Social media can be a tool to help you in your research. Here's how:
1. Find the search feature on the platform. You can search more than just hashtags!
While hashtags create links (within a post) that take you to a list of posts using the hashtag, sometimes they don't show you all the relevant results. Facebook and Twitter, for instance, also allow you to search by keywords to find better results. Look for a magnifying glass icon. You can also sort the results.
This is what sorting on Facebook, after a search, looks like:
On Twitter, you can filter too:
You can also search online (such as in a Google search) for search tips from the platform of your choice. Search tips for Instagram
2. Create lists or join lists on Twitter to have a tailored feed to view conversations or for a particular topic. See this Verge article on how to do that.
Here is one created about copyright (also seen in the Copyright Research Guide):
3. Create a Facebook feed to get posts of specific pages or people in one customized feed. Learn how to add to the feed or see this link:
4. Follow experts on a topic to get news when they post! If you are interested in ongoing research search for specific accounts if you know the expert's name. Or, search hashtags relevant to your topic to find accounts of people posting about that topic after verifying they are who they say they are!
5. View the links below for more tech tips.