The Investigator’s Dilemma - A Review of Social Media Analytics Research Ethics in Information Systems

<jats:p>Social media have become not only integral parts of our private and professional lives, but also an indispensable source of data for empirical research across a variety of academic disciplines. Applying a Social Media Analytics (SMA) methodology, however, imposes heavy ethical challenges on researchers. Scholars in the Information Systems (IS) discipline must deal with a patchwork of ethical frameworks, regulations, and (missing) institutional support. To initiate a debate on how to develop a common understanding of SMA research ethics, this paper compiles a scoping review of extant literature and suggests a research agenda for IS scholarship on this matter. The review yields a total of eight fundamental principles of ethical SMA research, which provide a starting point to guiding individual researchers towards more ethical conduct. At the same time, this work unearths a multitude of intricate dilemmas that are currently unresolved. The findings of this review will encourage IS scholarship to find its own voice in the debate about social media research ethics.</jats:p>