Social media data for environmental sustainability: A critical review of opportunities, threats, and ethical use

Andrea Ghermandi; Johannes Langemeyer; Derek Van Berkel; Fulvia Calcagni; Yaella Depietri; Lukas Egarter Vigl; Nathan Fox; Ilan Havinga; Hieronymus Jäger; Nina Kaiser; Oleksandr Karasov; Timon McPhearson; Simone Podschun; Ana Ruiz-Frau; Michael Sinclair; Markus Venohr; Spencer A. Wood

doi:10.1016/j.oneear.2023.02.008

Social media data for environmental sustainability: A critical review of opportunities, threats, and ethical use

Andrea Ghermandi, Johannes Langemeyer, Derek Van Berkel, Fulvia Calcagni, Yaella Depietri, Lukas Egarter Vigl, Nathan Fox, Ilan Havinga, Hieronymus Jäger, Nina Kaiser, Oleksandr Karasov, Timon McPhearson, Simone Podschun, Ana Ruiz-Frau, Michael Sinclair, Markus Venohr, Spencer A. Wood

Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Management

Research output: Contribution to journal › Review article › peer-review

Abstract

Social media data are transforming sustainability science. However, challenges from restrictions in data accessibility and ethical concerns regarding potential data misuse have threatened this nascent field. Here, we review the literature on the use of social media data in environmental and sustainability research. We find that they can play a novel and irreplaceable role in achieving the UN Sustainable Development Goals by allowing a nuanced understanding of human-nature interactions at scale, observing the dynamics of social-ecological change, and investigating the co-construction of nature values. We reveal threats to data access and highlight scientific responsibility to address trade-offs between research transparency and privacy protection, while promoting inclusivity. This contributes to a wider societal debate of social media data for sustainability science and for the common good.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	236-250
Number of pages	15
Journal	One Earth
Volume	6
Issue number	3
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.oneear.2023.02.008
State	Published - 17 Mar 2023

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
A.G. and M.S. are supported by the Israel Science Foundation through grant no. 2751/16. J.L. is supported by the EU-H2020 through grants #818002, #869324, and the BiodivRestore ERA-Net COFUND (2020–2021) through NICHES. D.V.B. is supported by the US National Science Foundation (NSF) through grant #73133571. A.G. F.C. and J.L. are supported by the German-Israeli Foundation for Scientific Research and Development #I-1533-500.15/2021. S.P. and M.V. are supported by the German Federal Ministry for Education and Research (BMBF) through grant no. 033W046A. T.M. is supported by the NSF through grants #1444755, #1927167, and #193493. S.A.W. was supported by a Data Science Environments project award from the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation (Award 2013-10-29) and the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation (Award 3835) to the University of Washington eScience Institute. A.R.-F. was supported by H2020 Marie-Sklodowska-Curie Individual Fellowship (#655475) and Juan de la Cierva-Incorporación Postdoctoral Fellowship (IJC2019-040836-I/AEI/10.13039/501100011033) from the Spanish Government. O.K. was supported by the Academy of Finland and Kone Foundation. The authors thank the Department of Innovation, Research, University and Museums of the Autonomous Province of Bozen/Bolzano (Italy) for covering the open access publication costs. A.G. J.L. and D.V.B. jointly conceived the study and led the writing of the article with equal contributions. All other authors have contributed to data collection and analysis, interpretation of results, and writing of the article, and are listed in alphabetical order. The authors declare no competing interests.

Funding Information:
A.G. and M.S. are supported by the Israel Science Foundation through grant no. 2751/16 . J.L. is supported by the EU- H2020 through grants # 818002 , # 869324 , and the BiodivRestore ERA-Net COFUND (2020–2021) through NICHES. D.V.B. is supported by the US National Science Foundation (NSF) through grant # 73133571 . A.G., F.C., and J.L. are supported by the German-Israeli Foundation for Scientific Research and Development # I-1533-500.15/2021 . S.P. and M.V. are supported by the German Federal Ministry for Education and Research ( BMBF ) through grant no. 033W046A . T.M. is supported by the NSF through grants # 1444755 , # 1927167 , and # 193493 . S.A.W. was supported by a Data Science Environments project award from the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation (Award 2013-10-29) and the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation (Award 3835) to the University of Washington eScience Institute. A.R.-F. was supported by H2020 Marie-Sklodowska-Curie Individual Fellowship (# 655475 ) and Juan de la Cierva-Incorporación Postdoctoral Fellowship ( IJC2019-040836-I/AEI/10.13039/501100011033 ) from the Spanish Government. O.K. was supported by the Academy of Finland and Kone Foundation . The authors thank the Department of Innovation, Research, University and Museums of the Autonomous Province of Bozen/Bolzano (Italy) for covering the open access publication costs.

Publisher Copyright:
© 2023 The Authors

Keywords

big data
environmental sustainability
passive crowdsourcing
social media
social-ecological systems

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Environmental Science (all)
Earth and Planetary Sciences (miscellaneous)

Access to Document

10.1016/j.oneear.2023.02.008

Cite this

Ghermandi, A., Langemeyer, J., Van Berkel, D., Calcagni, F., Depietri, Y., Egarter Vigl, L., Fox, N., Havinga, I., Jäger, H., Kaiser, N., Karasov, O., McPhearson, T., Podschun, S., Ruiz-Frau, A., Sinclair, M., Venohr, M., & Wood, S. A. (2023). Social media data for environmental sustainability: A critical review of opportunities, threats, and ethical use. One Earth, 6(3), 236-250. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.oneear.2023.02.008

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abstract = "Social media data are transforming sustainability science. However, challenges from restrictions in data accessibility and ethical concerns regarding potential data misuse have threatened this nascent field. Here, we review the literature on the use of social media data in environmental and sustainability research. We find that they can play a novel and irreplaceable role in achieving the UN Sustainable Development Goals by allowing a nuanced understanding of human-nature interactions at scale, observing the dynamics of social-ecological change, and investigating the co-construction of nature values. We reveal threats to data access and highlight scientific responsibility to address trade-offs between research transparency and privacy protection, while promoting inclusivity. This contributes to a wider societal debate of social media data for sustainability science and for the common good.",

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note = "Funding Information: A.G. and M.S. are supported by the Israel Science Foundation through grant no. 2751/16. J.L. is supported by the EU-H2020 through grants #818002, #869324, and the BiodivRestore ERA-Net COFUND (2020–2021) through NICHES. D.V.B. is supported by the US National Science Foundation (NSF) through grant #73133571. A.G. F.C. and J.L. are supported by the German-Israeli Foundation for Scientific Research and Development #I-1533-500.15/2021. S.P. and M.V. are supported by the German Federal Ministry for Education and Research (BMBF) through grant no. 033W046A. T.M. is supported by the NSF through grants #1444755, #1927167, and #193493. S.A.W. was supported by a Data Science Environments project award from the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation (Award 2013-10-29) and the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation (Award 3835) to the University of Washington eScience Institute. A.R.-F. was supported by H2020 Marie-Sklodowska-Curie Individual Fellowship (#655475) and Juan de la Cierva-Incorporaci{\'o}n Postdoctoral Fellowship (IJC2019-040836-I/AEI/10.13039/501100011033) from the Spanish Government. O.K. was supported by the Academy of Finland and Kone Foundation. The authors thank the Department of Innovation, Research, University and Museums of the Autonomous Province of Bozen/Bolzano (Italy) for covering the open access publication costs. A.G. J.L. and D.V.B. jointly conceived the study and led the writing of the article with equal contributions. All other authors have contributed to data collection and analysis, interpretation of results, and writing of the article, and are listed in alphabetical order. The authors declare no competing interests. Funding Information: A.G. and M.S. are supported by the Israel Science Foundation through grant no. 2751/16 . J.L. is supported by the EU- H2020 through grants # 818002 , # 869324 , and the BiodivRestore ERA-Net COFUND (2020–2021) through NICHES. D.V.B. is supported by the US National Science Foundation (NSF) through grant # 73133571 . A.G., F.C., and J.L. are supported by the German-Israeli Foundation for Scientific Research and Development # I-1533-500.15/2021 . S.P. and M.V. are supported by the German Federal Ministry for Education and Research ( BMBF ) through grant no. 033W046A . T.M. is supported by the NSF through grants # 1444755 , # 1927167 , and # 193493 . S.A.W. was supported by a Data Science Environments project award from the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation (Award 2013-10-29) and the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation (Award 3835) to the University of Washington eScience Institute. A.R.-F. was supported by H2020 Marie-Sklodowska-Curie Individual Fellowship (# 655475 ) and Juan de la Cierva-Incorporaci{\'o}n Postdoctoral Fellowship ( IJC2019-040836-I/AEI/10.13039/501100011033 ) from the Spanish Government. O.K. was supported by the Academy of Finland and Kone Foundation . The authors thank the Department of Innovation, Research, University and Museums of the Autonomous Province of Bozen/Bolzano (Italy) for covering the open access publication costs. Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2023 The Authors",

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doi = "10.1016/j.oneear.2023.02.008",

language = "English",

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Ghermandi, A, Langemeyer, J, Van Berkel, D, Calcagni, F, Depietri, Y, Egarter Vigl, L, Fox, N, Havinga, I, Jäger, H, Kaiser, N, Karasov, O, McPhearson, T, Podschun, S, Ruiz-Frau, A, Sinclair, M, Venohr, M & Wood, SA 2023, 'Social media data for environmental sustainability: A critical review of opportunities, threats, and ethical use', One Earth, vol. 6, no. 3, pp. 236-250. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.oneear.2023.02.008

TY - JOUR

T1 - Social media data for environmental sustainability

T2 - A critical review of opportunities, threats, and ethical use

AU - Ghermandi, Andrea

AU - Langemeyer, Johannes

AU - Van Berkel, Derek

AU - Calcagni, Fulvia

AU - Depietri, Yaella

AU - Egarter Vigl, Lukas

AU - Fox, Nathan

AU - Havinga, Ilan

AU - Jäger, Hieronymus

AU - Kaiser, Nina

AU - Karasov, Oleksandr

AU - McPhearson, Timon

AU - Podschun, Simone

AU - Ruiz-Frau, Ana

AU - Sinclair, Michael

AU - Venohr, Markus

AU - Wood, Spencer A.

N1 - Funding Information: A.G. and M.S. are supported by the Israel Science Foundation through grant no. 2751/16. J.L. is supported by the EU-H2020 through grants #818002, #869324, and the BiodivRestore ERA-Net COFUND (2020–2021) through NICHES. D.V.B. is supported by the US National Science Foundation (NSF) through grant #73133571. A.G. F.C. and J.L. are supported by the German-Israeli Foundation for Scientific Research and Development #I-1533-500.15/2021. S.P. and M.V. are supported by the German Federal Ministry for Education and Research (BMBF) through grant no. 033W046A. T.M. is supported by the NSF through grants #1444755, #1927167, and #193493. S.A.W. was supported by a Data Science Environments project award from the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation (Award 2013-10-29) and the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation (Award 3835) to the University of Washington eScience Institute. A.R.-F. was supported by H2020 Marie-Sklodowska-Curie Individual Fellowship (#655475) and Juan de la Cierva-Incorporación Postdoctoral Fellowship (IJC2019-040836-I/AEI/10.13039/501100011033) from the Spanish Government. O.K. was supported by the Academy of Finland and Kone Foundation. The authors thank the Department of Innovation, Research, University and Museums of the Autonomous Province of Bozen/Bolzano (Italy) for covering the open access publication costs. A.G. J.L. and D.V.B. jointly conceived the study and led the writing of the article with equal contributions. All other authors have contributed to data collection and analysis, interpretation of results, and writing of the article, and are listed in alphabetical order. The authors declare no competing interests. Funding Information: A.G. and M.S. are supported by the Israel Science Foundation through grant no. 2751/16 . J.L. is supported by the EU- H2020 through grants # 818002 , # 869324 , and the BiodivRestore ERA-Net COFUND (2020–2021) through NICHES. D.V.B. is supported by the US National Science Foundation (NSF) through grant # 73133571 . A.G., F.C., and J.L. are supported by the German-Israeli Foundation for Scientific Research and Development # I-1533-500.15/2021 . S.P. and M.V. are supported by the German Federal Ministry for Education and Research ( BMBF ) through grant no. 033W046A . T.M. is supported by the NSF through grants # 1444755 , # 1927167 , and # 193493 . S.A.W. was supported by a Data Science Environments project award from the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation (Award 2013-10-29) and the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation (Award 3835) to the University of Washington eScience Institute. A.R.-F. was supported by H2020 Marie-Sklodowska-Curie Individual Fellowship (# 655475 ) and Juan de la Cierva-Incorporación Postdoctoral Fellowship ( IJC2019-040836-I/AEI/10.13039/501100011033 ) from the Spanish Government. O.K. was supported by the Academy of Finland and Kone Foundation . The authors thank the Department of Innovation, Research, University and Museums of the Autonomous Province of Bozen/Bolzano (Italy) for covering the open access publication costs. Publisher Copyright: © 2023 The Authors

PY - 2023/3/17

Y1 - 2023/3/17

N2 - Social media data are transforming sustainability science. However, challenges from restrictions in data accessibility and ethical concerns regarding potential data misuse have threatened this nascent field. Here, we review the literature on the use of social media data in environmental and sustainability research. We find that they can play a novel and irreplaceable role in achieving the UN Sustainable Development Goals by allowing a nuanced understanding of human-nature interactions at scale, observing the dynamics of social-ecological change, and investigating the co-construction of nature values. We reveal threats to data access and highlight scientific responsibility to address trade-offs between research transparency and privacy protection, while promoting inclusivity. This contributes to a wider societal debate of social media data for sustainability science and for the common good.

AB - Social media data are transforming sustainability science. However, challenges from restrictions in data accessibility and ethical concerns regarding potential data misuse have threatened this nascent field. Here, we review the literature on the use of social media data in environmental and sustainability research. We find that they can play a novel and irreplaceable role in achieving the UN Sustainable Development Goals by allowing a nuanced understanding of human-nature interactions at scale, observing the dynamics of social-ecological change, and investigating the co-construction of nature values. We reveal threats to data access and highlight scientific responsibility to address trade-offs between research transparency and privacy protection, while promoting inclusivity. This contributes to a wider societal debate of social media data for sustainability science and for the common good.

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KW - environmental sustainability

KW - passive crowdsourcing

KW - social media

KW - social-ecological systems

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JO - One Earth

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Social media data for environmental sustainability: A critical review of opportunities, threats, and ethical use

Abstract

Bibliographical note

Keywords

ASJC Scopus subject areas

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