Research should not allow the loud voice of online content production to drown out the quiet majority of internet users: Politics of Data

Social science research aims to record, analyse, and make sense of social mess; to observe and account for everything in a given setting. Why, then, does so much of the research carried out online refuse to do this? Harry Dyer argues that in order to understand the social uses of the internet, it is crucial that research is not focused only on content production, while other uses are seen as secondary or devalued. Though this produced content online is rich, obvious, loud, and plentiful, this doesn’t mean that it can be considered de facto as the “average” use of social media. To focus too much on one facet of the online experience risks skewing the way we understand and think of online social space and online social experiences.