The use of paid advertisements on social media, in particular Facebook, to create samples for online survey research is becoming increasingly common. Yet the design of Facebook’s algorithm, geared towards business owners, complicates the use of Facebook for research purposes. In a paper, co-authored with Anja Neundorf, I conducted online surveys in the United Kingdom, Turkey, Spain and the Czech Republic to reveal how two tools offered by Facebook, the choice of campaign objectives and the use of demographic targeting, affect the recruitment process, response quality, and sample characteristics.

Our paper presenting the findings of this research is published at Plos One. We have also prepared a handbook to help scholars that will use these tools. You can reach our handbook here.

In another project, Anja Neundorf and I explored how sample characteristics and treatment effects change depending on the advertisement content used for participant recruitment through social media. We conducted surveys in Turkey and Spain, and presented our results at General Online Research Conference (2021) and PolMeth Europe Conference (2021).

Here is a manuscript presenting our findings. 

I am co-organising a webinar series on the use of Facebook as a research tool with Anja Neundorf. We have so far organised seven different events, covering topics ranging from social media field experiments to the use of Facebook for migration research.

You can reach our webpage here.