501 articles that were extracted from the Scopus database using the keywords social media addiction and problematic social media use. The data were then uploaded to VOSviewer software to analyze citations, co-citations, and keyword co-occurrences. Volume, growth trajectory, geographic distribution of the literature, influential authors, intellectual structure of the literature, and the most prolific publishing sources were analyzed. The bibliometric analysis presented in this paper shows that the US, the UK, and Turkey accounted for 47% of the publications in this field. Most of the studies used quantitative methods in analyzing data and therefore aimed at testing relationships between variables. In addition, the findings in this study show that most analysis were cross-sectional. Studies were performed on undergraduate students between the ages of 19–25 on the use of two social media platforms: Facebook and Instagram. Limitations as well as research directions for future studies are also discussed.

Introduction

Social media generally refers to third-party internet-based platforms that mainly focus on social interactions, community-based inputs, and content sharing among its community of users and only feature content created by their users and not that licensed from third parties ( 1 ). Social networking sites such as Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok are prominent examples of social media that allow people to stay connected in an online world regardless of geographical distance or other obstacles ( 2 , 3 ). Recent evidence suggests that social networking sites have become increasingly popular among adolescents following the strict policies implemented by many countries to counter the COVID-19 pandemic, including social distancing, “lockdowns,” and quarantine measures ( 4 ). In this new context, social media have become an essential part of everyday life, especially for children and adolescents ( 5 ). For them such media are a means of socialization that connect people together. Interestingly, social media are not only used for social communication and entertainment purposes but also for sharing opinions, learning new things, building business networks, and initiate collaborative projects ( 6 ).

Among the 7.91 billion people in the world as of 2022, 4.62 billion active social media users, and the average time individuals spent using the internet was 6 h 58 min per day with an average use of social media platforms of 2 h and 27 min ( 7 ). Despite their increasing ubiquity in people's lives and the incredible advantages they offer to instantly interact with people, an increasing number of studies have linked social media use to negative mental health consequences, such as suicidality, loneliness, and anxiety ( 8 ). Numerous sources have expressed widespread concern about the effects of social media on mental health. A 2011 report by the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) identifies a phenomenon known as Facebook depression which may be triggered “when preteens and teens spend a great deal of time on social media sites, such as Facebook, and then begin to exhibit classic symptoms of depression” ( 9 ). Similarly, the UK's Royal Society for Public Health (RSPH) claims that there is a clear evidence of the relationship between social media use and mental health issues based on a survey of nearly 1,500 people between the ages of 14–24 ( 10 ). According to some authors, the increase in usage frequency of social media significantly increases the risks of clinical disorders described (and diagnosed) as “Facebook depression,” “fear of missing out” (FOMO), and “social comparison orientation” (SCO) ( 11 ). Other risks include sexting ( 12 ), social media stalking ( 13 ), cyber-bullying ( 14 ), privacy breaches ( 15 ), and improper use of technology. Therefore, social media's impact on subjective well-being is a source of concern worldwide and calls for up-to-date investigations of the role social media plays with regard to mental health ( 8 ). Many studies have found that habitual social media use may lead to addiction and thus negatively affect adolescents' school performance, social behavior, and interpersonal relationships ( 16 – 18 ). As a result of addiction, the user becomes highly engaged with online activities motivated by an uncontrollable desire to browse through social media pages and “devoting so much time and effort to it that it impairs other important life areas” ( 19 ).

Given these considerations, the present study was conducted to review the extant literature in the domain of social media and analyze global research productivity during 2013–2022. The study presents a bibliometric overview of the leading trends with particular regard to “social media addiction” and “problematic social media use.” This is valuable as it allows for a comprehensive overview of the current state of this field of research, as well as identifies any patterns or trends that may be present. Additionally, it provides information on the geographical distribution and prolific authors in this area, which may help to inform future research endeavors.

In terms of bibliometric analysis of social media addiction research, few studies have attempted to review the existing literature in the domain extensively. Most previous bibliometric studies on social media addiction and problematic use have focused mainly on one type of screen time activity such as digital gaming or texting ( 20 ) and have been conducted with a focus on a single platform such as Facebook, Instagram, or Snapchat ( 21 , 22 ). The present study adopts a more comprehensive approach by including all social media platforms and all types of screen time activities in its analysis.

Additionally, this review aims to highlight the major themes around which the research has evolved to date and draws some guidance for future research directions. In order to meet these objectives, this work is oriented toward answering the following research questions:

• (1) What is the current status of research focusing on social media addiction?
• (2) What are the key thematic areas in social media addiction and problematic use research?
• (3) What is the intellectual structure of social media addiction as represented in the academic literature?
• (4) What are the key findings of social media addiction and problematic social media research?
• (5) What possible future research gaps can be identified in the field of social media addiction?

These research questions will be answered using bibliometric analysis of the literature on social media addiction and problematic use. This will allow for an overview of the research that has been conducted in this area, including information on the most influential authors, journals, countries of publication, and subject areas of study. Part 2 of the study will provide an examination of the intellectual structure of the extant literature in social media addiction while Part 3 will discuss the research methodology of the paper. Part 4 will discuss the findings of the study followed by a discussion under Part 5 of the paper. Finally, in Part 7, gaps in current knowledge about this field of research will be identified.

Literature review

Social media addiction research context.

Previous studies on behavioral addictions have looked at a lot of different factors that affect social media addiction focusing on personality traits. Although there is some inconsistency in the literature, numerous studies have focused on three main personality traits that may be associated with social media addiction, namely anxiety, depression, and extraversion ( 23 , 24 ).

It has been found that extraversion scores are strongly associated with increased use of social media and addiction to it ( 25 , 26 ). People with social anxiety as well as people who have psychiatric disorders often find online interactions extremely appealing ( 27 ). The available literature also reveals that the use of social media is positively associated with being female, single, and having attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD), or anxiety ( 28 ).

In a study by Seidman ( 29 ), the Big Five personality traits were assessed using Saucier's ( 30 ) Mini-Markers Scale. Results indicated that neurotic individuals use social media as a safe place for expressing their personality and meet belongingness needs. People affected by neurosis tend to use online social media to stay in touch with other people and feel better about their social lives ( 31 ). Narcissism is another factor that has been examined extensively when it comes to social media, and it has been found that people who are narcissistic are more likely to become addicted to social media ( 32 ). In this case users want to be seen and get “likes” from lots of other users. Longstreet and Brooks ( 33 ) did a study on how life satisfaction depends on how much money people make. Life satisfaction was found to be negatively linked to social media addiction, according to the results. When social media addiction decreases, the level of life satisfaction rises. But results show that in lieu of true-life satisfaction people use social media as a substitute (for temporary pleasure vs. longer term happiness).

Researchers have discovered similar patterns in students who tend to rank high in shyness: they find it easier to express themselves online rather than in person ( 34 , 35 ). With the use of social media, shy individuals have the opportunity to foster better quality relationships since many of their anxiety-related concerns (e.g., social avoidance and fear of social devaluation) are significantly reduced ( 36 , 37 ).

Problematic use of social media

The amount of research on problematic use of social media has dramatically increased since the last decade. But using social media in an unhealthy manner may not be considered an addiction or a disorder as this behavior has not yet been formally categorized as such ( 38 ). Although research has shown that people who use social media in a negative way often report negative health-related conditions, most of the data that have led to such results and conclusions comprise self-reported data ( 39 ). The dimensions of excessive social media usage are not exactly known because there are not enough diagnostic criteria and not enough high-quality long-term studies available yet. This is what Zendle and Bowden-Jones ( 40 ) noted in their own research. And this is why terms like “problematic social media use” have been used to describe people who use social media in a negative way. Furthermore, if a lot of time is spent on social media, it can be hard to figure out just when it is being used in a harmful way. For instance, people easily compare their appearance to what they see on social media, and this might lead to low self-esteem if they feel they do not look as good as the people they are following. According to research in this domain, the extent to which an individual engages in photo-related activities (e.g., taking selfies, editing photos, checking other people's photos) on social media is associated with negative body image concerns. Through curated online images of peers, adolescents face challenges to their self-esteem and sense of self-worth and are increasingly isolated from face-to-face interaction.

To address this problem the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-V) has been used by some scholars ( 41 , 42 ). These scholars have used criteria from the DSM-V to describe one problematic social media use, internet gaming disorder, but such criteria could also be used to describe other types of social media disorders. Franchina et al. ( 43 ) and Scott and Woods ( 44 ), for example, focus their attention on individual-level factors (like fear of missing out) and family-level factors (like childhood abuse) that have been used to explain why people use social media in a harmful way. Friends-level factors have also been explored as a social well-being measurement to explain why people use social media in a malevolent way and demonstrated significant positive correlations with lower levels of friend support ( 45 ). Macro-level factors have also been suggested, such as the normalization of surveillance ( 46 ) and the ability to see what people are doing online ( 47 ). Gender and age seem to be highly associated to the ways people use social media negatively. Particularly among girls, social media use is consistently associated with mental health issues ( 41 , 48 , 49 ), an association more common among older girls than younger girls ( 46 , 48 ).

Most studies have looked at the connection between social media use and its effects (such as social media addiction) and a number of different psychosomatic disorders. In a recent study conducted by Vannucci and Ohannessian ( 50 ), the use of social media appears to have a variety of effects “on psychosocial adjustment during early adolescence, with high social media use being the most problematic.” It has been found that people who use social media in a harmful way are more likely to be depressed, anxious, have low self-esteem, be more socially isolated, have poorer sleep quality, and have more body image dissatisfaction. Furthermore, harmful social media use has been associated with unhealthy lifestyle patterns (for example, not getting enough exercise or having trouble managing daily obligations) as well as life threatening behaviors such as illicit drug use, excessive alcohol consumption and unsafe sexual practices ( 51 , 52 ).

A growing body of research investigating social media use has revealed that the extensive use of social media platforms is correlated with a reduced performance on cognitive tasks and in mental effort ( 53 ). Overall, it appears that individuals who have a problematic relationship with social media or those who use social media more frequently are more likely to develop negative health conditions.

Social media addiction and problematic use systematic reviews

Previous studies have revealed the detrimental impacts of social media addiction on users' health. A systematic review by Khan and Khan ( 20 ) has pointed out that social media addiction has a negative impact on users' mental health. For example, social media addiction can lead to stress levels rise, loneliness, and sadness ( 54 ). Anxiety is another common mental health problem associated with social media addiction. Studies have found that young adolescents who are addicted to social media are more likely to suffer from anxiety than people who are not addicted to social media ( 55 ). In addition, social media addiction can also lead to physical health problems, such as obesity and carpal tunnel syndrome a result of spending too much time on the computer ( 22 ).

Apart from the negative impacts of social media addiction on users' mental and physical health, social media addiction can also lead to other problems. For example, social media addiction can lead to financial problems. A study by Sharif and Yeoh ( 56 ) has found that people who are addicted to social media tend to spend more money than those who are not addicted to social media. In addition, social media addiction can also lead to a decline in academic performance. Students who are addicted to social media are more likely to have lower grades than those who are not addicted to social media ( 57 ).

Research methodology

Bibliometric analysis.

Merigo et al. ( 58 ) use bibliometric analysis to examine, organize, and analyze a large body of literature from a quantitative, objective perspective in order to assess patterns of research and emerging trends in a certain field. A bibliometric methodology is used to identify the current state of the academic literature, advance research. and find objective information ( 59 ). This technique allows the researchers to examine previous scientific work, comprehend advancements in prior knowledge, and identify future study opportunities.

To achieve this objective and identify the research trends in social media addiction and problematic social media use, this study employs two bibliometric methodologies: performance analysis and science mapping. Performance analysis uses a series of bibliometric indicators (e.g., number of annual publications, document type, source type, journal impact factor, languages, subject area, h-index, and countries) and aims at evaluating groups of scientific actors on a particular topic of research. VOSviewer software ( 60 ) was used to carry out the science mapping. The software is used to visualize a particular body of literature and map the bibliographic material using the co-occurrence analysis of author, index keywords, nations, and fields of publication ( 61 , 62 ).

Data collection

After picking keywords, designing the search strings, and building up a database, the authors conducted a bibliometric literature search. Scopus was utilized to gather exploration data since it is a widely used database that contains the most comprehensive view of the world's research output and provides one of the most effective search engines. If the research was to be performed using other database such as Web Of Science or Google Scholar the authors may have obtained larger number of articles however they may not have been all particularly relevant as Scopus is known to have the most widest and most relevant scholar search engine in marketing and social science. A keyword search for “social media addiction” OR “problematic social media use” yielded 553 papers, which were downloaded from Scopus. The information was gathered in March 2022, and because the Scopus database is updated on a regular basis, the results may change in the future. Next, the authors examined the titles and abstracts to see whether they were relevant to the topics treated. There were two common grounds for document exclusion. First, while several documents emphasized the negative effects of addiction in relation to the internet and digital media, they did not focus on social networking sites specifically. Similarly, addiction and problematic consumption habits were discussed in relation to social media in several studies, although only in broad terms. This left a total of 511 documents. Articles were then limited only to journal articles, conference papers, reviews, books, and only those published in English. This process excluded 10 additional documents. Then, the relevance of the remaining articles was finally checked by reading the titles, abstracts, and keywords. Documents were excluded if social networking sites were only mentioned as a background topic or very generally. This resulted in a final selection of 501 research papers, which were then subjected to bibliometric analysis (see Figure 1 ).

Preferred reporting items for systematic reviews and meta-analysis (PRISMA) flowchart showing the search procedures used in the review.

After identifying 501 Scopus files, bibliographic data related to these documents were imported into an Excel sheet where the authors' names, their affiliations, document titles, keywords, abstracts, and citation figures were analyzed. These were subsequently uploaded into VOSViewer software version 1.6.8 to begin the bibliometric review. Descriptive statistics were created to define the whole body of knowledge about social media addiction and problematic social media use. VOSViewer was used to analyze citation, co-citation, and keyword co-occurrences. According to Zupic and Cater ( 63 ), co-citation analysis measures the influence of documents, authors, and journals heavily cited and thus considered influential. Co-citation analysis has the objective of building similarities between authors, journals, and documents and is generally defined as the frequency with which two units are cited together within the reference list of a third article.

The implementation of social media addiction performance analysis was conducted according to the models recently introduced by Karjalainen et al. ( 64 ) and Pattnaik ( 65 ). Throughout the manuscript there are operational definitions of relevant terms and indicators following a standardized bibliometric approach. The cumulative academic impact (CAI) of the documents was measured by the number of times they have been cited in other scholarly works while the fine-grained academic impact (FIA) was computed according to the authors citation analysis and authors co-citation analysis within the reference lists of documents that have been specifically focused on social media addiction and problematic social media use.

Results of the study presented here include the findings on social media addiction and social media problematic use. The results are presented by the foci outlined in the study questions.

Volume, growth trajectory, and geographic distribution of the literature

After performing the Scopus-based investigation of the current literature regarding social media addiction and problematic use of social media, the authors obtained a knowledge base consisting of 501 documents comprising 455 journal articles, 27 conference papers, 15 articles reviews, 3 books and 1 conference review. The included literature was very recent. As shown in Figure 2 , publication rates started very slowly in 2013 but really took off in 2018, after which publications dramatically increased each year until a peak was reached in 2021 with 195 publications. Analyzing the literature published during the past decade reveals an exponential increase in scholarly production on social addiction and its problematic use. This might be due to the increasingly widespread introduction of social media sites in everyday life and the ubiquitous diffusion of mobile devices that have fundamentally impacted human behavior. The dip in the number of publications in 2022 is explained by the fact that by the time the review was carried out the year was not finished yet and therefore there are many articles still in press.

Annual volume of social media addiction or social media problematic use ( n = 501).

The geographical distribution trends of scholarly publications on social media addiction or problematic use of social media are highlighted in Figure 3 . The articles were assigned to a certain country according to the nationality of the university with whom the first author was affiliated with. The figure shows that the most productive countries are the USA (92), the U.K. (79), and Turkey ( 63 ), which combined produced 236 articles, equal to 47% of the entire scholarly production examined in this bibliometric analysis. Turkey has slowly evolved in various ways with the growth of the internet and social media. Anglo-American scholarly publications on problematic social media consumer behavior represent the largest research output. Yet it is interesting to observe that social networking sites studies are attracting many researchers in Asian countries, particularly China. For many Chinese people, social networking sites are a valuable opportunity to involve people in political activism in addition to simply making purchases ( 66 ).

Global dispersion of social networking sites in relation to social media addiction or social media problematic use.

Analysis of influential authors

This section analyses the high-impact authors in the Scopus-indexed knowledge base on social networking sites in relation to social media addiction or problematic use of social media. It provides valuable insights for establishing patterns of knowledge generation and dissemination of literature about social networking sites relating to addiction and problematic use.

Table 1 acknowledges the top 10 most highly cited authors with the highest total citations in the database.

Highly cited authors on social media addiction and problematic use ( n = 501).

a Total link strength indicates the number of publications in which an author occurs.

Table 1 shows that MD Griffiths (sixty-five articles), CY Lin (twenty articles), and AH Pakpour (eighteen articles) are the most productive scholars according to the number of Scopus documents examined in the area of social media addiction and its problematic use . If the criteria are changed and authors ranked according to the overall number of citations received in order to determine high-impact authors, the same three authors turn out to be the most highly cited authors. It should be noted that these highly cited authors tend to enlist several disciplines in examining social media addiction and problematic use. Griffiths, for example, focuses on behavioral addiction stemming from not only digital media usage but also from gambling and video games. Lin, on the other hand, focuses on the negative effects that the internet and digital media can have on users' mental health, and Pakpour approaches the issue from a behavioral medicine perspective.

Intellectual structure of the literature

In this part of the paper, the authors illustrate the “intellectual structure” of the social media addiction and the problematic use of social media's literature. An author co-citation analysis (ACA) was performed which is displayed as a figure that depicts the relations between highly co-cited authors. The study of co-citation assumes that strongly co-cited authors carry some form of intellectual similarity ( 67 ). Figure 4 shows the author co-citation map. Nodes represent units of analysis (in this case scholars) and network ties represent similarity connections. Nodes are sized according to the number of co-citations received—the bigger the node, the more co-citations it has. Adjacent nodes are considered intellectually similar.

Two clusters, representing the intellectual structure of the social media and its problematic use literature.

Scholars belonging to the green cluster (Mental Health and Digital Media Addiction) have extensively published on medical analysis tools and how these can be used to heal users suffering from addiction to digital media, which can range from gambling, to internet, to videogame addictions. Scholars in this school of thought focus on the negative effects on users' mental health, such as depression, anxiety, and personality disturbances. Such studies focus also on the role of screen use in the development of mental health problems and the increasing use of medical treatments to address addiction to digital media. They argue that addiction to digital media should be considered a mental health disorder and treatment options should be made available to users.

In contrast, scholars within the red cluster (Social Media Effects on Well Being and Cyberpsychology) have focused their attention on the effects of social media toward users' well-being and how social media change users' behavior, focusing particular attention on the human-machine interaction and how methods and models can help protect users' well-being. Two hundred and two authors belong to this group, the top co-cited being Andreassen (667 co-citations), Pallasen (555 co-citations), and Valkenburg (215 co-citations). These authors have extensively studied the development of addiction to social media, problem gambling, and internet addiction. They have also focused on the measurement of addiction to social media, cyberbullying, and the dark side of social media.

Most influential source title in the field of social media addiction and its problematic use

To find the preferred periodicals in the field of social media addiction and its problematic use, the authors have selected 501 articles published in 263 journals. Table 2 gives a ranked list of the top 10 journals that constitute the core publishing sources in the field of social media addiction research. In doing so, the authors analyzed the journal's impact factor, Scopus Cite Score, h-index, quartile ranking, and number of publications per year.

Top 10 most cited and more frequently mentioned documents in the field of social media addiction.

The journal Addictive Behaviors topped the list, with 700 citations and 22 publications (4.3%), followed by Computers in Human Behaviors , with 577 citations and 13 publications (2.5%), Journal of Behavioral Addictions , with 562 citations and 17 publications (3.3%), and International Journal of Mental Health and Addiction , with 502 citations and 26 publications (5.1%). Five of the 10 most productive journals in the field of social media addiction research are published by Elsevier (all Q1 rankings) while Springer and Frontiers Media published one journal each.

Documents citation analysis identified the most influential and most frequently mentioned documents in a certain scientific field. Andreassen has received the most citations among the 10 most significant papers on social media addiction, with 405 ( Table 2 ). The main objective of this type of studies was to identify the associations and the roles of different variables as predictors of social media addiction (e.g., ( 19 , 68 , 69 )). According to general addiction models, the excessive and problematic use of digital technologies is described as “being overly concerned about social media, driven by an uncontrollable motivation to log on to or use social media, and devoting so much time and effort to social media that it impairs other important life areas” ( 27 , 70 ). Furthermore, the purpose of several highly cited studies ( 31 , 71 ) was to analyse the connections between young adults' sleep quality and psychological discomfort, depression, self-esteem, and life satisfaction and the severity of internet and problematic social media use, since the health of younger generations and teenagers is of great interest this may help explain the popularity of such papers. Despite being the most recent publication Lin et al.'s work garnered more citations annually. The desire to quantify social media addiction in individuals can also help explain the popularity of studies which try to develop measurement scales ( 42 , 72 ). Some of the highest-ranked publications are devoted to either the presentation of case studies or testing relationships among psychological constructs ( 73 ).

Keyword co-occurrence analysis

The research question, “What are the key thematic areas in social media addiction literature?” was answered using keyword co-occurrence analysis. Keyword co-occurrence analysis is conducted to identify research themes and discover keywords. It mainly examines the relationships between co-occurrence keywords in a wide variety of literature ( 74 ). In this approach, the idea is to explore the frequency of specific keywords being mentioned together.

Utilizing VOSviewer, the authors conducted a keyword co-occurrence analysis to characterize and review the developing trends in the field of social media addiction. The top 10 most frequent keywords are presented in Table 3 . The results indicate that “social media addiction” is the most frequent keyword (178 occurrences), followed by “problematic social media use” (74 occurrences), “internet addiction” (51 occurrences), and “depression” (46 occurrences). As shown in the co-occurrence network ( Figure 5 ), the keywords can be grouped into two major clusters. “Problematic social media use” can be identified as the core theme of the green cluster. In the red cluster, keywords mainly identify a specific aspect of problematic social media use: social media addiction.

Frequency of occurrence of top 10 keywords.

Keywords co-occurrence map. Threshold: 5 co-occurrences.

The results of the keyword co-occurrence analysis for journal articles provide valuable perspectives and tools for understanding concepts discussed in past studies of social media usage ( 75 ). More precisely, it can be noted that there has been a large body of research on social media addiction together with other types of technological addictions, such as compulsive web surfing, internet gaming disorder, video game addiction and compulsive online shopping ( 76 – 78 ). This field of research has mainly been directed toward teenagers, middle school students, and college students and university students in order to understand the relationship between social media addiction and mental health issues such as depression, disruptions in self-perceptions, impairment of social and emotional activity, anxiety, neuroticism, and stress ( 79 – 81 ).

The findings presented in this paper show that there has been an exponential increase in scholarly publications—from two publications in 2013 to 195 publications in 2021. There were 45 publications in 2022 at the time this study was conducted. It was interesting to observe that the US, the UK, and Turkey accounted for 47% of the publications in this field even though none of these countries are in the top 15 countries in terms of active social media penetration ( 82 ) although the US has the third highest number of social media users ( 83 ). Even though China and India have the highest number of social media users ( 83 ), first and second respectively, they rank fifth and tenth in terms of publications on social media addiction or problematic use of social media. In fact, the US has almost double the number of publications in this field compared to China and almost five times compared to India. Even though East Asia, Southeast Asia, and South Asia make up the top three regions in terms of worldwide social media users ( 84 ), except for China and India there have been only a limited number of publications on social media addiction or problematic use. An explanation for that could be that there is still a lack of awareness on the negative consequences of the use of social media and the impact it has on the mental well-being of users. More research in these regions should perhaps be conducted in order to understand the problematic use and addiction of social media so preventive measures can be undertaken.

From the bibliometric analysis, it was found that most of the studies examined used quantitative methods in analyzing data and therefore aimed at testing relationships between variables. In addition, many studies were empirical, aimed at testing relationships based on direct or indirect observations of social media use. Very few studies used theories and for the most part if they did they used the technology acceptance model and social comparison theories. The findings presented in this paper show that none of the studies attempted to create or test new theories in this field, perhaps due to the lack of maturity of the literature. Moreover, neither have very many qualitative studies been conducted in this field. More qualitative research in this field should perhaps be conducted as it could explore the motivations and rationales from which certain users' behavior may arise.

The authors found that almost all the publications on social media addiction or problematic use relied on samples of undergraduate students between the ages of 19–25. The average daily time spent by users worldwide on social media applications was highest for users between the ages of 40–44, at 59.85 min per day, followed by those between the ages of 35–39, at 59.28 min per day, and those between the ages of 45–49, at 59.23 per day ( 85 ). Therefore, more studies should be conducted exploring different age groups, as users between the ages of 19–25 do not represent the entire population of social media users. Conducting studies on different age groups may yield interesting and valuable insights to the field of social media addiction. For example, it would be interesting to measure the impacts of social media use among older users aged 50 years or older who spend almost the same amount of time on social media as other groups of users (56.43 min per day) ( 85 ).

A majority of the studies tested social media addiction or problematic use based on only two social media platforms: Facebook and Instagram. Although Facebook and Instagram are ranked first and fourth in terms of most popular social networks by number of monthly users, it would be interesting to study other platforms such as YouTube, which is ranked second, and WhatsApp, which is ranked third ( 86 ). Furthermore, TikTok would also be an interesting platform to study as it has grown in popularity in recent years, evident from it being the most downloaded application in 2021, with 656 million downloads ( 87 ), and is ranked second in Q1 of 2022 ( 88 ). Moreover, most of the studies focused only on one social media platform. Comparing different social media platforms would yield interesting results because each platform is different in terms of features, algorithms, as well as recommendation engines. The purpose as well as the user behavior for using each platform is also different, therefore why users are addicted to these platforms could provide a meaningful insight into social media addiction and problematic social media use.

Lastly, most studies were cross-sectional, and not longitudinal, aiming at describing results over a certain point in time and not over a long period of time. A longitudinal study could better describe the long-term effects of social media use.

This study was conducted to review the extant literature in the field of social media and analyze the global research productivity during the period ranging from 2013 to 2022. The study presents a bibliometric overview of the leading trends with particular regard to “social media addiction” and “problematic social media use.” The authors applied science mapping to lay out a knowledge base on social media addiction and its problematic use. This represents the first large-scale analysis in this area of study.

A keyword search of “social media addiction” OR “problematic social media use” yielded 553 papers, which were downloaded from Scopus. After performing the Scopus-based investigation of the current literature regarding social media addiction and problematic use, the authors ended up with a knowledge base consisting of 501 documents comprising 455 journal articles, 27 conference papers, 15 articles reviews, 3 books, and 1 conference review.

The geographical distribution trends of scholarly publications on social media addiction or problematic use indicate that the most productive countries were the USA (92), the U.K. (79), and Turkey ( 63 ), which together produced 236 articles. Griffiths (sixty-five articles), Lin (twenty articles), and Pakpour (eighteen articles) were the most productive scholars according to the number of Scopus documents examined in the area of social media addiction and its problematic use. An author co-citation analysis (ACA) was conducted which generated a layout of social media effects on well-being and cyber psychology as well as mental health and digital media addiction in the form of two research literature clusters representing the intellectual structure of social media and its problematic use.

The preferred periodicals in the field of social media addiction and its problematic use were Addictive Behaviors , with 700 citations and 22 publications, followed by Computers in Human Behavior , with 577 citations and 13 publications, and Journal of Behavioral Addictions , with 562 citations and 17 publications. Keyword co-occurrence analysis was used to investigate the key thematic areas in the social media literature, as represented by the top three keyword phrases in terms of their frequency of occurrence, namely, “social media addiction,” “problematic social media use,” and “social media addiction.”

This research has a few limitations. The authors used science mapping to improve the comprehension of the literature base in this review. First and foremost, the authors want to emphasize that science mapping should not be utilized in place of established review procedures, but rather as a supplement. As a result, this review can be considered the initial stage, followed by substantive research syntheses that examine findings from recent research. Another constraint stems from how 'social media addiction' is defined. The authors overcame this limitation by inserting the phrase “social media addiction” OR “problematic social media use” in the search string. The exclusive focus on SCOPUS-indexed papers creates a third constraint. The SCOPUS database has a larger number of papers than does Web of Science although it does not contain all the publications in a given field.

Although the total body of literature on social media addiction is larger than what is covered in this review, the use of co-citation analyses helped to mitigate this limitation. This form of bibliometric study looks at all the publications listed in the reference list of the extracted SCOPUS database documents. As a result, a far larger dataset than the one extracted from SCOPUS initially has been analyzed.

The interpretation of co-citation maps should be mentioned as a last constraint. The reason is that the procedure is not always clear, so scholars must have a thorough comprehension of the knowledge base in order to make sense of the result of the analysis ( 63 ). This issue was addressed by the authors' expertise, but it remains somewhat subjective.

Implications

The findings of this study have implications mainly for government entities and parents. The need for regulation of social media addiction is evident when considering the various risks associated with habitual social media use. Social media addiction may lead to negative consequences for adolescents' school performance, social behavior, and interpersonal relationships. In addition, social media addiction may also lead to other risks such as sexting, social media stalking, cyber-bullying, privacy breaches, and improper use of technology. Given the seriousness of these risks, it is important to have regulations in place to protect adolescents from the harms of social media addiction.

Regulation of social media platforms

One way that regulation could help protect adolescents from the harms of social media addiction is by limiting their access to certain websites or platforms. For example, governments could restrict adolescents' access to certain websites or platforms during specific hours of the day. This would help ensure that they are not spending too much time on social media and are instead focusing on their schoolwork or other important activities.

Another way that regulation could help protect adolescents from the harms of social media addiction is by requiring companies to put warning labels on their websites or apps. These labels would warn adolescents about the potential risks associated with excessive use of social media.

Finally, regulation could also require companies to provide information about how much time each day is recommended for using their website or app. This would help adolescents make informed decisions about how much time they want to spend on social media each day. These proposed regulations would help to protect children from the dangers of social media, while also ensuring that social media companies are more transparent and accountable to their users.

Parental involvement in adolescents' social media use

Parents should be involved in their children's social media use to ensure that they are using these platforms safely and responsibly. Parents can monitor their children's online activity, set time limits for social media use, and talk to their children about the risks associated with social media addiction.

Education on responsible social media use

Adolescents need to be educated about responsible social media use so that they can enjoy the benefits of these platforms while avoiding the risks associated with addiction. Education on responsible social media use could include topics such as cyber-bullying, sexting, and privacy breaches.

Research directions for future studies

A content analysis was conducted to answer the fifth research questions “What are the potential research directions for addressing social media addiction in the future?” The study reveals that there is a lack of screening instruments and diagnostic criteria to assess social media addiction. Validated DSM-V-based instruments could shed light on the factors behind social media use disorder. Diagnostic research may be useful in order to understand social media behavioral addiction and gain deeper insights into the factors responsible for psychological stress and psychiatric disorders. In addition to cross-sectional studies, researchers should also conduct longitudinal studies and experiments to assess changes in users' behavior over time ( 20 ).

Another important area to examine is the role of engagement-based ranking and recommendation algorithms in online habit formation. More research is required to ascertain how algorithms determine which content type generates higher user engagement. A clear understanding of the way social media platforms gather content from users and amplify their preferences would lead to the development of a standardized conceptualization of social media usage patterns ( 89 ). This may provide a clearer picture of the factors that lead to problematic social media use and addiction. It has been noted that “misinformation, toxicity, and violent content are inordinately prevalent” in material reshared by users and promoted by social media algorithms ( 90 ).

Additionally, an understanding of engagement-based ranking models and recommendation algorithms is essential in order to implement appropriate public policy measures. To address the specific behavioral concerns created by social media, legislatures must craft appropriate statutes. Thus, future qualitative research to assess engagement based ranking frameworks is extremely necessary in order to provide a broader perspective on social media use and tackle key regulatory gaps. Particular emphasis must be placed on consumer awareness, algorithm bias, privacy issues, ethical platform design, and extraction and monetization of personal data ( 91 ).

From a geographical perspective, the authors have identified some main gaps in the existing knowledge base that uncover the need for further research in certain regions of the world. Accordingly, the authors suggest encouraging more studies on internet and social media addiction in underrepresented regions with high social media penetration rates such as Southeast Asia and South America. In order to draw more contributions from these countries, journals with high impact factors could also make specific calls. This would contribute to educating social media users about platform usage and implement policy changes that support the development of healthy social media practices.

The authors hope that the findings gathered here will serve to fuel interest in this topic and encourage other scholars to investigate social media addiction in other contexts on newer platforms and among wide ranges of sample populations. In light of the rising numbers of people experiencing mental health problems (e.g., depression, anxiety, food disorders, and substance addiction) in recent years, it is likely that the number of papers related to social media addiction and the range of countries covered will rise even further.

Data availability statement

Author contributions.

AP took care of bibliometric analysis and drafting the paper. VB took care of proofreading and adding value to the paper. AS took care of the interpretation of the findings. All authors contributed to the article and approved the submitted version.

Conflict of interest

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Publisher's note

All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article, or claim that may be made by its manufacturer, is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.

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Buying online is a way of life in 21 st century America.  You cannot scroll for more than five seconds on almost any social media app without seeing an opportunity to buy something. Our opportunities to buy online are endless, whether it be TikTok , Instagram , Shopify or sponsored content. 

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[New Paper Alert] To Share or Not to Share: Randomized Controlled Study of Misinformation Warning Labels on Social Media

In recent years, content moderation on social media has become a flashpoint in global conversations about free speech, misinformation, and platform accountability. Once seen as essential for curbing harmful content, from hate speech to false information, moderation practices are now under scrutiny. Some social media platforms, such as Alphabet, X and Meta, are stepping back from stringent oversight, citing challenges in balancing free expression and user safety, with political and legal pressures. This shift raises critical questions about the future of online discourse, the role of tech companies in shaping it , and what this means for users navigating what are still essentially unregulated digital spaces.

Complicating the issue is the uncertainty surrounding the efficacy of “soft” content moderation measures, such as fact-checked footnotes and blur filters. While these measures aim to inform users without outright censoring content, their impact is debated. Critics argue that these measures often go unnoticed or are dismissed by users, limiting their effectiveness in curbing the spread of misinformation. Others contend that they strike a more balanced approach to moderation, promoting awareness rather than restriction. This uncertainty further fuels the debate over whether social media platforms should continue to invest in such measures or move away from them altogether.

In a new study titled “ To Share or Not to Share: Randomized Controlled Study of Misinformation Warning Labels on Social Media ,” researchers Anatoliy Gruzd, Philip Mai, and Felipe Soares investigated whether soft moderation techniques can decrease engagement with misinformation. The study won the Best Paper Award at the 6th Multidisciplinary International Symposium on Disinformation in Open Online Media ( MISDOOM 2024 ), held in Münster, Germany, from September 2–4, 2024, and was published by Springer in the conference preferred proceedings .  

The study simulated a Facebook-like interface using ModSimulator, an open-source mock social media tool designed to test the effectiveness of two common soft moderation techniques—footnote warning labels and blur filters—in reducing the spread of misinformation and informing users about the accuracy of posts. In this controlled experiment, 1,500 users were exposed to false claims about the Russia-Ukraine war in an ecologically valid environment . The results showed that both interventions reduced engagement with posts containing false information, with no significant difference between the two approaches. Additionally, the study found that people who believed in pro-Kremlin claims and trusted partisan sources were more likely to engage with misinformation. In contrast, those who trusted fact-checking organizations and frequently commented on Facebook were less likely to engage.

These findings underscore the effectiveness of soft moderation interventions, with less restrictive intervention of adding a warning footnote to a fact-checked post producing a similar response as a more restrictive blur filter in front of a fact-checked image or video. 

However, since other factors such as users’ prior beliefs and political leaning impact their decision to engage with misinformation on social media, soft moderation should be coupled with other approaches such as pre-bunking and information literacy campaigns. 

See the paper for more details, which is available open-access .  

Citation: 

Gruzd, A., Mai, P., Soares, F.B. (2024). To Share or Not to Share: Randomized Controlled Study of Misinformation Warning Labels on Social Media. In: Preuss, M., Leszkiewicz, A., Boucher, JC., Fridman, O., Stampe, L. (eds) Disinformation in Open Online Media. MISDOOM 2024. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 15175. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-71210-4_4

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Social Media Adoption, Usage And Impact In Business-To-Business (B2B) Context: A State-Of-The-Art Literature Review

• Open access
• Published: 02 February 2021
• Volume 25 , pages 971–993, ( 2023 )

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• Yogesh K. Dwivedi 1 ,
• Elvira Ismagilova 2 ,
• Nripendra P. Rana 2 &
• Ramakrishnan Raman 3  

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Social media plays an important part in the digital transformation of businesses. This research provides a comprehensive analysis of the use of social media by business-to-business (B2B) companies. The current study focuses on the number of aspects of social media such as the effect of social media, social media tools, social media use, adoption of social media use and its barriers, social media strategies, and measuring the effectiveness of use of social media. This research provides a valuable synthesis of the relevant literature on social media in B2B context by analysing, performing weight analysis and discussing the key findings from existing research on social media. The findings of this study can be used as an informative framework on social media for both, academic and practitioners.

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1 Introduction

The Internet has changed social communications and social behaviour, which lead to the development of new forms of communication channels and platforms (Ismagilova et al. 2017 ). Social media plays an important part in the digital transformation of businesses (Kunsman 2018 ). Digital transformation refers to the globally accelerated process of technical adaptation by companies and communities as a result of digitalisation (Sivarajah et al. 2019 ; Westerman et al. 2014 ). Web is developed from a tool used to provide passive information into the collaborative web, which allows and encourages active user engagement and contribution. If before social networks were used to provide the information about a company or brand, nowadays businesses use social media in their marketing aims and strategies to improve consumers’ involvement, relationship with customers and get useful consumers’ insights (Alalwan et al. 2017 ). Business-to-consumer (B2C) companies widely use social media as part of their digital transformation and enjoy its benefits such as an increase in sales, brand awareness, and customer engagement to name a few (Barreda et al. 2015 ; Chatterjee and Kar 2020 ; Harrigan et al. 2020 ; Kamboj et al. 2018 ; Kapoor et al. 2018 ).

From a marketing and sales research perspective, social media is defined as “the technological component of the communication, transaction and relationship building functions of a business which leverages the network of customers and prospects to promote value co-creation” (Andzulis et al. 2012 p.308). Industrial buyers use social media for their purchase as they compare products, research the market and build relationships with salesperson (Itani et al. 2017 ). Social media changed the way how buyers and sellers interact (Agnihotri et al. 2016 ) by enabling open and broad communications and cooperation between them (Rossmann and Stei 2015 ). Social media is an important facilitator of relationships between a company and customers (Agnihotri et al. 2012 ; Tedeschi 2006 ). Customers are more connected to companies, which make them more knowledgable about product selection and more powerful in buyer-seller relationships (Agnihotri et al. 2016 ). Social media also helps companies to increase business exposure, traffic and providing marketplace insight (Agnihotri et al. 2016 ; Stelzner 2011 ). As a result, the use of social media supports business decision processes and helps to improve companies’ performance (Rossmann and Stei 2015 ).

Due to digitalisation customers are becoming more informed and rely less on traditional selling initiatives (Ancillai et al. 2019 ). Buyers are relying more on digital resources and their buying process more often involves the use of social media. For example, in the research B2B buyer survey, 82% of buyers stated that social media content has a significant impact on the purchase decision (Ancillai et al. 2019 ; Minsky and Quesenberry 2016 ). As a result, these changes in consumer behaviour place high pressure on B2B salespeople and traditional sales companies (Ancillai et al. 2019 ). By using evidence from major B2B companies and consultancy report some studies claim that social media can be applied in sales to establish effective dialogues with buyers (Ancillai et al. 2019 ; Kovac 2016 ; McKinsey and Company 2015 ).

Now, business-to-business (B2B) companies started using social media as part of their digital transformation. 83% of B2B companies use social media, which makes it the most common marketing tactic (Pulizzi and Handley 2017 ; Sobal 2017 ). More than 70% of B2B companies use at least one of the “big 4” social media sites such as LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook and YouTube. Additionally, 50% of the companies stated that social media has improved their marketing optimization and customer experience, while 25% stated that their revenue went up (Gregorio 2017 ; Sobal 2017 ). Even though B2B companies are benefitting from social media used by marketers, it is argued that research on that area is still in the embryonic stage and future research is needed (Salo 2017 ; Siamagka et al. 2015 ; Juntunen et al. 2020 ; Iannacci et al. 2020 ). There is a limited understanding of how B2B companies need to change to embrace recent technological innovations and how it can lead to business and societal transformation (Chen et al. 2012 ; Loebbecke and Picot 2015 ; Pappas et al. 2018 ).

The topic of social media in the context of B2B companies has started attracting attention from both academics and practitioners. This is evidenced by the growing number of research output within academic journals and conference proceedings. Some studies provided a comprehensive literature review on social media use by B2B companies (Pascucci et al. 2018 ; Salo 2017 ), but focused only on adoption of social media by B2B or social media influence, without providing the whole picture of the use of social media by B2B companies. Thus, this study aims to close this gap in the literature by conducting a comprehensive analysis of the use of social media by B2B companies and discuss its role in the digital transformation of B2B companies. The findings of this study can provide an informative framework for research on social media in the context of B2B companies for academics and practitioners.

The remaining sections of the study are organised as follows. Section 2 offers a brief overview of the methods used to identify relevant studies to be included in this review. Section 3 synthesises the studies identified in the previous section and provides a detailed overview. Section 4 presents weight analysis and its findings. Next section discusses the key aspects of the research, highlights any limitations within existing studies and explores the potential directions for future research. Finally, the paper is concluded in Section 6 .

2 Literature Search Method

The approach utilised in this study aligns with the recommendations in Webster and Watson ( 2002 ). This study used a keyword search-based approach for identifying relevant articles (Dwivedi et al. 2019b ; Ismagilova et al. 2020a ; Ismagilova et al. 2019 ; Jeyaraj and Dwivedi 2020 ; Williams et al. 2015 ). Keywords such as “Advertising” OR “Marketing” OR “Sales” AND TITLE (“Social Media” OR “Web 2.0” OR “Facebook” OR “LinkedIn” OR “Instagram” OR “Twitter” OR “Snapchat” OR “Pinterest” OR “WhatsApp” OR “Social Networking Sites”) AND TITLE-ABS-KEY (“B2B” OR “B to B” OR “Business to Business” OR “Business 2 Business”) were searched via the Scopus database. Scopus database was chosen to ensure the inclusion of only high quality studies. Use of online databases for conducting a systematic literature review became an emerging culture used by a number of information systems research studies (Dwivedi et al. 2019a ; Gupta et al. 2019 ; Ismagilova et al. 2020b ; Muhammad et al. 2018 ; Rana et al. 2019 ). The search resulted in 80 articles. All studies were processed by the authors in order to ensure relevance and that the research offered a contribution to the social media in the context B2B discussion. The search and review resulted in 70 articles and conference papers that formed the literature review for this study. The selected studies appeared in 33 separate journals and conference proceedings, including journals such as Industrial Marketing Management, Journal of Business and Industrial Marketing and Journal of Business Research.

3 Literature Synthesis

The studies on social media research in the context of B2B companies were divided into the following themes: effect of social media, adoption of social media, social media strategies, social media use, measuring the effectiveness of use of social media, and social media tools (see Table 1 ). The following subsections provide an overview of each theme.

3.1 Effect of Social Media

Some studies focus on the effect of social media for B2B companies, which include customer satisfaction, value creation, intention to buy and sales, building relationships with customers, brand awareness, knowledge creation, perceived corporate credibility, acquiring of new customers, salesperson performance, employee brand engagement, and sustainability (Table 2 ).

3.1.1 Customer Satisfaction

Some studies investigated how the use of social media affected customer satisfaction (Agnihotri et al. 2016 ; Ancillai et al. 2019 ; Rossmann and Stei 2015 ). For example, Agnihotri et al. ( 2016 ) investigated how the implementation of social media by B2B salesperson affects consumer satisfaction. Salesperson’s social media use is defined as a “salesperson’s utilization and integration of social media technology to perform his or her job” (Agnihotri et al. 2016 , p.2). The study used data from 111 sales professionals involved in B2B industrial selling to test the proposed hypotheses. It was found that a salesperson’s use of social media will have a positive effect on information communication, which will, in turn, lead to improved customer satisfaction with the salesperson. Also, it was investigated that information communication will be positively related to responsiveness, which impacts customer satisfaction.

Another study by Rossmann and Stei ( 2015 ) looked at the antecedents of social media use, social media use by B2B companies and their effect on customers. By using data from 362 chief information officers of B2B companies the study found the following. Social media usage of sales representative has a positive impact on customer satisfaction. Age has a negative effect on content generation. It seems that older salespeople use social media in passive ways or interacting with the customer rather than creating their own content. It was found that the quality of corporate social media strategy has a positive impact on social media usage in terms of the consumption of information, content generation, and active interaction with customers. Also, the expertise of a salesperson in the area of social media has a positive impact on social media usage.

3.1.2 Value Creation

Research in B2B found that social media can create value for customers and salesperson (Agnihotri et al. 2012 ; Agnihotri et al. 2017 ). Agnihotri et al. ( 2012 ) proposed a theoretical framework to explain the mechanisms through which salespeople’s use of social media operates to create value and propose a strategic approach to social media use to achieve competitive goals. The study draws on the existing literature on relationship marketing, task–technology fit theory, and sales service behavior to sketch a social media strategy for business-to-business sales organizations with relational selling objectives. The proposed framework describes how social media tools can help salespeople perform service behaviors (information sharing, customer service, and trust-building) leading to value creation.

Some researchers investigated the role of the salesperson in the value creation process after closing the sale. By employing salesperson-customer data within a business-to-business context, Agnihotri et al. ( 2017 ) analysed the direct effects of sales-based CRM technology on the post-sale service behaviors: diligence, information communication, inducements, empathy, and sportsmanship. Additionally, the study examines the interactive effects of sales-based CRM technology and social media on these behaviors. The results indicate that sales-based CRM technology has a positive influence on salesperson service behaviors and that salespeople using CRM technology in conjunction with social media are more likely to exhibit higher levels of SSBs than their counterparts with low social media technology use. Data were collected from 162 salespeople from India. SmartPLS was used to analyse the data.

3.1.3 Intention to Buy and Sales

Another group of studies investigated the effect of social media on the level of sales and consumer purchase intention (Ancillai et al. 2019 ; Itani et al. 2017 ; Salo 2017 ; Hsiao et al. 2020 ; Mahrous 2013 ). For example, Itani et al. ( 2017 ) used the theory of reasoned actions to develop a model that tests the factors affecting the use of social media by salesperson and its impact. By collecting data from 120 salespersons from different industries and using SmartPLS to analyse the data, it was found that attitude towards social media usefulness did not affect the use of social media. It was found that social media use positively affects competitive intelligence collection, adaptive selling behaviour, which in turn influenced sales performance. Another study by Ancillai et al. ( 2019 ) used in-depth interviews with social selling professionals. The findings suggest that the use of social media improves not only the level of sales but also affects relationship and customer performance (trust, customer satisfaction, customer referrals); and organisational performance (organisational selling performance and brand performance).

It was investigated that social media has a positive effect on the intention to purchase (Hsiao et al. 2020 ; Mahrous 2013 ). For instance, Mahrous ( 2013 ) by reviewing the literature on B2B and B2C companies concluded that social media has a significant influence on consumer buying behaviour.

3.1.4 Customer Relationships

Another group of studies focused on the effect of social media on customer relationships (Bhattacharjya and Ellison 2015 ; Gáti et al. 2018 ; Gruner and Power 2018 ; Hollebeek 2019 ; Iankova et al. 2018 ; Jussila et al. 2011 ; Kho 2008 ; Niedermeier et al. 2016 ; Ogilvie et al. 2018 ). For example, Bhattacharjya and Ellison ( 2015 ) investigated the way companies build relationships with customers by using responsive customer relationship management. The study analysed customer relationship management activities from Twitter account of a Canadian company Shopify (B2B service provider). The company uses Twitter to engage with small business customers, develops and consumers. Jussila et al. ( 2011 ), by reviewing the literature, found that social media leads to increased customer focus and understanding, increased level of customer service and decreased time-to-market.

Gáti et al. ( 2018 ) focused their research efforts on social media use in customer relationship performance, particularly in customer relations. The study investigated the adoption and impact of social media by salespeople of B2B companies. By using data of 112 salespeople from several industries the study found that the intensity of technology use positively affects attitude towards social media, which positively affects social media use. Intensive technology use in turn positively affects customer relationship performance (customer retention). PLS-SEM was applied for analysis.

Another study by Gruner and Power ( 2018 ) investigated the effectiveness of the use of multiple social media platforms in communications with customers. By using data from 208 large Australian organisations, the paper explores how companies’ investment in one form of social media impacts activity on another form of social media. A regression analysis was performed to analyse the data. It was found that widespread activities on LinkedIn, Twitter and YouTube have a negative effect on a company’s marketing activity on Facebook. Thus, having it is more effective for the company to focus on a specific social media platform in forming successful inter-organisational relationships with customers.

Hollebeek ( 2019 ) proposed an integrative S-D logic/resource-based view (RBV) model of customer engagement. The proposed model considers business customer actors and resources in driving business customer resource integration, business customer resource integration effectiveness and business customer resource integration efficiency, which are antecedents of business customer engagement. Business customer engagement, in turn, results in business customer co-creation and relationship productivity.

Niedermeier et al. ( 2016 ) investigated the use of social media among salespeople in the pharmaceutical industry in China. Also, the study investigated the impact of social media on building culturally specific Guanxi relationships-it involves the exchange of factors to build trust and connection for business purpose. By using in-depth interviews with 3 sales managers and a survey of 42 pharmaceutical sales representatives that study found that WeChat is the most common social media platform used by businesses. Also, it was found to be an important tool in building Guanxi. Future studies should focus on other industries and other types of cultural features in doing business.

Ogilvie et al. ( 2018 ) investigated the effect of social media technologies on customer relationship performance and objective sales performance by using two empirical studies conducted in the United States. The first study used 375 salespeople from 1200 B2B companies. The second study used 181 respondents from the energy solution company. It was found that social media significantly affects salesperson product information communication, diligence, product knowledge and adaptability, which in turn affect customer relationship performance. It was also found that the use of social media technologies without training on technology will not lead to good results. Thus, the results propose that companies should allocate the resources required for the proper implementation of social media strategies. Future research should examine how the personality traits of a salesperson can moderate the implementation of social media technologies.

While most of the studies focused on a single country, Iankova et al. ( 2018 ) investigated the perceived effectiveness of social media by different types of businesses in two countries. By using 449 respondents from the US and the UK businesses, it was found that social media is potentially less important, at the present time, for managing ongoing relationships in B2B organizations than for B2C, Mixed or B2B2C organizations. All types of businesses ascribe similar importance to social media for acquisition-related activities. Also it was found that B2B organizations see social media as a less effective communication channel, and to have less potential as a channel for the business.

3.1.5 Brand Awareness

Some researchers argued that social media can influence brand awareness (Ancillai et al. 2019 ; Hsiao et al. 2020 ). For instance, Hsiao et al. ( 2020 ) investigated the effect of social media in the fashion industry. By collecting 1395 posts from lookbook.nu and employing regression analysis it was found that the inclusion of national brand and private fashion brands in the post increased the level of popularity which leads to purchasing interest and brand awareness.

3.1.6 Knowledge Creation

Multiple types of collaborative web tools can help and significantly increase the collaboration and the use of the distributed knowledge inside and outside of the company (McAfee 2006 ). Kärkkäinen et al. ( 2011 ) by analysing previous literature on social media proposed that social media use has a positive effect on sharing and creation of customer information and knowledge in the case of B2B companies.

3.1.7 Corporate Credibility

Another study by Kho ( 2008 ) states the advantages of using social media by B2B companies, which include faster and more personalised communications between customer and vendor, which can improve corporate credibility and strengthen the relationships. Thanks to social media companies can provide more detailed information about their products and services. Kho ( 2008 ) also mentions that customer forums and blog comments in the B2B environment should be carefully monitored in order to make sure that inappropriate discussions are taken offline and negative eWOM communications should be addressed in a timely manner.

3.1.8 Acquiring New Customers

Meire et al. ( 2017 ) investigated the impact of social media on acquiring B2B customers. By using commercially purchased prospecting data, website data and Facebook data from beverage companies the study conducted an experiment and found that social media us an effective tool in acquiring B2B customers. Future work might assess the added value of social media pages for profitability prediction instead of prospect conversion. When a longer timeframe becomes available (e.g., after one year), the profitability of the converted prospects can be assessed.

3.1.9 Salesperson Performance

Moncrief et al. ( 2015 ) investigated the impact of social media technologies on the role of salesperson position. It was found that social media affects sales management functions (supervision, selection, training, compensation, and deployment) and salesperson performance (role, skill, and motivation). Another study by Rodriguez et al. ( 2012 ) examines the effect of social media on B2B sales performance by using social capital theory and collecting data from 1699 B2B salespeople from over 25 different industries. By employing SEM AMOS, the study found that social media usage has a positive significant relationship with selling companies’ ability to create opportunities and manage relationships. The study also found that social media usage has a positive and significant relationship with sales performance (based on relational measurers of sales that focus on behaviours that strengthen the relationship between buyers and sellers), but not with outcome-based sales performance (reflected by quota achievement, growth in average billing size, and overall revenue gain).

3.1.10 Employee Brand Management

The study by Pitt et al. ( 2018 ) focuses on employee engagement with B2B companies on social media. By using results from Glassdoor (2315 five-star and 1983 one-star reviews for the highest-ranked firms, and 1013 five star and 1025 one-star reviews for lowest ranked firms) on employee brand engagement on social media, two key drivers of employee brand engagement by using the content analysis tool DICTION were identified-optimism and commonality. Individuals working in top-ranked companies expressed a higher level of optimism and commonality in comparison with individuals working in low-ranked companies. As a result, a 2 × 2 matrix was constructed which can help managers to choose strategies in order to increase and improve employee brand engagement. Another study by Pitt et al. ( 2017 ) focused on employee engagement of B2B companies on social media. By using a conceptual framework based on a theory of word choice and verbal tone and 6300 reviews collected from Glassdoor and analysed using DICTION. The study found that employees of highly ranked B2B companies are more positive about their employer brand and talk more optimistically about these brands. For low ranked B2B companies it was found that employees express a greater level of activity, certainty, and realism. Also, it was found that they used more aggressive language.

3.1.11 Sustainability

Sustainability refers to the strategy that helps a business “to meet its current requirements without compromising its ability to meet future needs” (World Commission Report on Environment and Development 1987 , p 41). Two studies out of 70 focused on the role of social media for B2B sustainability (Sivarajah et al. 2019 ; Kasper et al. 2015 ). For example, Sivarajah et al. ( 2019 ) argued that big data and social media within a participatory web environment to enable B2B organisations to become profitable and remain sustainable through strategic operations and marketing related business activities.

Another study by Kasper et al. ( 2015 ) proposed the Social Media Matrix which helps companies to decide which social media activities to execute based on their corporate and communication goals. The matrix includes three parts. The first part is focusing on social media goals and task areas, which were identified and matched. The second part consists of five types of social media activities (content, interaction/dialog, listening and analysing, application and networking). The third part provides a structure to assess the suitability of each activity type on each social media platform for each goal. The matrix was successfully tested by assessing the German B2B sector by using expert interviews with practitioners.

Based on the reviewed studies, it can be seen that if used appropriately social media have positive effect on B2B companies before and after sales, such as customer satisfaction, value creation, intention to buy and sales, customer relationships, brand awareness, knowledge creation, corporate credibility, acquiring new customers, salesperson performance, employee brand management, and sustainability. However, limited research is done on the negative effect of social media on b2b companies.

3.2 Adoption of Social Media

Some scholars investigated factors affecting the adoption of social media by B2B companies (Buratti et al. 2018 ; Gáti et al. 2018 ; Gazal et al. 2016 ; Itani et al. 2017 ; Kumar and Möller 2018 ; Lacka and Chong 2016 ). For instance, Lacka and Chong ( 2016 ) investigated factors affecting the adoption of social media by B2B companies from different industries in China. The study collected the data from 181 respondents and used the technology acceptance model with Nielsen’s model of attributes of system acceptability as a theoretical framework. By using SEM AMOS for analysis the study found that perceived usability, perceived usefulness, and perceived utility positively affect adoption and use of social media by B2B marketing professionals. The usefulness is subject to the assessment of whether social media sites are suitable means through which marketing activities can be conducted. The ability to use social media sites for B2B marketing purposes, in turn, is due to those sites learnability and memorability attributes.

Another study by Müller et al. ( 2018 ) investigated factors affecting the usage of social media. By using survey data from 100 Polish and 39 German sensor suppliers, it was found that buying frequency, the function of a buyer, the industry sector and the country does not affect the usage of social media in the context of sensor technology from Poland and Germany. The study used correlation analysis and ANOVA.

Lashgari et al. ( 2018 ) studied the adoption and use of social media by using face-to-face interviews with key managers of four multinational corporations and observations from companies’ websites and social media platforms. It was found that that the elements essential in forming the B2B firm’s social media adoption strategies are content (depth and diversity), corresponding social media platform, the structure of social media channels, the role of moderators, information accessibility approaches (public vs. gated-content), and online communities. These elements are customized to the goals and target group the firm sets to pursue. Similarly, integration of social media into other promotional channels can fall under an ad-hoc or continuous approach depending on the scope and the breadth of the communication plan, derived from the goal.

Similar to Lashgari et al. ( 2018 ), Shaltoni ( 2017 ) used data from managers. The study applied technology organisational environmental framework and diffusion of innovations to investigate factors affecting the adoption of social media by B2B companies. By using data from marketing managers or business owners of 480 SMEs, the study found that perceived relative advance, perceive compatibility, organizational innovativeness, competitor pressure, and customer pressure influence the adoption of social media by B2B companies. The findings also suggest that many decision-makers in B2B companies think that Internet marketing is not beneficial, as it is not compatible with the nature of B2B markets.

Buratti et al. ( 2018 ) investigated the adoption of social media by tanker shipping companies and ocean carriers. By using data from 60 companies the following was found. LinkedIn is the most used tool, with a 93.3% adoption rate. Firm size emerges as a predictor of Twitter’s adoption: big companies unveil a higher attitude to use it. Finally, the country of origin is not a strong influential factor in the adoption rate. Nonetheless, Asian firms clearly show a lower attitude to join SM tools such as Facebook (70%) and LinkedIn (86.7%), probably also due to governmental web restrictions imposed in China. External dimensions such as the core business, the firm size, the geographic area of origin, etc., seem to affect network wideness. Firm size, also, discriminates the capacity of firms to build relational networks. Bigger firms create networks larger than small firms do. Looking at geographical dimensions, Asian firms confirm to be far less active on SM respect to European and North American firms. Finally, the study analyzed the format of the contents disclosed by sample firms, observing quite limited use of photos and videos: in the sample industries, informational contents seem more appropriate for activating a dialogue with stakeholders and communication still appears formulated in a very traditional manner. Preliminary findings suggest that companies operating in conservative B2B services pursue different strategic approaches toward SMM and develop ad hoc communication tactics. Nonetheless, to be successful in managing SM tools, a high degree of commitment and a clear vision concerning the role of SM within communication and marketing strategy is necessary.

Gazal et al. ( 2016 ) investigated the adoption and measuring of the effectiveness of social media in the context of the US forest industry by using organisational-level adoption framework and TAM. By using data from 166 companies and performing regression analysis, the following results were received. Years in business, new sales revenue, product type, amount of available information on a company website, perceived importance of e-commerce and perceived ease of use of social media significantly affected social media use. Also, it was found that companies’ strategies and internal resources and capabilities and influence a company’s decision to adopt social media. Also, it was found that 94 of respondents do not measure the ROI from social media use. The reason is that the use of social media in marketing is relatively new and companies do not possess the knowledge of measuring ROI from the use of social media. Companies mostly use quantitative metrics (number of site visits, number of social network friends, number of comments and profile views) and qualitative metrics (growth of relationships with the key audience, audience participation, moving from monologue to dialogue with consumers. Facebook was found to be the most effective social media platform reported by the US forest industry.

The study by Kumar and Möller ( 2018 ) investigated the role of social media for B2B companies in their recruitment practices. By using data from international B2B company with headquarter in Helsinki, Finland comprised of 139 respondents it was found that brand familiarity encourages them to adopt social media platforms for a job search; however, the effect of the persuasiveness of recruitment messages on users’ adoption of social media platforms for their job search behavior is negative. The study used correlation analysis and descriptive analysis to analyse the data.

Nunan et al. ( 2018 ) identified areas for future research such as patterns of social media adoption, the role of social media platforms within the sales process, B2B consumer engagement and social media, modeling the ROI of social media, and the risks of social media within B2B sales relationships.

The study by Pascucci et al. ( 2018 ) conducted a systematic literature review on antecedents affecting the adoption and use of social media by B2B companies. By reviewing 29 studies published in academic journal and conferences from 2001 to 2017, the study identified external (pressure from customers, competitors, availability of external information about social media) and internal factors (personal characteristics -managers age, individual commitment, perceptions of social media-perceived ease of use, perceived usefulness, perceived utility), which can affect adoption of social media.

The study by Siamagka et al. ( 2015 ) aims to investigate factors affecting the adoption of social media by B2B organisations. The conceptual model was based on the technology acceptance model and the resource-based theory. AMOS software and Structural equation modelling were employed to test the proposed hypotheses. By using a sample of 105 UK companies, the study found that perceived usefulness of social media is influenced by image, perceived ease of use and perceived barriers. Also, it was found that social media adoption is significantly determined by organisational innovativeness and perceived usefulness. Additionally, the study tested the moderating role of organisational innovativeness and found that it does not affect the adoption of social media by B2B organisations. The study also identified that perceived barriers to SNS (uncertainty about how to use SNS to achieve objectives, employee’s lack of knowledge about SNS, high cost of investment needed to adopt the technology) have a negative impact on perceived usefulness of social media by B2B organisations. The study also used nine in-depth interviews with B2B senior managers and social media specialists about adoption of social media by B2B. It was found that perceived pressure from stakeholders influences B2B organisations’ adoption intention of social media. Future research should test it by using quantitative methods.

While most of the studies focused on the antecedents of social media adoption by B2B companies, Michaelidou et al. ( 2011 ) investigated the usage, perceived barriers and measuring the effectiveness of social media. By using data from 92 SMEs the study found that over a quarter of B2B SMEs in the UK are currently using SNS to achieve brand objectives, the most popular of which is to attract new customers. The barriers that prevent SMEs from using social media to support their brands were lack of staff familiarity and technical skills. Innovativeness of a company determined the adoption of social media. It was found that most of the companies do not evaluate the effectiveness of their SNS in supporting their brand. The most popular measures were the number of users joining the groups/discussion and the number of comments made. The findings showed that the size of the company does not influence the usage of social media for small and medium-sized companies. Future research should investigate the usage of social media in large companies and determine if the size can have and influence on the use. The benefits of using social media include increasing awareness and communicating the brand online. B2B companies can employ social media to create customer value in the form of interacting with customers, as well as building and fostering customer relationships. Future research should investigate the reasons why most of the users do not assess the effectiveness of their SNS. Future research should also investigate how the attitude towards technology can influence the adoption of social media.

Based on the reviewed studies it can be seen that the main factors affecting the adoption of social media by B2B companies are perceived usability, technical skills of employees, pressure from stakeholders, perceived usefulness and innovativeness.

3.3 Social Media Strategies

Another group of studies investigated types of strategies B2B companies apply (Cawsey and Rowley 2016 ; Huotari et al. 2015 ; Kasper et al. 2015 ; McShane et al. 2019 ; Mudambi et al. 2019 ; Swani et al. 2013 ; Swani et al. 2014 ; Swani et al. 2017 ; Watt 2010 ). For example, Cawsey and Rowley ( 2016 ) focused on the social media strategies of B2B companies. By conducting semi-structured interviews with marketing professionals from France, Ireland, the UK and the USA it was found that enhancing brand image, extending brand awareness and facilitating customer engagement were considered the most common social media objective. The study proposed the B2B social media strategy framework, which includes six components of a social media strategy: 1) monitoring and listening 2) empowering and engaging employees 3) creating compelling content 4) stimulating eWOM 5) evaluating and selecting channels 6) enhancing brand presence through integrating social media.

Chirumalla et al. ( 2018 ) focused on the social media engagement strategies of manufacturing companies. By using semi-structured interviews (36), observations (4), focus group meetings (6), and documentation, the study developed the process of social media adoption through a three-phase engagement strategy which includes coordination, cooperation, and co-production.

McShane et al. ( 2019 ) proposed social media strategies to influence online users’ engagement with B2B companies. Taking into consideration fluency lens the study analysed Twitter feeds of top 50 social B2B brands to examine the influence of hashtags, text difficulty embedded media and message timing on user engagement, which was evaluated in terms of likes and retweets. It was found that hashtags and text difficulty are connected to lower levels of engagement while embedded media such as images and videos improve the level of engagement.

Swani et al. ( 2014 ) investigate the use of Twitter by B2B and B2C companies and predict factors that influence message strategies. The study conducted a longitudinal content analysis by collecting 7000 tweets from Fortune 500 companies. It was found that B2B and B2C companies used different message appeals, cues, links and hashtags. B2B companies tend to use more emotional than functional appeals. It was found that B2B and B2C companies do not use hard-sell message strategies.

Another study by Swani et al. ( 2013 ) aimed to investigate message strategies that can help in promoting eWOM activity for B2B companies. By applying content analysis and hierarchical linear modeling the study analysed 1143 wall post messages from 193 fortune 500 Facebook accounts. The study found that B2B account posts will be more effective if they include corporate brand names and avoid hard sell or explicitly commercial statement. Also, companies should use emotional sentiment in Facebook posts.

Huotari et al. ( 2015 ) aimed to investigate how B2B marketers can influence content creation in social media. By conducting four face-to-face interviews with B2B marketers, it was found that a B2B company can influence content creation in social media directly by adding new content, participating in a discussion and removing content through corporate user accounts and controlling employees social media behaviour. Also, it can influence it indirectly by training employees to create desired content and perfuming marketing activities that influence other users to create content that is favorable for the company.

Most of the studies investigated the strategies and content of social media communications of B2B companies. However, the limited number of studies investigated the importance of CEO engagement on social media in the company’s strategies. Mudambi et al. ( 2019 ) emphasise the importance of the CEO of B2B companies to be present and active on social media. The study discusses the advantages of social media presence for the CEO and how it will benefit the company. For example, one of the benefits for the CEO can be perceived as being more trustworthy and effective than non-social CEOs, which will benefit the company in increased customer trust. Mudambi et al. ( 2019 ) also discussed the platforms the CEO should use and posting frequencies depending on the content of the post.

From the above review of the studies, it can be seen that B2B companies social media strategies include enhancing brand image, extending brand awareness and facilitating customer engagement. Companies use various message strategies, such as using emotional appeal, use of brand names, and use of hashtags. Majority of the companies avoid hard sell or explicitly commercial statement.

3.4 Social Media Use

Studies investigated the way how companies used social media and factors affecting the use of social media by B2B (Andersson et al. 2013 ; Bernard 2016 ; Bolat et al. 2016 ; Denktaş-Şakar and Sürücü 2018 ; Dyck 2010 ; Guesalaga 2016 ; Habibi et al. 2015 ). For example, Vasudevan and Kumar ( 2018 ) investigated how B2B companies use social media by analysing 325 brand posts of Canon India, Epson India, and HP India on Linkedin, Facebook, and Twitter. By employing content analysis the study found that most of the posts had a combination of text and message. More than 50% of the posts were about product or brand-centric. The study argued that likes proved to be an unreliable measure of engagement, while shares were considered a more reliable metric. The reason was that likes had high spikes when brand posts were boosted during promotional activities.

Andersson and Wikström ( 2017 ) used case studies of three B2B companies to investigate reasons for using social media. It was found that companies use social media to enhance customer relationships, support sales and build their brands. Also, social media is used as a recruiting tool, a seeking tool, and a product information and service tool.

Bell and Shirzad ( 2013 ) aimed to conduct social media use analysis in the context of pharmaceutical companies. The study analysed 54,365 tweets from the top five pharmaceutical companies. The study analysed the popular time slots, the average number of positive and negative tweets and its content by using Nvivo9.

Bernard ( 2016 ) aims to examine how chief marketing officers use social media. By using case studies from IBM experience with social media it was found that B2B CMO’s are not ready to make use of social media. It was proposed that social media can be used for after-sales service, getting sales leads, engaging with key influencers, building the company’s reputation and enhancing the industry status of key individuals. B2B firms need to exploit the capabilities of processing massive amounts of data to get the most from social media.

Bolat et al. ( 2016 ) explore how companies apply mobile social media. By employing a grounded theory approach to analyse interviews from 26 B2B company representatives from UK advertising and marketing sector companies. It was found that companies use social media for branding, sensing market, managing relationships, and developing content.

Denktaş-Şakar and Sürücü ( 2018 ) investigated how social media usage influence stakeholder engagement focusing on the corporate Facebook page of 30 3PLs companies. In total 1532 Facebook posts were analysed. It was found that the number of followers, post sharing frequency, negatively affect stakeholder engagement. It was found that content including photos facilitates more stakeholder engagement (likes, comment, share) in comparison with other forms. Vivid posts and special day celebration posts strengthen relationships with stakeholders.

Dyck ( 2010 ) discussed the advantages of using social media for the device industry. Social media can be used for product innovation and development, to build a team and collaborate globally. Also, there is an opportunity to connect with all of the stakeholders needed in order to deliver the device to the market. Additionally, it provides to receive feedback from customers (doctors, hospitals) in real-time.

The study by Guesalaga ( 2016 ) draws on interactional psychology theory to propose and test a model of usage of social media in sales, analysing individual, organizational, and customer-related factors. It was found that organizational competence and commitment to social media are key determinants of social media usage in sales, as well as individual commitment. Customer engagement with social media also predicts social media usage in sales, both directly and (mostly) through the individual and organizational factors analysed, especially organizational competence and commitment. Finally, the study found evidence of synergistic effects between individual competence and commitment, which is not found at the organizational level. The data obtained by surveying 220 sales executives in the United States were analysed using regression analysis.

Habibi et al. ( 2015 ) proposed a conceptual model for the implementation of social media by B2B companies. Based on existing B2B marketing, social media and organisational orientational literature the study proposed that four components of electronic market orientation (philosophical, initiation, implementation and adoption) address different implementation issues faced in implementing social media.

Katona and Sarvary ( 2014 ) presented a case of using social media by Maersk-the largest container shipping company in the world. The case provided details on the program launch and the integration strategy which focused on integrating the largest independent social media operation into the company’s broader marketing efforts.

Moore et al. ( 2013 ) provided insights into the understanding of the use of social media by salespersons. 395 salespeople in B2B and B2C markets, utilization of relationship-oriented social media applications are presented and examined. Overall, findings show that B2B practitioners tend to use media targeted at professionals whereas their B2C counterparts tend to utilize more sites targeted to the general public for engaging in one-on-one dialogue with their customers. Moreover, B2B professionals tend to use relationship-oriented social media technologies more than B2C professionals for the purpose of prospecting, handling objections, and after-sale follow-up.

Moore et al. ( 2015 ) investigated the use of social media between B2B and B2C salespeople. By using survey data from 395 sales professionals from different industries they found that B2B sales managers use social selling tools significantly more frequently than B2C managers and B2C sales representatives while conducting sales presentations. Also, it was found that B2B managers used social selling tools significantly more frequently than all sales representatives while closing sales.

Müller et al. ( 2013 ) investigated social media use in the German automotive market. By using online analysis of 10 most popular car manufacturers online social networks and surveys of six manufacturers, 42 car dealers, 199 buyers the study found that social media communication relations are widely established between manufacturers and (prospective) buyers and only partially established between car dealers and prospective buyers. In contrast to that, on the B2B side, social media communication is rarely used. Social Online Networks (SONs) are the most popular social media channels employed by businesses. Manufacturers and car dealers focus their social media engagement, especially on Facebook. From the perspective of prospective buyers, however, forums are the most important source of information.

Sułkowski and Kaczorowska-Spychalska ( 2016 ) investigated the adoption of social media by companies in the Polish textile-clothing industry. By interviewing seven companies representatives of small and medium-sized enterprises the study found that companies started implementing social media activities in their marketing activities.

Vukanovic ( 2013 ) by reviewing previous literature on social media outlined advantages of using social media for B2B companies, which include: increase customer loyalty and trust, building and improving corporate reputation, facilitating open communications, improvement in customer engagement to name a few.

Keinänen and Kuivalainen ( 2015 ) investigated factors affecting the use of social media by B2B customers by conducting an online survey among 82 key customer accounts of an information technology service company. Partial least squares path modelling was used to analysed the proposed hypotheses. It was found that social media private use, colleague support for using SM, age, job position affected the use of social media by B2B customers. The study also found that corporate culture, gender, easiness to use, and perception of usability did not affect the use of social media by B2B customers.

By using interviews and survey social media research found that mostly B2B companies use social media to enhance customer relationships, support sales, build their brands, sense market, manage relationships, and develop content. Additionally, some companies use it social media as a recruitment tool. The main difference between B2B and B2C was that B2B sales managers use social selling tools significantly more frequently than B2C managers.

3.5 Measuring the Effectiveness of Social Media

It is important for a business to be able to measure the effectiveness of social media by calculating return on investment (ROI). ROI is the relationship between profit and the investment that generate that profit. Some studies focused on the ways B2B companies can measure ROI and the challenges they face (Gazal et al. 2016 ; Michaelidou et al. 2011 ; Vasudevan and Kumar 2018 ). For example, Gazal et al. ( 2016 ) investigated the adoption and measuring of the effectiveness of social media in the context of the US forest industry by using organisational-level adoption framework and TAM. By using data from 166 companies it was found that 94% of respondents do not measure the ROI from social media use. The reason is that the use of social media in marketing is relatively new and companies do not possess the knowledge of measuring ROI from the use of social media. Companies mostly use quantitative metrics (number of site visits, number of social network friends, number of comments and profile views) and qualitative metrics (growth of relationships with the key audience, audience participation, moving from monologue to dialogue with consumers).

Another study by Michaelidou et al. ( 2011 ) found that most of the companies do not evaluate the effectiveness of their SNS in supporting their brand. The most popular measures were the number of users joining the groups/discussion and the number of comments made.

Vasudevan and Kumar ( 2018 ) investigated how B2B companies use social media and measure ROI from social media by analysing 325 brand posts of Canon India, Epson India, and HP India on Linkedin, Facebook, and Twitter. By employing content analysis the study found that most of the post has a combination of text and message. More than 50% of the posts were about product or brand-centric. The study argued that likes proved to be an unreliable measure of engagement, while shares were considered a more reliable metric. The reason was that likes had high spikes when brand posts were boosted during promotional activities. Future research should conduct longitudinal studies.

By reviewing the above studies, it can be concluded that companies still struggle to find ways of measuring ROI and applying correct metrics. By gaining knowledge in how to measure ROI from social media activities, B2B companies will be able to produce valuable insights leading to better marketing strategies (Lal et al. 2020 ).

3.6 Social Media Tools

Some studies proposed tools that could be employed by companies to advance their use of social media. For example, Mehmet and Clarke ( 2016 ) proposed a social semiotic multimodal (SSMM) framework that improved the analysis of social media communications. This framework employs multimodal extensions to systemic functional linguistics enabling it to be applying to analysing non-language as well as language constituents of social media messages. Furthermore, the framework also utilises expansion theory to identify, categorise and analyse various marketing communication resources associated with marketing messages and also to reveal how conversations are chained together to form extended online marketing conversations. This semantic approach is exemplified using a Fairtrade Australia B2B case study demonstrating how marketing conversations can be mapped and analysed. The framework emphasises the importance of acknowledging the impact of all stakeholders, particularly messages that may distract or confuse the original purpose of the conversation.

Yang et al. ( 2012 ) proposed the temporal analysis technique to identify user relationships on social media platforms. The experiment was conducted by using data from Digg.com . The results showed that the proposed techniques achieved substantially higher recall but not very good at precision. This technique will help companies to identify their future consumers based on their user relationships.

Based on the literature review, it can be seen that B2B companies can benefit by using the discussed tools. However, it is important to consider that employee should have some technical skills and knowledge to use these tools successfully. As a result, companies will need to invest some resources in staff training.

4 Weight Analysis

Weight analysis enables scrutiny of the predictive power of independent variables in studied relationships and the degree of effectiveness of the relationships (Jeyaraj et al. 2006 ; Rana et al. 2015 ; Ismagilova et al. 2020a ). The results of weight analysis are depicted in Table 3 providing information about an independent variable, dependent variable, number of significant relationships, number of non-significant relationships, the total number of relationships and weight. To perform weight analysis, the number of significant relationships was divided by the total number of analysed relationships between the independent variable and the dependent variable (Jeyaraj et al. 2006 ; Rana et al. 2015 ). For example, the weight for the relationship between attitude towards social media and social media is calculated by dividing ‘1’ (the number of significant relationships) by ‘2’ (the total number of relationships) which equals 0.5.

A predictor is defined as well-utilised if it was examined five or more times, otherwise, it is defined as experimental. It can be seen from Table 3 that all relationships were examined less than five times. Thus all studied predictors are experimental. The predictor is defined as promising when it has been examined less than five times by existing studies but has a weight equal to ‘1’ (Jeyaraj et al. 2006 ). From the predictors affecting the adoption of social media, it can be seen that two are promising, technical skills of employees and pressure from stakeholders. Social media usage is a promising predictor for acquiring new customers, sales, stakeholder engagement and customer satisfaction. Perceived ease of use and age of salesperson are promising predictors of social media usage. Even though this relationship was found to be significant every time it was examined, it is suggested that this variable, which can also be referred to as experimental, will need to be further tested in order to qualify as the best predictor. Another predictor, average rating of product/service, was examined less than five times with a weight equal to 0.75, thus it is considered as an experimental predictor.

Figure 1 shows the diagrammatic representation of the factors affecting different relationships in B2B social media with their corresponding weights, based on the results of weight analysis. The findings suggest that promising predictors should be included in further empirical studies to determine their overall performance.

Diagrammatic representation of results of weight analysis. Note: experimental predictors

It can be seen from Fig. 1 that social media usage is affected by internal (e.g. attitude towards social media, technical skills of employees) and external factors (e.g. pressure from stakeholders) of the company. Also, the figure depicts the effect of social media on the business (e.g. sales) and society (e.g. customer satisfaction).

5 Discussion

In reviewing the publications gathered for this paper, the following themes were identified. Some studies investigated the effect of social media use by B2B companies. By using mostly survey to collect the data from salespeople and managers, the studies found that social media has a positive effect on number of outcomes important for the business such as customer satisfaction, value creation, intention to buy and sales, customer relationships, brand awareness, knowledge creation, corporate credibility, acquiring new customers, salespersons performance, employee brand management, and sustainability. Most of the outcomes are similar to the research on social media in the context of B2C companies. However, some of the outcomes are unique for B2B context (e.g. employee brand management, company credibility). Just recently, studies started investigating the impact of the use of social media on sustainability.

Another group of studies looked at the adoption of social media by B2B companies (Buratti et al. 2018 ; Gáti et al. 2018 ; Gazal et al. 2016 ; Itani et al. 2017 ; Kumar and Möller 2018 ). The studies investigated it mostly from the perspectives of salespersons and identify some of the key factors which affect the adoption, such as innovativeness, technical skills of employees, pressure from stakeholders, perceived usefulness, and perceived usability. As these factors are derived mostly from surveys conducted with salespersons findings can be different for other individuals working in the organisation. This it is important to conduct studies that will examine factors affecting the adoption of social media across the entire organisation, in different departments. Using social media as part of the digital transformation is much bigger than sales and marketing, it encompasses the entire company. Additionally, most of the studies were cross-sectional, which limits the understanding of the adoption of social media by B2B over time depending on the outcomes and environment (e.g. competitors using social media).

Some studies looked at social media strategies of B2B companies (Cawsey and Rowley 2016 ; Huotari et al. 2015 ; Kasper et al. 2015 ; McShane et al. 2019 ; Mudambi et al. 2019 ). By employing interviews with companies’ managers and analysing its social media platforms (e.g. Twitter) it was found that most of the companies follow the following strategies: 1) monitoring and listening 2) empowering and engaging employees 3) creating compelling content 4) stimulating eWOM 5) evaluating and selecting channels 6) enhancing brand presence through integrating social media (Cawsey and Rowley 2016 ). Some studies investigated the difference between social media strategies of B2B and B2C companies. For example, a study by Swani et al. ( 2017 ) focused on effective social media strategies. By applying psychological motivation theory the study examined the key differences in B2B and B2C social media message strategies in terms of branding, message appeals, selling, and information search. The study used Facebook posts on brand pages of 280 Fortune companies. In total, 1467 posts were analysed. By using Bayesian models, the results showed that the inclusion of corporate brand names, functional and emotional appeals and information search cues increases the popularity of B2B messages in comparison with B2C messages. Also, it was found that readers of B2B content show a higher message liking rate and lower message commenting rate in comparison with readers of B2C messages.

The next group of studies looked at social media use by B2B companies (Andersson et al. 2013 ; Bernard 2016 ; Bolat et al. 2016 ; Denktaş-Şakar and Sürücü 2018 ; Dyck 2010 ; Guesalaga 2016 ; Habibi et al. 2015 ). B2B companies use social media for enhancing and managing customer relationships (Andersson and Wikström 2017 ; Bolat et al. ( 2016 ); branding (Andersson and Wikström 2017 ; Bolat et al. 2016 ), sensing market (Bolat et al. 2016 ) and co-production (Chirumalla et al. 2018 ). Additionally, it was mentioned that some of the B2B companies use social media as a recruiting tool, and tool which helps to collaborate globally (Andersson and Wikström 2017 ; Dyck 2010 ).

It is important for companies to not only use social media to achieve positive business outcomes but also it is important to measure their achievements. As a result, some of the studies focused on the measuring effectiveness of social media (Gazal et al. 2016 ; Michaelidou et al. 2011 ; Vasudevan and Kumar 2018 ). Surprisingly, it was found that not so many companies measure ROI from social media (Gazal et al. 2016 ; Michaelidou et al. 2011 ). The ones who do it mostly use quantitative metrics (number of site visits, number of social network friends, number of comments and profile views) and qualitative metrics (growth of relationships with key audience, audience participation, moving from monologue to dialogue with consumers) (Gazal et al. 2016 ). Some future studies should investigate how ROI influences the strategy of B2B companies over period of time.

The last group of studies focused on social media tools used by B2B companies (Keinänen and Kuivalainen 2015 ; Mehmet and Clarke 2016 ; Yang et al. 2012 ). By using number of social media tools (Social Semiotic Multimodal) companies are able to improve their analysis of social media communications and identify their future consumers based on their user relationships. Studies investigating barriers and factors adoption of various social media tools by B2B companies are needed.

After reviewing studies on b2B social media, weight analysis was performed. Based on the results of weight analysis the conceptual model for future studies was proposed (Fig.  2 ). It is important to note that a limited number of studies focused and empirically tested factors affecting the adoption, use, and effect of social media. As a result, identified factors were considered as experimental (examined less than five times). It is too early to label these experimental predictors as worst or best, thus their further investigation is encouraged.

Social media impact on digital transformation and sustainable societies

Additionally, our review of the literature on B2B social media identified dominant research methods used by scholars. Qualitative and quantitative techniques were used by most of these studies. Closer analysis of 70 publications reviewed in this study revealed the multiple techniques applied for gathering data. Quantitative methods used in the studies mostly used surveys (see Table 4 ).

The data was mostly gathered from salespersons, managers and data from social media platforms (e.g. Twitter, Facebook). Just a limited number of studies employed consumer reported data (see Table 5 ).

On the other hand, publications using qualitative methods mainly used interviews and web scraping for the collection of the required data. To analyse the data studies used a variety of techniques including SEM, regression analysis and content analysis being one of the most used (see Table 6 ).

5.1 Digital Transformation and Sustainability Model

Based on the conducted literature review and adapting the model by Pappas et al. ( 2018 ) Fig. 2 presents the digital transformation and sustainability model in the context of B2B companies, which conceptualise the social media ecosystems, and the factors that need to collaborate to enable the use of social media towards the achievement of digital transformation and the creation of sustainable societies. The model comprises of social media stakeholders, the use of social media by B2B companies, and effect of social media on business and society.

5.1.1 Social Media Stakeholders

Building on the discussion and model provided by Pappas et al. ( 2018 ), this paper posits that the social media ecosystem comprises of the data stakeholders (company, society), who engage on social media (posting, reading, using information from social media). The use of social media by different stakeholders will lead to different effects affecting companies, customers and society. This is an iterative process based on which the stakeholders use their experience to constantly improve and evolve their use of social media, which has impacts on both, business and society. The successful implementation of this process is key to digital transformation and the creation of sustainable societies. Most of the current studies (Andersson et al. 2013 ; Bernard 2016 ; Bolat et al. 2016 ; Denktaş-Şakar and Sürücü 2018 ; Dyck 2010 ; Guesalaga 2016 ) focus mostly on the company as a stakeholder. However, more research is needed on other types of stakeholders (e.g. society).

5.1.2 Use of Social Media by B2B Companies

Social media affects not only ways how companies connect with their clients, but it is also changing their business models, the way how the value is delivered and profit is made. To successfully implement and use social media, B2B companies need to consider various social media tools, antecedents/barriers of its adoption, identify suitable social media strategies which are in line with the company’s overall strategy, and measure effectiveness of the use of social media. There are various factors that affect the use of social media by B2B companies. The study found that social media usage is influenced by perceived ease of use, adoption of social media, attitude towards social media and age of salesperson.

The majority of the studies focus on the management of the marketing department. However, digital transformation is much bigger than just marketing as it encompasses the entire organisation. As a result, future studies should look like the entire organisation and investigate barriers and factors affecting the use of social media.

It is crucial for companies to design content which will be noticed on social media by their potential, actual and former customers. Social media content should be interesting and offer some beneficial information, rather than just focus on services the company provides. Companies could use fresh views on relevant industry news, provide information how they are contributing to society and environment, include humour in their posts, share information about the team, make it more personal. It is also useful to use images, infographics, and video content.

It is also important for companies to measure digital marketing actions. More studies are needed on how to isolate the impact of specific media marketing actions to demonstrate their impact on the desired business outcomes (Salo 2017 ). Thus, future studies can consider how particular social media channels (e.g. Facebook, LinkedIn) in a campaign of a new product/ service influence brand awareness and sales level. Also, a limited number of studies discussed the way B2B companies can measure ROI. Future research should investigate how companies can measure intangible ROI, such as eWOM, brand awareness, and customer engagement (Kumar and Mirchandani 2012 ). Also, future research should investigate the reasons why most of the users do not assess the effectiveness of their SNS. Furthermore, most of the studies focused on likes, shares, and comments to evaluate social media engagement. Future research should focus on other types of measures. More research needs considering the impact of legislation on the use of social media by companies. Recent B2B studies did not consider recent legislation (General Data Protection Regulation 2018 ) in the context B2B (Sivarajah et al. 2019 ).

5.1.3 Effect of Social Media on Business and Society

Social media plays an important part in the company’s decision-making process. Social media can bring positive changes into company, which will result in improving customer satisfaction, value creation, increase in sales, building relationships with customers, knowledge creation, improve the perception of corporate credibility, acquisition of new customers, and improve employment brand engagement. Using information collected from social media can help companies to have a set of reliable attributes that comprise social, economic and environmental aspects in their decision-making process (Tseng 2017 ). Additionally, by using social media B2B companies can provide information to other stakeholders on their sustainability activities. By using data from social media companies will be able to provide products and services which are demanded by society. It will improve the quality of life and result in less waste. Additionally, social media can be considered as a tool that helps managers to integrate business practices with sustainability (Sivarajah et al. 2019 ). As a result, social media use by B2B companies can lead to business and societal changes.

A limited number of studies investigated the effect of social media on word of mouth communications in the B2B context. Future research should investigate the differences and similarities between B2C and B2B eWOM communications. Also, studies should investigate how these types of communications can be improved and ways to deal with negative eWOM. It is important for companies to respond to comments on social media. Additionally, future research should investigate its perceived helpfulness by customers.

Majority of studies (Agnihotri et al. 2016 ; Ancillai et al. 2019 ; Rossmann and Stei 2015 ; Agnihotri et al. 2012 ; Agnihotri et al. 2017 ; Itani et al. 2017 ; Salo 2017 ; Bhattacharjya and Ellison 2015 ; Gáti et al. 2018 ; Gruner and Power 2018 ; Hollebeek 2019 ) investigated positive effect of social media such consumer satisfaction, consumer engagement, and brand awareness. However, it will be interesting to consider the dark side of social media use such as an excessive number of requests on social media to salespeople (Agnihotri et al. 2016 ), which can result in the reduction of the responsiveness; spread of misinformation which can damage the reputation of the company.

Studies were performed in China (Lacka and Chong 2016 ; Niedermeier et al. 2016 ), the USA (Guesalaga 2016 ; Iankova et al. 2018 ; Ogilvie et al. 2018 ), India (Agnihotri et al. 2017 ; Vasudevan and Kumar 2018 ), the UK (Bolat et al. 2016 ; Iankova et al. 2018 ; Michaelidou et al. 2011 ). It is strongly advised that future studies conduct research in other countries as findings can be different due to the culture and social media adoption rates. Future studies should pay particular attention to other emerging markets (such as Russia, Brazil, and South Africa) as they suffer from the slow adoption rate of social media marketing. Some companies in these countries still rely more on traditional media for advertising of their products and services, as they are more trusted in comparison with social media channels (Olotewo 2016 ). The majority of studies investigate the effect of social media in B2B or B2C context. Future studies should pay attention to other contexts (e.g. B2B2B, B2B2C). Another limitation of the current research on B2B companies is that most of the studies on social media in the context of B2B focus on the effect of social media use only on business outcomes. It is important for future research to focus on societal outcomes.

Lastly, most of the studies on social media in the context of B2B companies use a cross-sectional approach to collect the data. Future research can use the longitudinal approach in order to advance understanding of social media use and its impact over time.

5.2 Research Propositions

Based on the social media research in the context of B2B companies and the discussion above the following is proposed, which could serve as a foundation for future empirical work.

Social media is a powerful tool to deliver information to customers. However, social media can be used to get consumer and market insights (Kazienko et al. 2013 ). A number of studies highlighted how information obtained from a number of social media platforms could be used for various marketing purposes, such as understanding the needs and preferences of consumers, marketing potential for new products/services, and current market trends (Agnihotri et al. 2016 ; Constantinides et al. 2008 ). It is advised that future research employs a longitudinal approach to study the impact of social media use on understanding customers. Therefore, the following proposition can be formulated:

Proposition 1

Social media usage of B2B companies has a positive influence on understanding its customers.

By using social media companies can examiner valuable information on competitors. It can help to understand competitors’ habits and strategies, which can lead to the competitive advantage and help strategic planning (Dey et al. 2011 ; Eid et al. 2019 ; Teo and Choo 2001 ). It is advised that future research employs a longitudinal approach to study the impact of social media use on understanding its competitors. As a result, using social media to understand customers and competitors can create business value (Mikalef et al. 2020a ) for key stakeholders and lead to positive changes in the business and societies. The above discussion leads to the following proposition:

Proposition 2

Social media usage of B2B companies has a positive influence on understanding its competitors.

Proposition 3

Culture influences the adoption and use of social media by B2B companies.

Usage of social media can result in some positive marketing outcomes such as building new customer relationships, increasing brand awareness, and level of sales to name a few (Agnihotri et al. 2016 ; Ancillai et al. 2019 ; Dwivedi et al. 2020 ; Rossmann and Stei 2015 ). However, when social media is not used appropriately it can lead to negative consequences. If a company does not have enough resources to implement social media tools the burden usually comes on a salesperson. A high number of customer inquiries, the pressure to engage with customers on social media, and monitor communications happening on various social media platforms can result in the increased workload of a salesperson putting extra pressure (Agnihotri et al. 2016 ). As a result, a salesperson might not have enough time to engage with all the customers online promptly or engage in reactive and proactive web care. As a result, customer satisfaction can be affected as well as company reputation. To investigate the negative impact of social media research could apply novel methods for data collection and analysis such as fsQCA (Pappas et al. 2020 ), or implying eye-tracking (Mikalef et al. 2020b ). This leads to the following proposition:

Proposition 4

Inappropriate use of social media by B2B companies has a negative effect on a) customer satisfaction and b) company reputation.

According to Technology-Organisation-Environment (TOE) framework environmental context significantly affects a company’s use of innovations (Abed 2020 ; Oliveira and Martins 2011 ). Environment refers to the factors which affect companies from outside, including competitors and customers. Adopting innovation can help companies to change the rules of the competition and reach a competitive advantage (Porter and Millar 1985 ). In a competitive environment, companies have a tendency to adopt an innovation. AlSharji et al. ( 2018 ) argued that the adoption of innovation can be extended to social media use by companies. A study by AlSharji et al. ( 2018 ) by using data from 1700 SMEs operating in the United Arab Emirates found that competitive pressure significantly affects the use of social media by SMEs. It can be explained by the fact that companies could feel pressure when other companies in the industry start adopting a particular technology and as a result adopt it to remain competitive (Kuan and Chau 2001 ). Based on the above discussion, the following proposition can be formulated:

Proposition 5

Competitive pressure positively affects the adoption of social media by B2B companies.

Companies might feel that they are forced to adopt and use IT innovations because their customers would expect them to do so. Meeting customers’ expectations could result in adoption of new technologies by B2B companies. Some research studies investigated the impact of customer pressure on companies (AlSharji et al. 2018 ; Maduku et al. 2016 ). For example, a study by Maduku et al. ( 2016 ) found that customer pressure has a positive effect on SMEs adoption of mobile marketing in the context of South Africa. Future research could implement longitudinal approach to investigate how environment affects adoption of social media by B2B companies. This leads to the formulation of the following proposition:

Proposition 6

Customer pressure positively affects the adoption of social media by B2B companies.

6 Conclusion

The aim of this research was to provide a comprehensive systematic review of the literature on social media in the context of B2B companies and propose the framework outlining the role of social media in the digital transformation of B2B companies. It was found that B2B companies use social media, but not all companies consider it as part of their marketing strategies. The studies on social media in the B2B context focused on the effect of social media, antecedents, and barriers of adoption of social media, social media strategies, social media use, and measuring the effectiveness of social media. Academics and practitioners can employ the current study as an informative framework for research on the use of social media by B2B companies. The summary of the key observations provided from this literature review is the following: [i] Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn are the most famous social media platforms used by B2B companies, [ii] Social media has a positive effect on customer satisfaction, acquisition of new customers, sales, stakeholder engagement, and customer relationships, [iii] In systematically reviewing 70 publications on social media in the context of B2B companies it was observed that most of the studies use online surveys and online content analysis, [iv] Companies still look for ways to evaluate the effectiveness of social media, [v] Innovativeness, pressure from stakeholders, perceived usefulness, and perceived usability have a significant positive effect on companies’ adoption to use social media, [vi] Lack of staff familiarity and technical skills are the main barriers that affect the adoption of social media by B2B, [vii] Social media has an impact not only on business but also on society, [viii] There is a dark side of social media: fake online reviews, an excessive number of requests on social media to salespeople, distribution of misinformation, negative eWOM, [ix] Use of social media by companies has a positive effect on sustainability, and [x] For successful digital transformation social media should change not only the way how companies integrate it into their marketing strategies but the way how companies deliver values to their customers and conduct their business. This research has a number of limitations. First, only publications from the Scopus database were included in literature analysis and synthesis. Second, this research did not use meta-analysis. To provide a broader picture of the research on social media in the B2B context and reconcile conflicting findings of the existing studies future research should conduct a meta-analysis (Ismagilova et al. 2020c ). It will advance knowledge of the social media domain.

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Dwivedi, Y.K., Ismagilova, E., Rana, N.P. et al. Social Media Adoption, Usage And Impact In Business-To-Business (B2B) Context: A State-Of-The-Art Literature Review. Inf Syst Front 25 , 971–993 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10796-021-10106-y

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New from ACRL—Information Literacy and Social Media: Empowered Student Engagement with the ACRL Framework

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There are eight concrete, cross-disciplinary lesson plans that factor in design, assessment, and student engagement. These lesson plans offer multiple platform ideas so readers can remix the approach to suit their learning contexts. Finally, applying information literacy dispositions, the book considers how up-and-coming platforms might empower students to be critical content creators and encourage librarians and faculty to support and create new information literacy initiatives on their campuses. Information Literacy and Social Media can help you teach your students to be truly metaliterate in creative and ethical ways that make information literacy an essential college competency.

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OCLC has released “Linked data: The future of library cataloging,” a position paper that articulates the value that linked data can bring to library catalogs, and the tools already available to help ease libraries into creating a more interconnected experience for information seekers. The brief, 12-page paper follows OCLC’s path from decades of linked data research, to experiments and prototypes, to the creation of more than 150 million WorldCat Entities, and, most recently, to the web application and APIs now available through OCLC Meridian that libraries can use to get started. The position paper helps answer the question of why the move to linked data is important for libraries and is freely available on the OCLC website at https://www.oclc.org/go/en/publications/linked-data-the-future-of-library-cataloging.html .

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Spatial literacy—the ability to visualize, understand, and use the properties of space to communicate, reason, and problem-solve—is relevant across a wealth of disciplines. Spatial Literacy in Public Health offers step-by-step learning activities, teaching tips, recommended readings, and four-color maps as well as other useful illustrations. These not only support student learning, but also professional development for librarians interested in spatial literacy instruction and in pitching such instruction to potential faculty collaborators. Interdisciplinary topics include supply chain management, social media campaigns, data visualization, racial disparities, and other demographic themes related to immunization patterns, epidemiology, recreation access, and community health and environmental health/environmental science.

Spatial Literacy in Public Health offers specific plans for collaborative, interdisciplinary spatial literacy instruction and activities. Chapters also connect with supplementary content in the ACRL Framework for Information Literacy Sandbox ( https://sandbox.acrl.org ), including activity-focused slide decks and more, all findable with the tag “#SpatialLit” and freely available.

Spatial Literacy in Public Health: Faculty-Librarian Teaching Collaborations is available for purchase in print and as an ebook through the ALA Online Store; in print through Amazon.com; and by telephone order at (866) 746-7252 in the United States or (770) 442-8633 for international customers.

Samantha H. Peter Appointed Publications in Librarianship Book Series Editor

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Support for a U.S. TikTok ban continues to decline, and half of adults doubt it will happen

As public support for a TikTok ban continues to decline, many U.S. adults are skeptical or unsure such a ban will happen, according to a Pew Research Center survey conducted July 15-Aug. 4, 2024.

The share of Americans who support the U.S. government banning TikTok now stands at 32%. That’s down from 38% in fall 2023 and 50% in March 2023.

Meanwhile, 28% of Americans oppose a ban, up from 22% in March 2023. And the share who say they are uncertain whether the government should ban the platform has risen from 28% in March 2023 to 39% now.

These findings come as TikTok’s fate in the United States continues to be uncertain. President Joe Biden signed a bill in April that requires ByteDance, the Chinese company that owns TikTok, to sell it or face a ban in the U.S. Challenges to this law are now headed to the courts .

Below we’ll look more closely at:

• How Republicans and Democrats feel about a TikTok ban
• How TikTok users and nonusers feel about a ban
• How likely Americans think a ban is

Pew Research Center conducted this analysis to understand Americans’ views about a potential TikTok ban in the United States. For this analysis, we surveyed 10,658 adults from July 15 to Aug. 4, 2024. Everyone who took part in this survey is a member of the Center’s American Trends Panel (ATP), a group of people recruited through national, random sampling of residential addresses who have agreed to take surveys regularly. This kind of recruitment gives nearly all U.S. adults a chance of selection. Surveys were conducted either online or by telephone with a live interviewer. The survey is weighted to be representative of the U.S. adult population by gender, race, ethnicity, partisan affiliation, education and other factors. Read more about the ATP’s methodology .

Here are the questions used for this analysis , the topline and the survey methodology .

Views of a TikTok ban by political party

Even amid the decline in support for banning TikTok, views remain divided by political party.

Republicans and Republican-leaning independents are far more likely than Democrats and Democratic leaners to support a ban (42% vs. 24%).

Still, support for a ban has dropped substantially within each party. In March 2023, 60% of Republicans and 43% of Democrats said they supported the government banning TikTok.

The partisan differences that persist today are also present in other questions we’ve asked about TikTok. For example, a May 2023 Center survey found that Republicans were more likely than Democrats to view TikTok as a national security threat .

Views of a ban by use of TikTok

With U.S. adults’ use of TikTok on the rise , we’ve also been tracking how views of a ban differ depending on whether people use the platform. As was true in previous surveys, attitudes vary dramatically:

• TikTok users are far more likely to oppose (61%) than support (10%) a ban, with 29% unsure.
• Those who don’t use TikTok are about as likely to support a ban (42%) as to be uncertain (43%), while 15% are opposed.

Support for a ban has decreased within both groups between March 2023 and now. Among U.S. adults who don’t use TikTok, support has fallen sharply, from 60% in March 2023 to 42%. And among users, it’s fallen from 19% to 10% over that period.

At the same time, those who don’t use TikTok have become more uncertain about a ban.

Do Americans think a TikTok ban will happen?

For the first time, we measured public views on the likelihood of TikTok getting banned in the U.S. Americans are more likely to believe this will not happen than to think it will.

Half of Americans think it’s very or somewhat unlikely that TikTok will be banned in the U.S.

By contrast, 31% say a ban is at least somewhat likely, including 6% who believe it is very likely.

Another 19% say they are unsure whether TikTok will be banned.

Views by political party

Even as Republicans are more likely to support a ban, they’re just as likely as Democrats to doubt it will happen. About half of adults in each party say a ban is very or somewhat unlikely, while roughly three-in-ten say it’s very or somewhat likely.

Views by use of TikTok

There are only modest differences based on whether people use the platform. While 54% of U.S. adult TikTok users say it’s unlikely that the platform will be banned, 48% of nonusers say the same.

Views by attitudes toward a ban

Similar shares of Americans who support and who oppose a ban think it is unlikely to happen. In both groups, people are more skeptical than not:

• 54% of those who support a ban think it’s unlikely, 37% think it’s likely and 9% are unsure.
• 56% of those who oppose a ban think it’s unlikely, 31% say it’s likely and 13% are unsure.

Note: Here are the questions used for this analysis , the topline and the survey methodology .

• Platforms & Services
• Political Issues

Colleen McClain is a senior researcher focusing on internet and technology research at Pew Research Center .

Wyatt Dawson is a research associate focusing on internet and technology research at Pew Research Center .

About half of TikTok users under 30 say they use it to keep up with politics, news

How americans navigate politics on tiktok, x, facebook and instagram, how americans get news on tiktok, x, facebook and instagram, 6 facts about americans and tiktok, whatsapp and facebook dominate the social media landscape in middle-income nations, most popular.

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How new words arise in social media

by Public Library of Science

The more centrally connected someone is within their social media network, the more likely that new words they use will become adopted into mainstream language, according to a new study published in PLOS Complex Systems by Louise Tarrade of École Normale Supérieure, France, and colleagues.

Language evolves within a social context and variations in a language are always in competition with each other. In everyday language, words are constantly being created, but not all these words persist.

In the new study, researchers analyzed more than 650 million tweets written in French between 2012 and 2014 to identify 400 words that were new to appear on the social media network X (then called Twitter) during that time. Then, they tracked the diffusion of these words over the following five years, and looked at the position and connectivity of users who adopted the words.

The team found that initial adopters of new words, or "lexical innovations" are similar to each other, regardless of whether the innovations later succeed (as language changes) or fade away (as temporary buzzes). However, in the later propagation phase for lexical innovation , there were statistically significant differences between changes and buzzes.

On average, the words that eventually persisted were used by people who were more central to their community, and remained in circulation at low levels for a longer period before entering a growth phase (18.5 months in circulation compared to 6.5 months for buzzes).

Words that became only temporary buzzes were used by people with less central positions within a social network and had a more rapid rise in use—followed by a rapid decline.

"Our research examines lexical innovations at scale across millions of social media users," the authors say.

"We show that words adopted by users who are more central in their community and easily in contact with other communities become established in the language, and vice versa. Thus, the position in the network of speakers who adopt these words is enough to predict their fate."

The authors add, "Doing sociolinguistics with digital data and computational methods offers the opportunity to scale up and reveal social dynamics at the population level."

Provided by Public Library of Science

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• Review Article
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• Published: 10 September 2024

From crisis to opportunity: advancements in emergency language services

• Xingrong Guo   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0001-8672-2108 1 ,
• Di Xiao 1 &
• Yiming Guo 2  

Humanities and Social Sciences Communications volume  11 , Article number:  1170 ( 2024 ) Cite this article

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• Language and linguistics

Emergency language services play a critical role in emergency management and language services, facilitating effective information transmission, timely life-saving efforts, accurate public opinion guidance, and the maintenance of social stability during public emergencies. This study aims to comprehensively assess the current state of emergency language research, exploring recent advancements and future trends in emergency language services. Using bibliometric and content analysis, 3814 academic papers on emergency language services were systematically reviewed. Recent publications reveal a burgeoning interest in this field, particularly in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, and Australia. Research areas reflect a multidisciplinary approach to addressing the complex challenges of emergency language services. Keyword co-occurrence analysis unveils the pivotal research trajectories across various temporal phases. In the initial stage, emphasis was placed on unraveling communication and language hurdles within the emergency department. Transitioning into a phase of stable development, attention primarily gravitated toward natural language processing technology and the complexities of language barriers. Subsequently, during a period of rapid advancement, the spotlight shifted towards the pragmatic application of emergency language services amid the COVID-19 pandemic. This encompassed diverse domains such as distance education, telemedicine services, and exploratory investigations into social media dynamics. This evolution highlights an increasing interest in leveraging emerging technologies to enhance emergency response times and service quality. Future research should prioritize addressing key issues within the research framework and fostering interdisciplinary development.

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Introduction.

Every year, nations and regions globally are faced with many natural disasters and public health emergencies, which have a profound impact on human health (Berchtold et al., 2020 ; Goode et al., 2021 ). According to statistics, around 2 billion people globally were affected by natural disasters between 2008 and 2018 (Almukhlifi et al., 2021 ), and in 2019, the COVID-19 pandemic further captured global attention. In the process of emergency response and rescue, language barriers are one of the significant factors that affect rescue operations. In such situations, emergency language services become crucial for post-disaster relief efforts (Shao et al., 2018 ; Wang, 2021 ). Emergency language services refer to the provision of rapid language products, language technologies, or participation in language rescue operations for the prevention, monitoring, rapid response, and recovery of major natural disasters or public crisis events. These services include emergency translation of foreign languages, minority languages, dialects, and sign language for individuals with disabilities, the development of disaster language software, the dissemination of disaster information, and the management of disaster language resources for relief services. Additionally, they encompass the development of emergency language standards, emergency language training, language therapy, and rehabilitation, as well as language counseling and crisis intervention (Wang et al., 2020 ). In the context of disasters and other crises, emergency language services enable individuals to comprehend and communicate information about emergency preparedness and response systems, thereby enhancing personal safety and collectively mitigating risks faced by affected individuals (Markakis et al., 2017 ). Therefore, emergency language services are crucial in emergency situations.

At present, in terms of emergency language services, a comprehensive and clear representation of the scientific review literature is lacking. Traditional reviews in this area have mostly focused on enhancing the capabilities of emergency language services, such as the development of emergency language service systems and the training of personnel for emergency preparedness services. However, these studies have not sufficiently considered the complexity of communication during emergency response and rescue processes, and reliance solely on traditional on-site human translation proves inadequate to meet the efficiency requirements of emergency language services. Specifically, there is a scarcity of review studies that employ quantitative analysis methods to examine the complexities of emergency language services.

To address this gap, this paper employs bibliometric analysis and content analysis methods to analyze the collected effective literature related to the study of emergency language services. The analysis methods help to identify the development trends, research hotspots, and future directions of the field (Cheng, Zhang ( 2023 )). This approach advances the research on emergency language services, providing guidance for its further development and for scholars conducting research in this field.

Specifically, the study mainly addresses the following key research questions.

RQ 1. What is the current state of emergency language services research, and what progress has been made in recent years?

RQ 2. What is the distribution of core authors, journals, and institutions involved in emergency language services research?

RQ 3. What are the hotspots of emergency language services research, and what are the prospects for the field in the future?

This paper makes a comprehensive analysis of the current research situation in the field of emergency language services, that is, a comprehensive review of the literature on emergency language services in recent decades, including bibliometric analysis and quantitative visualization research. Particularly, these research results provide guidance for constructing a framework combining the latest literature and highly cited content of emergency language services, and it promotes rapid and long-term development of emergency language services research.

The remaining sections of this paper are organized as follows. Section “Methods” explains the research design, including data sources, the screening process, and the main analysis methods (bibliometric analysis and content analysis). Section “Results” presents the results of trend analysis, impact analysis, and content analysis. Firstly, it analyzes the annual publication trends of the 3814 selected literature and identifies the key influential journals of publication. Then, it introduces the analysis of author influence, country and institution analysis, disciplinary analysis, keyword co-occurrence analysis, and keyword clustering analysis using bibliometric analysis and content analysis methods. The results of the bibliometric and content analysis are further discussed in Section “Discussion”. Finally, Section “Conclusions” presents the conclusions and outlines the limitations of this paper. The overall research design framework of this study is illustrated in Fig. 1 . The process consists of three main steps: the first involves data collection and screening; the second applies bibliometric and content analysis; and the final step includes discussion and conclusions.

The framework consists of three main research steps: data collection, bibliometric analysis, and discussion and conclusion. *n=number.

Data source

In this paper, the literature used for the analysis of emergency language services research was retrieved from the core dataset of the Web of Science (WoS). WoS is one of the world’s leading science citation index databases and is widely recognized and used in academia (Wang et al., 2016 ). WoS includes high-quality articles on international research (Ciavolino et al., 2022 ), including journal articles related to emergency language services, and provides journal and article citations.

Data screening

To ensure the accuracy and representativeness of the selected literature, the inclusion criteria of the literature were established: (1) the literature source was the core dataset of WoS; (2) The publication period of the literature is from January 1, 1988–December 31, 2023; (3) The literature sources were SCI-EXPANDED, SSCI, ESCI, and A&HCI; (4) The language type of the document is English. Exclusion criteria: (1) The topic unrelated to emergency language services but only containing the keywords “emergency” and “language”; (2) Conference minutes, editorial materials and other non-academic articles. Finally, 3814 articles were obtained that were highly consistent with the research theme of this paper.

The data retrieval and cleaning process in the bibliometric analysis section is described as follows:

Using the advanced search method with the search condition “(Topic = emergency)” and “(Topic = language)”, a total of 5592 records were retrieved.

The literature retrieval type was set as “Article” or “Review article”, with the language filter set to English. The literature source categories included SCI-EXPANDED, SSCI, ESCI, and A&HCI. The retrieval period spanned from January 1, 1988, to December 31, 2023. Subsequently, book reviews, book chapters, conference proceedings, and other irrelevant materials were excluded, resulting in a final set of 4662 articles.

Further exclusions were made by reviewing and analyzing abstracts to eliminate articles unrelated to emergency language services. This included articles that only had keywords in the abstract without addressing research in the field, research papers not involving emergency language services in their descriptive topics, and data that was insufficient or findings that were unclear. In the end, a total of 848 papers were excluded, leaving 3814 papers for analysis.

Bibliometric analysis

In recent years, bibliometric research has witnessed rapid development, with its methods and tools increasingly applied in various scientific fields (Broitman and Davis, 2013 ). This study mainly focuses on bibliometric analysis, supplemented by content analysis. A total of 3814 literature articles on emergency language services published between January 1, 1988, and December 31, 2023, were analyzed from different perspectives. The first article retrieved from the WoS database on emergency language services was titled “Language Concordance as a Determinant of Compliance and Emergency Room Use in Patients with Asthma” (Manson, 1988 ). Therefore, it served as the starting point for data collection in this study.

Author influence analysis and national institution analysis were carried out after topic search and screening. This was done to identify authors with high influence and contributions in the research field of emergency language services, to pinpoint the hot research frontiers in this field, and to understand the situation of international cooperation. This analysis promotes cooperation and exchange between different national institutions and supports the international development of emergency language services research.

Various bibliometric cartographic analysis methods were applied to obtain answers to the research questions described in section “Introduction”. Each method of bibliometric cartographic analysis is designed for specific research purposes (Li et al., 2022 ). In this study, the following bibliometric network maps were created: keyword co-occurrence graph, cluster graph, and other types of tables and graphs to answer the research questions.

Content analysis

By employing content analysis, a more systematic and in-depth analysis was conducted on the disciplinary distribution, keywords co-occurrence, and clustering results related to emergency language services research. This helped identify different aspects and focal points of research in the field, providing guidance and direction for further research and practice. Content analysis and bibliometric analysis worked in tandem: bibliometric analysis identified pivotal articles and areas of focus, while content analysis delivered a detailed and objective portrayal of the research landscape of emergency language services.

Publications output distribution

The distribution of publication output is a key indicator that provides insights into research activities related to a particular set of documents (Li et al., 2020 ). In this section, the main analysis is the trend in the number of publications and journal distribution of the 3814 articles.

Analysis of annual publication volume

Figure 2 illustrates the trend in the annual publication volume since 1988. It is evident that, although the overall trend indicates growth, the annual publication volume does not consistently increase. There were some temporary declines in certain years, such as 2001, 2007, and 2009. However, the number of articles has progressively increased in the field of emergency language services research, from only 1 article in 1988 to 488 articles in 2023. This indicates that in recent decades, there has been increasing attention from researchers in the field of emergency language services, and the prominence of emergency language services has been continually rising.

Annual publication growth of research literature on emergency language services (1988-2023). Data points are represented by black diamonds ( ◆ ), with the number of publications per year indicated by blue numbers next to each data point. The three phases are demarcated by red dashed lines and labeled accordingly.

It can be observed that the average annual publication counts for research on emergency language services from 1988 to 2023 is 109 articles, with a simple average annual growth rate of 30.92%, and a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of approximately 14.64%. Based on the annual growth rate of the articles, this indicates a continuous upward trend: an initial exploratory period (1988–2003), a stable growth period (2004–2014), and a rapid growth period (2015–2023).

During the initial exploratory period from 1988 to 2003, an average of 15 articles related to emergency language services were published each year. Among them, the highest number of articles was published in 2002, with a total of 36 articles. In the stable growth period from 2004 to 2014, the publication count showed a steady increase with minor fluctuations, averaging 74 articles per year. After 2014, there was a significant increase in the number of publications, with a total of 2779 articles published in the following nine years, averaging 309 articles per year. This is approximately eight times the number of articles published during the initial exploratory period and the stable growth period. In 2022, there were 541 published articles, accounting for 14.18% of the total, reaching its peak.

Journal distribution

Figure 3 shows the top 20 journals in terms of publication quantity related to emergency language services. It can be seen that “Academic Emergency Medicine” leads the list with a total of 80 articles. Notably, “Academic Emergency Medicine” has published significantly more papers on emergency language services ( n  = 80) than other journals, such as “Pediatric Emergency Care” ( n  = 51), “Annals of Emergency Medicine” ( n  = 48), “BMJ Open” ( n  = 47), “American Journal of Emergency Medicine” ( n  = 44), “PLoS One” ( n  = 40), “International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health” ( n  = 36), and “Journal of General Internal Medicine” ( n  = 34). Despite the relatively small overall number of publications, the number of papers published in “Academic Emergency Medicine” is nearly double that of any other journal. This indicates that, in terms of publication quantity, the journals ranking higher are more likely to attract the attention of researchers.

The top 20 journals in terms of publication quantity related to emergency language services are listed from top to bottom in descending order.

Research power results

Author influence analysis.

Research authors play a crucial role in reflecting the research capacity of an academic field and evaluating its development (Guo et al., 2021 ). Among the 3814 analyzed articles, there were a total of 17,026 authors, with an average of 4.46 authors per article. Given the large number of core authors, this study ranked the top 20 most prolific authors in descending order based on the number of publications, as shown in Table 1 .

Table 1 reveals that, in terms of publication output, Lion, K. Casey from the University of Florida, and Topaz, Maxim from Columbia University in the United States have the highest number of publications on emergency language services research, with 13 articles each, which is significantly more than other scholars. Following closely is Camargo, Carlos A. from Massachusetts General Hospital in the United States, with 12 articles, maintaining a considerable lead over other contributors. Notably, 16 of the top 20 authors in this field are affiliated with American institutions, highlighting the significant emphasis placed by the United States and underscoring its influence in the global research landscape.

Country and institutional analysis

Analyzing the distribution of research on emergency language services across countries and institutions unveils the geographical landscape of such research, offering insights into its focus, strengths, and challenges globally. This information aids decision-makers in resource allocation and serves as a reference for international collaboration and knowledge sharing.

Table 2 presents the number and proportion of publications in the field of emergency language services research for the top 20 countries by publication count. At present, a total of 3814 articles were retrieved from 12,302 institutions studying emergency language services, covering 931 countries or regions. In terms of the number of publications and proportion, the top three countries are the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom. Among them, the number of articles published in the United States is significantly higher than in other countries, accounting for 45.65%, which is 5.49 times and 5.58 times of Canada and the United Kingdom, ranking second and third, respectively. Therefore, the United States represents a major research force and a leading contributor to the development of the field of emergency language services research worldwide.

Figure 4 shows the collaboration institutions in emergency language services research. The size of the circle in Fig. 4 represents the number of publications by each institution in the field. The larger the circle, the more publications the institution has. Institutions such as the University of Washington, Harvard Medical School, and the University of California, San Francisco, are represented by the larger circles, signifying their significant contribution to research and publications in the field of emergency language services. These institutions demonstrate a high level of activity and influence. The top 20 institutions in the field of emergency language services, ranked by the number of publications, are listed in Table 3 .

The collaboration network of institutions is visualized using CiteSpace, with nodes representing institutions.

Table 3 provides basic information on the top 20 institutions in the field of emergency language services, ranked by the number of publications. It can be seen from this that the University of Washington, Harvard Medical School, and the University of California, San Francisco, have published the most papers. Additionally, centrality measures the importance of institutions in academic networks. Centrality was measured using a value between 0 and 1, with higher values indicating higher centrality in the academic network. The University of Washington and the University of California, San Francisco, are institutions with high centrality. These institutions hold significant research influence and occupy important positions in this field. These data reveal that institutions from the United States dominate in terms of article output and centrality in the field of emergency language services research.

Discipline analysis

In the WoS core database, each publication is classified into at least one thematic category, along with its research direction content, to indicate its research domain. This section analyzes the disciplinary knowledge and directional characteristics of 3814 retrieved literature to determine the main disciplinary directions involved in the research field of emergency language services. Considering the interdisciplinary nature, this article also explores the core disciplines in this field. Table 4 describes the Top 20 disciplinary direction rankings in emergency language services.

The 3814 literature articles retrieved so far encompass a total of 194 disciplines related to emergency language services. The top 20 disciplinary directions reveal a broad range of disciplines that contribute to this interdisciplinary field (Table 4 ). Emergency Medicine leads the list with a significant frequency of 524, followed by Public Environmental Occupational Health, Medicine General Internal, and Health Care Sciences Services.

Highly cited topics, such as Nursing and Healthcare Policy, highlight the importance of these themes in the emergency language services domain. Themes like Trauma & Emergency Surgery, Health Literacy & Telemedicine, Knowledge Engineering and Representation, Language and Linguistics, and Education Educational Research, highlight the need for effective communication and technology integration in emergency settings.

The research directions show a similar trend, with Emergency Medicine, General Internal Medicine, and Public Environmental Occupational Health leading the way. Additionally, disciplines like Computer Science and Education Educational Research indicate the increasing relevance of technological solutions and training programs in enhancing emergency response capabilities.

In summary, based on the analysis of disciplinary categories, highly cited topics, and research directions, the disciplinary theoretical foundation of emergency language services mainly concentrates on emergency medicine, environmental science, public health and preventive medicine, computer science, educational science, and language and linguistics. This interdisciplinary approach underscores the complexity of providing effective language services in emergency scenarios and the need for collaboration across multiple fields. Besides, special attention should be given to theories that integrate computer science with other fields, as these theories play a crucial role in understanding emergency language services research.

Core keywords and co-occurrence analysis

Keywords provide information about the core content of an article (Liu et al., 2015 ). When two or more keywords appear together in the same paper, it is referred to as keyword co-occurrence (Fang et al., 2017 ). Keyword co-occurrence analysis can identify research hotspots and emerging frontiers in scientific knowledge domains (Liu et al., 2015 ). In a keyword co-occurrence graph, the size of the circles represents the total frequency of occurrence of keywords in the field of emergency language services research. The larger the circle, the more representative it is of research hotspots and directions in the field (Yang et al., 2020 ; Yu et al., 2020 ). Using CiteSpace software, keyword co-occurrence analysis was conducted on the text of the retrieved 3814 literature articles. The keyword co-occurrence network is shown in Fig. 5 . The parameter settings are as follows:

year (s) per slice: 1 year;

Selection criteria: g-index (k = 10), LRF = 3.0, L/N = 10, LBY = 5, e = 1.0;

Pruning: Pathfinder;

Nodes Labeled: 1.0%.

Co-occurrence network of keywords in the field of emergency language services (1988-2023). The network is visualized using CiteSpace. Each node represents a keyword, with the size of the node indicating the frequency of the keyword’s appearance.

From Fig. 5 , it can be observed that the circles containing the keywords “emergency department”, “natural language processing”, and “COVID-19 pandemic” are the largest, indicating their high frequency of occurrence. Therefore, the research hotspots in the field of emergency language services may be related to increased research in emergency medicine, natural language processing, and emergency services resulting from public health events like the COVID-19 pandemic.

To understand the co-occurrence of the keywords in Fig. 5 , the core keywords were classified according to the three stages of emergency language service development. The top 20 keywords in each stage were listed in Table 5 .

In the initial exploration stage from 1988 to 2003, “emergency department”, “communication”, “language”, “emergency medical services”, and “interpreters” were the top five keywords in terms of frequency. Among them, the “emergency department” has the highest frequency of occurrence, indicating that the emergency department was the core focus of research during this period. In addition, during this period, research on emergency language services also focused on communication issues in emergency situations, language barriers or cross-cultural communication barriers that may be encountered during communication, emergency pharmaceutical services, interpretation services, emergency management, and other aspects during emergency rescue.

During the steady growth period from 2004 to 2014, the keywords with high frequency were: “natural language processing”, “emergency medicine”, “systematic review”, “language barriers”, and “limited English proficiency”. During this period, researchers began to pay attention to the application of natural language processing technology to solve the problem of emergency language services. For example, Starlander et al. ( 2005 ) described the evaluation of an open-source medical speech translation system (MedSLT) for safety-critical applications with a view to eliminating the language barrier in emergency situations. St-Maurice, Kuo ( 2012 ) used natural language processing to analyze primary care data extracted from identification to identify inappropriate emergency room use. On the other hand, researchers are also working to overcome language barriers, focusing on public health and the harm caused by natural disasters and public health events to children or migrants with limited language skills.

During the period of rapid development from 2015 to 2023, high-frequency keywords such as “COVID-19 pandemic”, “machine learning”, “social media”, “emergency remote teaching” and “artificial intelligence” emerged. The keywords during this period covered multiple aspects of emergency language services research. Keywords such as “COVID-19 pandemic”, “emergency remote teaching”, “online learning”, “triage”, and “telemedicine” are highly likely to be related to the COVID-19 pandemic in public health in 2020. The COVID-19 pandemic has had a significant impact on research on emergency language services, and researchers have begun to pay attention to the evaluation and response of the COVID-19 pandemic to language service needs, language barriers, multilingual transmission, and cross-cultural communication.

In the field of education, emergency remote teaching and online learning have been conducted. For example, Jiang et al. ( 2023 ) conducted a case study using a renowned Chinese language university to explore how Chinese university scholars responded to the challenges of emergency remote teaching during the pandemic. In the medical field, triage and prioritization are carried out during emergency situations, considering how to provide appropriate language support during the triage process to ensure the fair allocation of resources and timely provision of language services. For instance, a natural language processing system using nursing triage records was used to predict the quantity of emergency resources needed in the future (Sterling et al., 2020 ). Analysis of spoken expressions during simulated emergency call triage processes was also conducted (Morimura et al., 2005 ). Additionally, remote medical services are provided through technologies like video conferencing to offer cross-lingual medical consultations and support, addressing language barriers and promoting healthcare accessibility. For example, the usage of remote medical services by non-elderly patients with limited English proficiency during the COVID-19 pandemic was evaluated, along with its relationship to emergency department visits and hospital encounters (Chang et al., 2023 ). Remote medical methods under low bit-rate communication conditions have also been explored (Ruminski, 2008 ).

The keywords “social media” and “Twitter” may be related to the role of social media in the field of language services. Social media platforms and Twitter can be used to disseminate emergency information, provide multilingual support, promote community participation and communication. Keywords such as “refugees”, “pediatrics”, and “accident & emergency medicine” may be related to language service needs and practices specific to refugees, pediatric patients, and emergency medical settings. Through co-occurrence analysis of keywords, the focus of emergency language services research has changed in different periods. From a focus on emergency departments, communication, and language barriers during the exploration period, to a focus on natural language processing and language barriers in emergency medicine during the stable development period, and systematic reviews of previous research, to research on emergency language services, remote education and medical services, and the application of social media during the rapidly developing COVID-19 pandemic. This reflects the development trend and evolution of research focus in the field of emergency language services, while also revealing future research directions and challenges.

Literature co-word cluster analysis

This study employed co-occurrence cluster analysis to unveil intricate relationships between words in the literature, shedding light on the research content and patterns within current emergency language services research. By applying the co-occurrence clustering analysis method, many articles were successfully classified and organized based on their content, characteristics, and word co-occurrence. This approach has the potential to reveal nuanced topics and highlight potential connections within related literature, thus facilitating the identification of interdisciplinary research opportunities (Wang et al., 2016 ). By conducting an in-depth analysis of keyword frequencies, this paper successfully constructed multiple keyword co-occurrence networks. These networks vividly outlined the diverse landscape of emergency language services research. Figure 6 shows the co-word cluster network of emergency language services, generated using CiteSpace software. Notably, the analysis produced 10 distinct clusters, each offering valuable insights into specific facets of the emergency language services domain. The parameters are set as follows:

Slice Length = 1;

Selection criteria: g-index (k = 10), LRF = 3.0, L/N = 10, LBY = −1, e = 1.0;

Network: N = 429, E = 645 (Density= 0.007);

Nodes labeled: 1.0%.

Nine large clusters of co-word in the field of emergency language services were generated by CiteSpace software. Each cluster is represented by a different color.

Based on the parameters used, 15 clusters were identified. Figure 6 displays the top 10 of these clusters. From Fig. 6 , it can be clearly observed that the symbiosis is visualized as a knowledge domain graph composed of ten keyword co-occurrence networks. Each of these networks is represented by a different color. To provide a clearer and more intuitive presentation of each cluster, Table 6 was created, which includes the labels, the number of keywords in each cluster, and some of the keywords contained in each cluster.

Cluster #0: emergency-medicine resident

This initial keyword cluster delves into the myriad challenges and complexities encountered by emergency medicine residents, specifically focusing on communication hurdles, language comprehension, and interactions with immigrant patients. The research within this cluster centers on resident physicians within the emergency medicine field, addressing various critical aspects:

Exploring communication challenges in emergency settings is urgent. This facet involves a thorough examination of the challenges and barriers that emergency medicine residents face in effectively communicating with patients. Noteworthy studies, such as those exploring emergency physicians’ awareness of language barriers within the emergency department environment (Hendry et al., 2012 ), contribute valuable insights into fostering improved communication strategies.

The exploration of health literacy levels is an important topic. Researchers within this cluster delve into how emergency medicine residents navigate patients’ health literacy levels. This includes investigating how emergency medicine residents address patients’ health literacy levels and potential obstacles in providing medical care, including issues related to patients’ understanding of diagnoses, treatment, and self-management abilities (Doty et al., 2022 ).

Addressing the unique challenges faced by emergency medicine residents when dealing with immigrant patients, including language barriers, cultural differences, and legal and policy-related issues, is necessary. For instance, assessing residents’ attitudes towards culturally competent care, their preparedness to provide quality care to diverse patient populations, as well as their experiences and educational environment regarding cross-cultural training (Betancourt et al., 2007 ). Additionally, exploring the approaches taken by emergency department physicians when facing unique barriers to accessing healthcare for undocumented residents (Samra et al., 2019 ).

The primary goal of these studies is to improve the communication skills of emergency medicine residents. Furthermore, they aim to foster a deeper understanding and trust between healthcare providers and patients, ultimately contributing to the delivery of enhanced medical services within emergency medicine settings.

Cluster #1: trial study design

This cluster primarily focuses on the application of experimental research designs in the field of emergency medicine. The research may involve evaluating health disparities among different populations (Cegala, Post ( 2006 )) and understanding differences in health status, healthcare accessibility, or health outcomes among diverse populations to promote health equity and improve healthcare strategies targeting specific groups. It may also involve assessing the effectiveness of different medications, interventions, or acute asthma management approaches to study treatment methods and strategies for acute asthma (Press et al., 2012 ). Additionally, it may explore emergency department situations related to alcohol use (Vaca et al., 2020 ), such as examining the impact of alcohol-related incidents on emergency department visits, evaluating alcohol-related emergency interventions, or studying the health consequences of acute alcohol poisoning.

The main goal of this cluster is to advance the understanding of emergency medicine through robust experimental research designs. By assessing health disparities, differences in health status, and the efficacy of interventions, researchers contribute to the ongoing efforts to refine emergency medical practices and strategies. This cluster plays a pivotal role in shaping evidence-based approaches for diverse populations within emergency medicine contexts.

Cluster #2: review article

Cluster 2 is related to literature reviews, indicating that researchers at a certain stage focused on reviewing articles in the field of emergency language services. These reviews aimed to extract lessons learned and explore new research directions. The research within this cluster can be summarized into the following two aspects:

Clinical practices, diagnostic and treatment methods in the field of emergency medicine, and emergency medical systems and processes, are important research topics. For example, improving the analytical utility of clinical trial content by integrating data innovations to provide information for health disparity research (Cohen, Unangst ( 2018 )). Systematically reviewing the differences in the usage of patient portals among vulnerable populations, with the aim of increasing the impact of interventions that promote portal use or predict factors associated with usage disparities (Grossman et al., 2019 ).

Emergency management in disaster situations, along with psychological well-being in emergency situations, deserves investigation. For example, Almukhlifi et al. ( 2021 ) conducted a comprehensive review of the literature on the perceived preparedness of emergency healthcare personnel for disaster management. The review revealed that most emergency healthcare workers appear to lack sufficient disaster preparedness, and past experiences and training have improved preparedness efforts. Future research should focus on interventions to enhance the preparedness of emergency healthcare workers for disasters. North, Pfefferbaum ( 2013 ) reviewed and summarized the evidence on how to best identify individuals in need of disaster mental health services and classify them into appropriate care. The aim is to provide a comprehensive understanding of the field of emergency medicine by synthesizing existing research and provide evidence for emergency medicine practice and policy-making.

This cluster, characterized by literature reviews, plays a crucial role in consolidating existing knowledge in emergency language services. By delving into clinical practices, diagnostics, treatment methods, and the broader spectrum of emergency management, researchers contribute to the synthesis of evidence. The outcomes of these reviews aid in informing and shaping the landscape of emergency medicine practices, paving the way for improved policies and strategic interventions.

Cluster #3: emergency call

Cluster 3 labeled “emergency call” is highly relevant to the field of emergency telephone services. The research on emergency language services within this cluster can include the following three points:

Analysis of emergency call data is a crucial theme. This involves examining the content and patterns of emergency calls to identify common issues, improve response protocols, and enhance emergency communication strategies. Researchers may investigate the relationship between emergency telephone services and patient mortality rates. For example, Cabrita et al., ( 2004 ) conducted a study on the impact of emergency medical service calls on the management of acute myocardial infarction. The study concluded that patients with symptoms of myocardial infarction underutilized emergency medical service calls and documented the beneficial effects of emergency medical service calls in reducing prehospital delays and increasing early reperfusion therapy.

Emergency telephone services provide medical support for non-healthy patients, such as those with dementia and heart failure. Research in this area includes Voss et al., ( 2018 ) qualitatively exploring the nursing experience of emergency medical services (EMS) nursing staff in dementia patients through focus groups and interviews, evaluating EMS staff’s views on dementia management. Jung et al. ( 2022 ) employed a descriptive qualitative approach to investigate 911 calls for EMS in cases of heart failure. Their findings suggest that interventions are needed to assist heart failure patients and their families in communicating more effectively during emergencies.

Emergency call response and quality assurance deserve significant attention. This includes investigating the effectiveness and efficiency of emergency call response systems, evaluating the quality of emergency services provided over the phone, and identifying areas for improvement in terms of language support and cultural sensitivity. For example, Penverne et al. ( 2019 ) reported on a strategy to reduce waiting time for emergency calls at dispatch centers. Through their research, they found that connecting dispatch centers can improve their performance, especially during periods of overload. This enables the prompt handling of emergency calls and appropriate dispatching of emergency medical services.

This cluster serves as a focal point for enriching the understanding of emergency language services within the realm of emergency telephone services. By dissecting emergency call data, addressing the medical support needs of non-healthy patients, and scrutinizing the efficiency of emergency call response systems, researchers contribute to the enhancement of emergency services, ultimately ensuring more effective and culturally sensitive outcomes.

Cluster #4: COVID-19 crisis

Cluster 4, denoted as the “COVID-19 Crisis”, is inherently tied to the challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic. During the COVID-19 crisis, researchers have explored the application of qualitative research methods in addressing the COVID-19 crisis. Qualitative research techniques mainly encompass the gathering and examination of data that is not expressed in numerical form, such as observations, interviews, and textual analysis. These methods aim to provide valuable insights into comprehending the COVID-19 crisis and evaluating response measures. Qualitative research in emergency language services can provide insights into various aspects of pandemic prevention and response measures (Wang et al., 2022 ), the involvement of social media in public health (Han et al., 2020 ), emergency online teaching (Adedoyin, Soykan ( 2023 )), and remote medical services (Reza Safdari et al., 2021 ).

Furthermore, qualitative research provides researchers with an opportunity to gain an in-depth understanding of emergency language services. This includes exploring the experiences of participants such as translators, staff of translation service agencies, and service users, as well as examining service quality and effectiveness, the roles and practices of service providers, cultural and cross-cultural communication, and other aspects. Such research contributes to the improvement and optimization of emergency language service practices and policies to meet diverse language needs during emergency situations. When conducting qualitative research on emergency language services, methods such as focus group interviews and text analysis are commonly employed. For instance, the use of focus group interviews can facilitate discussions within a community to understand the importance of their surrounding environment, existing resources, and assistance. This engagement of the public helps in building resilient communities to minimize the impact of disasters (Nirupama, Maula ( 2013 )). Regression text analysis, on the other hand, can be utilized to evaluate the quality and reliability of emergency language services and eliminate ambiguities in emergency response plans (Guo et al., 2020 ). These methods play a pivotal role in comprehending the diverse needs and challenges associated with emergency language services, ensuring accuracy, timeliness, and reliability in emergency situations. The insights garnered contribute not only to research advancements but also to the refinement of practices and policies in the broader landscape of emergency language services.

Cluster #5: pharmaceutical service

Cluster 5 is labeled “pharmaceutical service” and is highly relevant to pharmacy services in disaster and emergency situations. Additionally, researchers have also focused on the provision of pharmaceutical services within hospitals and issues related to healthcare inequalities. This may include studying the organization and management of pharmacy services within hospitals, the safety and efficiency of the pharmaceutical supply chain, and inequalities in accessing and utilizing pharmacy services among different populations. However, it is worth noting that the average year of research within this cluster is 1996, indicating that the studies related to pharmaceutical services in emergency language services are relatively earlier compared to other clusters.

Cluster #6: ethnic disparities

Cluster 6 is labeled “ethnic disparities”, and researchers focus on the differences among various ethnic groups in emergency language services, including variations in language needs, service access, and outcomes. Based on other keywords within the cluster, researchers also examine disparities among different ethnic groups in emergency language services related to stroke prevention, treatment, and rehabilitation, particularly in children. The aim is to improve the efficiency of treatment and rescue efforts and reduce the impact of diseases or disasters on physical health. For example, Flores, Ngui ( 2007 ) conducted a literature review to uncover several racial/ethnic disparities in pediatric patient safety and proposed a new conceptual model for understanding racial/ethnic disparities in patient safety. Lim et al. ( 2019 ) studied racial/ethnic disparities in the utilization of mental health services among Medicaid adults aged 21–64 in Hawaii. Hartford et al. ( 2022 ) explored differences in the treatment of pediatric migraines among different racial, ethnic, and language preference groups in the emergency department, highlighting another area where equity in emergency department patients must be improved.

Cluster #7: remote teaching

Cluster 7, denoted as “remote teaching”, primarily focuses on the realm of remote teaching in emergency situations, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic. Researchers within this cluster may concentrate on strategies for emergency remote teaching, online learning tools, teaching effectiveness, and the experiences of both students and teachers. For instance, Latif, Alhamad ( 2023 ) conducted a study by surveying 112 Arabic and English as a foreign language teachers and conducting semi-structured interviews with 14 teachers. The research investigated the experiences and reflective beliefs of Saudi university language teachers in emergency remote teaching, with specific attention to: a) the general educational challenges faced by teachers and how they overcome these challenges, b) the perceived difficulties of remote teaching and assessing the foreign language domain and their coping strategies, and c) a reflective evaluation of remote language teaching after three semesters. Wang et al. ( 2022 ) explored the positive emotions and language enjoyment of Chinese language learners in the context of emergency remote teaching (ERT) during the COVID-19 pandemic, adopting a positive psychology perspective. Knežević et al. ( 2022 ) surveyed the teaching practices and experiences of foreign language teachers during the “lockdown period” in 2020, as well as their self-assessment of their digital technology application skills in teaching. The results indicated a lack of pedagogical knowledge and skills among foreign language teachers in utilizing the mentioned tools in teaching. Consequently, the authors called for more attention to digital technology teaching issues in foreign language methodology courses.

Cluster #8: emergency department visit

Cluster 8 “emergency department visit”, combined with other keywords in the cluster, indicates that this cluster may focus on applying techniques such as natural language processing, machine learning, deep learning, and nursing informatics to process and analyze data related to emergency department visits. For example, Doan et al. ( 2016 ) attempted to create and test the performance of the Natural Language Processing (NLP) tool KD-NLP to identify emergency department (ED) patients who should be considered for diagnosis as Kawasaki disease Lee et al. ( 2019 ) provide an overview of machine learning related to clinical and operational scenarios in emergency medicine.

Cluster #9: systematic review

Cluster 9 centers on research involving systematic reviews and meta-analyses of specific topics or issues. Systematic review is a research method designed to systematically collect, evaluate, and synthesize existing literature to answer specific research questions. Meta-analysis, on the other hand, is a statistical analysis method within systematic reviews that involves the reanalysis and synthesis of existing statistical data from studies on a particular topic.

Through systematic review and meta-analysis, researchers can synthesize and analyze a large amount of research evidence on emergency language services, thereby obtaining more comprehensive and reliable conclusions and providing support for decision-making, policy formulation, and further research. For example, Iqbal et al. ( 2021 ) evaluate the evidence of clinical outcomes of digital alert systems in remote monitoring through system reviews and meta-analyses and call for trials of different alert protocols to understand the best alerts to guide future widespread implementation. This will further promote the development of emergency language services.

This study conducted bibliometric and content analysis on 3814 items of literature retrieved from 1988 to 2023. Furthermore, it proposed several crucial research indicators, encompassing basic analyses of publication time and quantity, notable journals, primary research contributors (authors, countries, and institutions), disciplinary direction analysis, and co-occurrence clustering of keywords. Overall, the literature in the field of emergency language services research is constantly increasing, indicating that researchers’ interest in the field of emergency language services is gradually increasing.

Research trend

In addressing RQ 1: What is the current status of emergency language services research, and what progress has been made in recent years? Section “Publications output distribution” analyzes the current status and latest progress of research on emergency language services. The examination of published literature suggests a progressive rise in the number of research journals dedicated to emergency language services, indicating a growing trend toward diversification within the field. This phenomenon can be attributed to the fact that natural disasters and public health events impact countries worldwide to different extents, such as the Lushan earthquake in China in 2013 (Lu et al., 2014 ), the East Japan earthquake in 2011 (Onuma et al., 2017 ), the Christchurch earthquake in New Zealand and the Bangkok flood in Thailand (Noy, 2015 ), the novel coronavirus pandemic in 2019 (Wang et al., 2020 ) and the Ebola epidemic in West Africa in 2014–2016 (Agnihotri et al., 2021 ), Hurricane Katrina along the Gulf of Mexico in the United States (Kahn, Barondess ( 2008 )), etc. Faced with numerous natural disasters and sudden public health emergencies, scholars from various countries have gradually enhanced the significance of research on emergency language services. Nevertheless, the multidisciplinary nature of emergency language services and the wide range of disciplines involved have contributed to a diverse trajectory of development. This emphasis on the advancement of emergency language services from various fields has fostered a diversified overall direction of progress.

Research power

Section “Research power results” analyzes the distribution of core authors and national institutions in emergency language service research, addressing RQ 2: What is the distribution of core authors, journals, and institutions involved in emergency language services research? An examination of research influence reveals that countries such as the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, and Australia hold significant positions in publishing papers on emergency language services. Notably, the United States stands out with its dominant presence in terms of article output and centrality within the field. Institutions such as the University of Washington, Harvard Medical School, and the University of California, San Francisco, have a high research impact in the field of emergency language services. First, these countries have large populations, vast lands, and high rates of natural disasters and public health events. In this case, fast and accurate information transmission is crucial to ensure the safety of people’s lives and property. Modern technology provides a more powerful guarantee for emergency communication, effectively improves the efficiency of post-disaster emergency rescue work, and achieves good disaster reduction effects. These countries, owing to their robust economic and technological capabilities, as well as well-developed communication and information technology infrastructure, have shown a heightened focus on emergency management and response. Their ability to efficiently collect, process, and disseminate vast quantities of real-time emergency information enables them to effectively meet public demands and facilitate advancements in emergency language service research.

Research content

Section “Content analysis” mainly addresses RQ 3: What are the hotspots of emergency language services research, and what are the prospects for the field in the future? This part examines the multidisciplinary nature of emergency language services and explores the current research trends and focal areas within the field. By examining disciplinary categories, highly cited topics, and research directions, the disciplinary, theoretical bases of emergency language services mainly concentrate on emergency medicine, environmental science, public health and preventive medicine, computer science, educational science, and language and linguistics. However, the research focus varies across each field. The field of emergency medicine is more focused on optimizing the collaboration in emergency medicine research (Perry et al., 2021 ), language support in emergency medical facilities, medical translation, and interpretation services in emergency situations, etc. For example, it explores the application of mobile technology in medical interpretation (Ji, 2019 ). Environmental science mainly focuses on the language exchange of environmental information and risk communication in emergency events, language support for emergency environmental monitoring and data processing, etc. For example, in order to improve the efficiency of emergency rescue, the coal mine emergency rescue communication system based on a wireless mesh network and environmental monitoring subsystem is tested (Zhao, Yang ( 2018 )). The research focuses on the field of public health and preventive healthcare science may include health information dissemination and education in emergency situations, multilingual emergency warning systems, and cross-cultural adaptation of emergency medical resources. The field of computer science primarily focuses on researching machine translation, such as evaluating two specific automatic translation techniques to assess their potential impact on improving communication in emergency situations (Turner et al., 2019 ), applying natural language processing, speech recognition, and intelligent language services. For example, the development of speech recognition technology in emergency calls (Valizada et al., 2021 ) provides online language support and emergency language services for medical translation services. The field of educational science focuses on training medical translators and interpreters, conducting cross-cultural communication, and education in emergency situations.

In terms of keyword clustering analysis, this paper elaborates on the three stages of emergency language service development to better understand its research progress. Firstly, during the exploration period, focus on emergency departments, communication, and language barriers. How should medical staff effectively communicate with patients in the emergency department when facing situations such as non-native language communication, hearing or speaking difficulties, or cultural differences between doctors and patients.

Secondly, during the stable development period, attention should be paid to natural language processing, language barriers in emergency medicine, and a systematic review of previous research. By conducting a systematic review of previous research, researchers can gain a comprehensive understanding of the current situation and development trends in the field of emergency language services, identify knowledge gaps and research challenges, and propose new research questions and directions to promote further development in the field of emergency language services. Moreover, with the continuous development of artificial intelligence (AI) technology, researchers have begun to combine some AI technologies, such as natural language processing technology, with emergency language services, to apply in emergency rescue and emergency medical care, to improve the efficiency and accuracy of language barrier handling, and make up for the shortcomings of human translation and interpretation.

Finally, during the rapid development period, attention should be paid to research on emergency language services, remote education, and medical services, as well as the application of social media during the COVID-19 pandemic. The outbreak of the COVID-19 epidemic has had a significant impact on the world. During COVID-19, emergency services such as distance learning and telemedicine developed rapidly. At the same time, social media plays an important role in information dissemination and crisis notification, multilingual support and translation services, and strengthening community cooperation. For example, Twitter is widely used in emergency situations to issue real-time emergency notifications and alerts. Many government agencies and emergency management departments use Twitter to release key information to the public, including disaster alerts, evacuation guidelines, safety tips, etc. This rapid and extensive dissemination of information helps people to promptly understand emergency situations and take appropriate action.

Emergency language services domain research shortcomings

To facilitate the disciplinary development of emergency language services research, this article presents a comprehensive synthesis of research findings and methodologies, with the goal of identifying the current limitations and shortcomings within the field.

Firstly, the analysis conducted in this paper highlights the interdisciplinary nature of emergency language services as a research field. Given the interdisciplinary nature of the subject matter, it is crucial to emphasize the comprehensive development process within this field. In the face of interdisciplinary content, it is needed to pay attention to its comprehensive development process. Currently, due to variations in disciplinary nature, there is often a tendency to overlook the holistic management of emergency information resources or the cross-disciplinary sharing of practical cases. For example, computer science can apply natural language processing technology to medical education (Chary et al., 2019 ), which can advance potential future work in the field of emergency medical education. However, the applicability of research results of these interdisciplinary theories in innovation still needs to be further increased.

Secondly, natural disasters and public health incidents often occur suddenly, and emergency rescue is extremely urgent. Therefore, the provision of emergency language services is also very urgent. Although current emergency translation technology and interpreters have made significant contributions to emergency language services, there are also significant limitations. For example, in remote areas lacking professional interpreters and basic communication facilities, hiring nonnonprofessional interpreters such as hospital employees and family members may bring great risks and cause serious medical accidents (Kletečka-Pulker et al., 2021 ). Therefore, it is necessary to further study the technological progress and practical application of emergency language services, and cultivate more professional interpreters.

Finally, the article focuses on the research focus of the three stages of emergency language services. At present, there are many applications of intelligent technologies related to emergency language services, such as natural language processing technology in emergency departments, the use of video interpretation systems during emergency rescue, and AI translation software. However, further exploration is needed to explore the differences, advantages, and disadvantages of various AI technologies in different application scenarios, and there is a lack of relevant literature. Besides, given the increasing use of AI in emergency language services, it is essential to consider the ethical implications of these technologies. Moral considerations arise, such as whether to use AI over live interpreters when cost-saving could compromise the quality of communication and patient care. The disparity in access to interpreters based on language prevalence raises equity concerns, particularly for less common languages like Karen. Rigorous testing is needed to validate the effectiveness of AI solutions for rare languages in real-world emergency scenarios to ensure they do not perpetuate disparities and meet ethical standards. Despite the challenges, the ongoing advancement of knowledge and technology will give rise to novel theories and technologies that can effectively address practical applications.

Prospects for emergency language services

To address the identified shortcomings, three targeted recommendations are proposed:

Firstly, emergency language services have interdisciplinary nature, therefore, it is necessary to strengthen cooperation and knowledge sharing between different disciplinary fields. Encourage experts in computer science, medicine, linguistics, and other fields to conduct collaborative research, promote the cross-application of technology and theory, and promote the comprehensive development of emergency language services.

Secondly, cultivate more professional interpreters and translation experts to meet the emergency needs of various situations. In addition, the efficiency and accuracy of emergency translation technology should be further improved to address translation errors caused by equipment issues.

Finally, it is necessary to explore the advantages and limitations of intelligent technology in different application scenarios, evaluate the applicability of different intelligent technologies in emergency language services, and select the most suitable technical solution based on specific circumstances. Simultaneously, active development of emergency language service technologies should be pursued, exploring the applications of technologies such as speech recognition, machine translation, and real-time video communication in emergency response.

Potential areas for future research on emergency language services

In outlining future research directions for emergency language services, this study identifies three key potential areas.

Firstly, the frequent occurrence of natural disasters has highlighted the increasing demand for emergency language services. At present, there are existing deficiencies in emergency rescue auxiliary equipment, and emerging technologies have the potential to provide essential assistance in addressing various challenges encountered during emergency rescue operations. As an example, within the healthcare domain, the application of AI algorithms and natural language processing techniques can play a critical role in identifying syncope patients within medical records of emergency departments (Dipaola et al., 2019 ). Further exploration by researchers is needed to determine how to effectively apply these state-of-the-art technologies to the field of emergency language services.

Secondly, it has been proven that social media platforms are effective in collecting information during emergencies caused by natural or man-made disasters (Khatoon et al., 2021 ). In the event of an emergency, emergency response managers need to respond quickly and handle the victim’s request for help. Citizens will use Internet social media to quickly disseminate information about the development of events, but for emergency response managers, it is difficult to select the most relevant information from a large number of data (Overbey et al., 2015 ). Therefore, it is crucial to study the application of straightforward natural language processing techniques to extract location information from social media networks and search for event-related messages. This research can greatly assist emergency response managers in making timely and accurate decisions (Nieuwenhuijse et al., 2016 ). For instance, by studying and comparing various machine learning models for the correlation classification of flood-related tweets, it becomes clear which machine learning-based method is most suitable for the correlation classification of flood-related tweets. This can assist emergency rescue personnel in identifying more effective disaster management information (Blomeier et al., 2024 ). In addition, text analysis techniques, machine learning (ML), and deep learning (DL) techniques can also be applied to automatically filter and analyze social media data in order to extract real-time information about key events and promote emergency response in crises (Khatoon et al., 2021 ).

Lastly, language models are assuming a progressively significant role in the domain of emergency language services. The current language models include acoustic and language models for automatic speech recognition, neural network language models, and multilingual speech recognition systems, which are widely used in medical emergencies and emergency rescue. For example, because of its advanced natural language processing capabilities, ChatGPT has become a tool that continues to evolve and advance in the ability to assist healthcare information. The study evaluated the accuracy of ChatGPT-3.5 and ChatGPT-4 models in solving queries related to CRRT alarm troubleshooting (Sheikh et al., 2024 ). Ungureanu et al. ( 2023 ) explore the use of automatic speech recognition models to enhance Romanian emergency services and reduce their response times. Future speech models will also have more breakthroughs and developments in the field of emergency language services.

Conclusions

This article conducts a comprehensive analysis of 3814 papers published between 1988 and 2023 on emergency language services using CiteSpace. The analysis aims to shed light on the research progress and future directions in this field. Analysis shows that there is an increasing number of published literature on emergency language services, and researchers are increasingly interested in researching emergency language services. The sources of disciplinary theory for emergency language services mainly concentrate on emergency medicine, environmental science, public health and preventive medicine, computer science, educational science, and language and linguistics. The findings of keyword clustering analysis demonstrate that current research in emergency language services leverages emerging technologies, such as natural language processing, language modeling, and machine learning. These technologies are utilized to expedite emergency response time and improve the quality of emergency services. In addition, there are also methods such as telemedicine and remote teaching to address emergency situations. Other cutting-edge areas include the adaptation and development of interdisciplinary methods for emergency language services, as well as the analysis of the important role of social media in the field of emergency language services.

Future research in emergency language services should focus on addressing pivotal issues related to research frameworks, fostering interdisciplinary and comprehensive development, and comprehending significant advancements in emerging technologies within the field. Of particular importance is the vast potential offered by social media and AI in supporting emergency language services.

This study provides a comprehensive analysis of the scope of emergency language services for research purposes. Nonetheless, it is important to acknowledge certain limitations. Specifically, this paper predominantly relies on the WoS core database and does not encompass other significant databases like Scopus and PubMed. In addition, this study is limited to the analysis of English papers and does not cover literature in other languages. Due to language limitations, this study may not be able to obtain or analyze relevant research results in other language contexts. Future research can consider expanding the language scope to include literature in more languages, to gain a more comprehensive understanding of the development and trends in the field of emergency language services.

Data availability

Data sharing is not applicable to this article, as no datasets were generated during the current study, which is based on bibliometric information from published articles in the Web of Science.

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Guo, X., Xiao, D. & Guo, Y. From crisis to opportunity: advancements in emergency language services. Humanit Soc Sci Commun 11 , 1170 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1057/s41599-024-03698-8

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Supply chain trends 2024: The digital shake-up

With digital opportunities sweeping the supply chain landscape, readiness and line of sight will be paramount to success

Advanced technologies are shaking up the supply chain world. With quickly evolving capabilities across generative AI, data analytics, automation, machine learning, Internet of Things (IoT), blockchain and more, the ‘smart’ supply chain is well on its way to becoming the new normal.

Enabled with a raft of technology developments, a new paradigm is emerging in supply chain management. One where organizations can respond quicker to day-to-day requests, proactively address problem solving, and reduce errors and inefficiencies. It can also provide greater visibility, transparency and traceability. Most importantly, organizations will be more resilient to future supply chain shocks.

With a future that promises autonomous, self-learning machines seamlessly managing the broader supply chain process, now is the time for organizations to overcome the inherent silos and enterprise systems that will restrict their progress.

To get started, organizations need to first embrace the trends that will define 2024. This includes learning about emerging technologies from AI to distributed ledger technologies, low-code and no-code platforms and fleet electrification. This will need to be followed by managing the migration to a new digital architecture and executing it flawlessly.

Organizations will need to intensely focus on mining relevant, clean and well-governed data if they want to make the most of their new technology investments. Data will also be crucial as organizations are pressured to meet evolving ESG and Scope 3 commitments.

These structural trends will shape new operating models and improve broad processes. To avoid being left behind, it is important for organizations to understand these trends and apply specific actions to begin their transformation sooner rather than later. This way they can create a more agile and responsive supply chain that can capture the promise of value creation, cost reduction and improved shareholder value.

Trend 1: Generative AI in operations

Generative AI (GenAI) is a subset of AI that has the potential to revolutionize supply chain management, logistics and procurement. Software engines powered by GenAI can process much larger sets of data than previous forms of machine learning and can analyze an almost infinitely complex set of variables. GenAI can also  learn  —and teach itself — about the nuances of any given company’s supply chain ecosystem, allowing it to refine and sharpen its analysis over time.

The list of opportunities for GenAI is extensive. It can help ensure procurement and regulatory compliance, streamline, and enhance the efficiency of manufacturing production workflows, or enable virtual logistics communication by using virtual assistants to handle routine inquiries and provide quick responses.

The use of AI is an enterprise-wide consideration, organizations must avoid dissipating effort across several single point disconnected AI implementations. Core business processes should be strategically rethought and redesigned to effectively leverage GenAI.

Key actions to take in 2024 include:

Planning professionals need to increase their skills in analytical modeling capability, cross-functional expertise, and relationship management to maximize collaboration.

Make decision-making a business discipline: Be performance led: Start with performance goals – Don’t let technology dictate your decisions.

Blend expertise with data analytics: Inject data into your existing processes. Data management will be critical to success

Develop an ecosystem of technology partners, business integrators, and academic experts to access skilled individuals.

Through 2024, 50% of supply chain organizations will invest in applications that support artificial intelligence and advanced analytics capabilities. 1

Trend 2: AI enabled no touch / low touch planning

With the continued focus on resilience and ESG coupled with the expansion of sites, flows, and partners, the pressure on supply chain planning is increasing. Existing planning capabilities have been unable to meet the demands of a more complex, multi-tiered, more nuanced world. The result is few companies can run effective scenario analysis to determine the financial consequences of important decisions.

AI enabled sales and operational planning (S&OP) and integrated business planning (IBP) applications will help eliminate the gap between supply chain planning and execution. Low touch planning will take large swaths of manual work out of the end-to-end planning process and leverage the power of advanced analytics to answer deeper questions with minimal human intervention. AI will be able to analyze data at scale, identify anomalies, search for patterns that lead to unexpected disruptions, and make suggestions on how to solve them—almost instantaneously.

From a technology perspective, the capabilities to enable low touch planning are like a control tower or its more advanced counterpart, the cognitive decision center which includes digital twin capabilities. These promise improved predictability, enhanced gross margins and free up resources to focus on value adding activities.

Low touch planning, improves predictability enhancing Return on Equity (ROE) by 2 to 4 percentage points, and adds 1 to 3 percent to gross margins across revenue, cost, and assets 2

Trend 3: The critical role of data

Data is still one of the core challenges facing supply chain management. Each day millions and millions of date records are generated across the supply chain from multiple systems. The proliferation of digital technologies, IoT devices, and advanced tracking systems have compounded the problem. This wealth of data has given rise to greater silos of data within the organization which in turn has led to disconnected data sets. Duplication and misinterpretation will become increasingly problematic, too. Critically, the fragmentation of data impedes the creation of a holistic view of the organization’s supply chain.

Consequently, data availability, quality, cadence, and consistency – are now critical considerations. Supply chain professionals must manage the complexities within their data landscape efficiently; to be able to make informed decisions and enhance their operations.

A solution is to adopt a use case-driven approach to proactively address data quality issues. By focusing on specific use cases, organizations can prioritize data quality improvements where they matter most, thereby gradually refining and improving their datasets.

Placing a laser focus on the critical elements of data availability, quality, reliability, cadence, and consistency. Data is the linchpin that enables businesses to make informed decisions, optimize processes and ensure resilience in the face of disruptions

Acknowledge that data management is an ongoing journey rather than a one-time destination.

Take an iterative approach to data management. This allows organizations to refine their data strategies, adjust to changing circumstances, and learn from experience.

Develop a value-driven roadmap. Data must be aligned with a clear purpose and tied to value generation, such as cost savings, enhanced efficiency, improved customer satisfaction and innovation.

Low touch planning, improves predictability enhancing Return on Equity (ROE) by 2 to 4 percentage points, and adds 1 to 3 percent to gross margins across revenue, cost, and assets 3

Trend 4: Transparency and visibility beyond Tier 1 and 2

The lack of visibility across the layered tiers of a supply chain has major implications for organizations across industries, particularly for meeting regulatory requirements, and for the identification and mitigation of supply chain risks.

Breaking the barrier of visibility beyond Tier 1 allows organizations to look across their extended supply chain into partners, build greater and deeper insights into root causes, identify new risks that occur further into the supply chain and drive ESG goals through better traceability and transparency.

Technology tools such as control towers and digital twins can surface critical sub-tier supplier relationships, highlight common sub-tier suppliers, factory locations and provide clear insight into the depth of an organization’s supply chain. When implemented at scale they can improve supply chain resilience.

Move towards a more collective and data-driven approach by using technology solutions and partnerships. Extend visibility of product flows to create more in-depth views of the supply chain ecosystem.

Create cross-functional teams to provide a fuller picture of key use cases, the scope of visibility and surfacing downstream problems.

Build on the visibility of others – with organizations each embarking on their own projects and control towers to build visibility, explore partnerships that may provide access to a wealth of data and insights.

Embed ESG measures within the technology for improved procurement decision making and performance management, and incorporate ESG performance metrics into supplier evaluations or scorecards.

Less than half (43%) Forty-three percent of organizations have limited to no visibility of tier one supplier performance 4

Trend 5: Low-code platforms

A supply chain is a dynamic and complex process that includes provisioning, raw material supply, warehousing and the distribution of manufactured products to consumers. Historically, this has resulted in multiple systems and data sources. Implementing software change in this environment is time consuming with a high probability of errors.

Most supply chain tasks can be fully or partly automated through low-code platforms, which use a wide range of Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) and pre-packaged integrations to link previously separate systems. These cut the development time, enabling companies to swiftly react and adapt their applications to new market conditions, disruptive events, or changing strategies. It enables business users with little technical knowledge to quickly build, test and implement new capabilities.

Potential applications span planning, manufacturing, product life cycle, supply chain collaboration, and track and trace. Low-code platforms are not just a technological upgrade; they represent a paradigm shift in how organizations approach their operations providing a pathway to a more agile and adaptable future.Consequently, data availability, quality, cadence, and consistency – are now critical considerations. Supply chain professionals must manage the complexities within their data landscape efficiently; to be able to make informed decisions and enhance their operations.

Define and document cross-functional processes, tasks, and timelines – identify suitable use cases..

Leverage low-code apps to go from managing supply chains to building agile, resilient and predictable supply chains.

Use low-code platforms to modernize legacy systems, automate processes and connect disconnected systems.

Empower stakeholders and business domain experts to create apps for insights, actionable tasks and collaboration in the supply chain.

More than two-thirds of enterprises have already adopted low-code to their supply chains 5

Trend 6: ESG and Scope 3 emissions

While many businesses have traditionally prioritized the collection of their Scope 1 (direct emissions) and Scope 2 (purchased electricity) emissions data, the focus has now shifted decisively toward Scope 3 emissions – that is, emissions incurred throughout the entire value chain. Although voluntary to date, the collection and reporting of Scope 3 emissions data is becoming a legal requirement in many countries.

Establishing a solid emissions baseline is essential for monitoring progress and setting ambitious reduction targets. Scope 1 and Scope 2 emissions are relatively straightforward to assess however, when extending this to the full supply chain, as in Scope 3, the complexity multiplies exponentially.

To target reductions in carbon emissions, companies need primary sources of information from their suppliers, and are starting to use hybrid carbon accounting methodologies to produce a more accurate assessment of Scope 3 emissions. Digital platforms are providing a centralized system for suppliers to input their emissions data, which can then be easily integrated into a company’s sustainability reporting.

Carry out supplier segmentation based on key criteria such as spend and criticality to business to identify and prioritize supply chain categories.

Establish and implement a supplier engagement program. Start educating suppliers about the significance of Scope 3 emissions data capture and your sustainability goals.

Analyze technology solutions for collecting carbon emissions data from your suppliers. Identify technology options that work for the size of your business and your industry and start implementation. Investing into technology solutions now will lead to cost savings in the long run.

Educate and support employees in understanding Scope 3 emissions, carbon reduction approaches and technology solutions to collect and manage carbon data. It is vital that a change management strategy is built into the decarbonization action plan.

Only 5% of supply chain emissions stem from direct manufacturing, whereas emissions originating within the supply chain can be 5 to 10 times greater 6

Trend 7: Electric vehicles, transport and logistics

The logistics sector is also undergoing rapid transformation. Some elements of future-ready transport and logistics networks are already in evidence such as the automation of warehouses and ports, and the increasing use of autonomous vehicles. Their adoption will expand as organizations commit to emissions reduction targets and battery technology evolves to extend distance limits for electric trucks, buses and delivery vehicles.

Organizations will continue to accelerate the electrification and automation of the logistics transport value chain – especially those that remain costly or manual, such as processing of air freight and last mile delivery. Similarly, the transition from autonomous vehicles overseen by humans to fully automated vehicles without human intervention is almost ready to expand from controlled closed-loop environments to public roads.

Smart logistics and transport will also be accelerated with the continued ramp-up of AI, IoT, data analytics and cloud across many use cases – improving traditional route optimization and applying machine learning, predictive and sensing capabilities to make material improvements to network efficiency, customer experience, risk reduction and sustainability targets.

Conduct a fleet assessment to evaluate fleet composition, routes and usage patterns to identify opportunities for electrification, prioritizing vehicles that travel frequently in urban areas.

Identify broad transport and logistics automation opportunities to automate labor-intensive activities.

Analyze data from vehicle telematics, IoT devices, delivery data, customer satisfaction and sustainability information to drive decisions.

Develop a plan to transition delivery fleets to electric vehicles. New cloud-based AI driven technologies can simulate future transport network designs to optimize routes that reduce distance driven and prioritized routes and vehicles for electrification.

Embed sustainability at every step by looking across sourcing, planning, making, delivering and returns for opportunities to reduce vehicle tailpipe emissions.

Battery electric commercial vehicles (BECVs) could reach between15% and 34% sales penetration by 2030 7

As we stand on the brink of 2024, the supply chain landscape is on the cusp of profound transformation. AI and other advanced technologies are quickly reshaping the very core of supply chain management. KPMG professionals believe organizations with the right approach and culture can harness these seismic shifts.

In 2024 organizations could gain fundamental opportunity by focussing on the strategic application of GenAi, adopting a low-touch planning approach, striving for data excellence and transparency, adapting to low-code platforms, prioritizing Scope 3 ESG data reporting, and planning for the electric future. Time is of the essence, and those who are ready and willing to adapt quickly will be better able to unlock value, reduce costs and embrace new models of success.

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1  https://www.gartner.com/en/articles/gartner-predicts-the-future-of-supply-chain-technology

2  KPMG case study analysis

3  https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/global-big-data-markets-report-2022-2027-challenges-and-opportunities-technologies-and-business-cases-regulatory-issues-industry-vertical-applications-companies-and-solutions-301471783.html

4  https://kpmg.com/uk/en/home/insights/2021/07/the-future-of-supply-chain.html

5  https://www.bloomberg.com/press-releases/2019-08-12/low-code-is-the-future-outsystems-named-a-leader-in-the-2019-gartner-magic-quadrant-for-enterprise-low-code-application

6  https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2021/01/tackling-supply-chain-emissions-is-a-game-changer-for-climate-action/

7  https://supplychaindigital.com/articles/logistics-readying-itself-for-ev-revolution

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The truth about Springfield, Ohio: Are immigrants eating dogs as Trump says? What to know

• Donald Trump claims Springfield, Ohio, migrants are eating pets. Local officials say it's not true. Here's what Springfield officials say.
• The person who recently killed and ate a cat was not from Springfield but a woman from Canton, Ohio, who was first arrested there in 2011.
• A photo of a man carrying a goose down the street, purported to be a Haitian immigrant from Springfield on social media, was taken in Columbus, Ohio, not Springfield.

The claim was repeated by former President Donald Trump during Tuesday's presidential debate .

"In Springfield, they're eating the dogs, the people that came in," Trump said. "They're eating the cats. They're eating the pets of the people that live there. This is what's happening in our country, and it's a shame."

Republicans, including Ohio U.S. Sen. JD Vance , the vice presidential candidate, have made Springfield, Ohio's growing Haitian population a major issue in the presidential race. But are claims that they are eating pets true?

Here's a look at the issue.

Springfield, Ohio, officials: 'No credible reports' of crime by Haitian migrants; no cats or dogs have been harmed

Springfield, an industrial town of about 58,000 just northeast of Dayton, has seen its Haitian population swell to 15,000 to 20,000 in recent years, according to a previous Cincinnati Enquirer article . City Manager Bryan Heck wrote to U.S. Sens. Sherrod Brown and Tim Scott asking for support to ease a “significant housing crisis” in the city.

Referencing that letter, Vance said immigrants were overburdening Springfield's services and housing. Vance's statements caused stories on social media to explode, which quickly turned into allegations against immigrants that aren't true, per the Springfield Police Department and Heck's office, as the Springfield News-Sun reported .

Vance helped spread the rumor on social media about pets being eaten, which was refuted by Heck. The city manager released a statement saying there's no evidence of any cats or other pets being harmed or eaten by the Haitian immigrants. The statement also refuted rumors that immigrants were involved in "illegal activities such as squatting or littering" or "deliberately disrupting traffic."

Springfield Haitians, other residents respond to being at center of immigration debate

With Springfield in the spotlight amid misinformation about immigrants eating pets and wild geese, how are residents and the local Haitian population managing?

Alimemby Estimable is bemused by rumors that Haitians were shipped to Springfield and that the people from Haiti in Springfield are there legally because of the federal program for  temporary protected status , The Columbus Dispatch is reporting .

Estimable, 19, moved to Springfield four years ago and is a graduate of Springfield High School. He works at an Amazon warehouse and said he's been called a "dirty Haitian" and an "illegal."

"The majority of us, we work in warehouses, factories. You can't work there illegally. Obviously, we're legally working," he told The Dispatch.

Other residents say the city and county are overwhelmed and wish the Haitian population was "evenly dispersed" among Ohio counties. Some say Haitians are unfairly scapegoated and an easy target, per The Dispatch.

"Someone's cat comes up missing? They gonna say the Haitians did it," Joe Ruck, a co-owner of Champion City Cuts Barber Shop in Springfield, told The Dispatch.

Columbus man says he regrets taking photo being weaponized by right-wing media against immigrants

Photos and video being taken out of context or wholly misidentified are being used to spread misinformation and falsehoods about Haitian immigrants in Ohio.

One such photo shows a man carrying a dead goose in Columbus. It's being used as proof by right-wing figures  falsely claiming  that Haitian immigrants in Springfield, Ohio, are eating pets and wildlife. The man who took the photo, who wishes to remain anonymous, tells The Columbus Dispatch he now regrets taking the photo.

"I wish I never took it, for sure. And I hate that the picture that I took is being weaponized to use against immigrants, or really, any other group. They always have to have somebody to use as a weapon. Some group to be the bad guy," he said.

Things you see while driving in CBUS by u/isitmeyourelooking4x in Columbus

The photo depicts a person carrying a seemingly dead goose down Cleveland Avenue in Columbus. A Google Street View of the photo's background shows the photo was taken in Columbus — not Springfield, as some right-wing accounts have claimed.

The photo was shared to the Columbus subreddit, but got picked up by several right-wing X profiles as alleged proof of the claims.

Video of Ohio woman accused of eating cat is from Canton, Ohio, not Springfield

Likewise, video posted on YouTube  by the "Fake News Network" that is titled "Haitian Woman Eats Neighbour's Cat in Springfield" falsely claims to show police officers confronting a Haitian woman in Springfield about eating a cat, The Canton Repository reports .

However, what the video actually shows is police department bodycam footage of Canton officers at the scene of the Aug. 16 incident in Canton. It's part of an ongoing court case about a  27-year-old Canton resident accused of killing and eating a cat .

Allexis T. Ferrell is charged with cruelty to companion animals, a fifth-degree felony. It is alleged she killed the cat by stomping on its head before eating it. She has entered a plea of not guilty by reason of insanity and is being held in jail in lieu of $100,000 bond.

"Ferrell was first arrested in Canton in 2011," Canton police spokesman Lt. Dennis Garren wrote in an email to The Repository. "We have no reason to believe that she is not a U.S. citizen." 

Trump also mentions Venezuelan gangs in Aurora, Colorado. Are his claims accurate?

Along with Springfield, Trump name-dropped Aurora, Colorado, in Tuesday's speech, claiming that criminal immigrants “are taking over the towns, they are taking over buildings, they are going in violently.”

Trump was referring to the presence of Venezuelan gangs in that city, at least his third mention of it in recent weeks, according to the Denverite online newsletter.

Denverite reports that the claims can be traced to allegations made by the landlord of several apartment buildings that Venezuelan gang members have “taken over,” trying to kick out managers and extort payments from residents. While local officials say the gang Tren de Aragua has a presence in metro Denver, they claim it is relatively small.

Other complaints of crime from the buildings also have arisen, Denverite reports, including one from a woman who shared a video with local media showing armed men entering an apartment. She told CBS News  that she witnessed shootouts as well as people with automatic weapons and said the police did little.

However, many apartment residents say the talk of gang control is false or exaggerated, Denverite reports. At a press conference, some said the video of armed men was a “one-time” event.