Dr Zuleyka Zevallos

An international team I know are building a taxonomy of Twitter use and none of them use Twitter. Twitter being public represents data!

I also know social media consultants from an academic background who do use social media but limited; to engage with other academics...

...They call themselves social media experts & are invited to speak at events & paid to give workshops but they don't do any of the work..

...E.g. You'll see their own TL are dormant, their posts rarely get engagement. They don't create content, moderate communities, etc.

These are the academics that typically do social media research: those who don't maximise the potential by nurturing their own networks.

They also don't experience first hand the benefits (community support) & downfalls (abuse). These are abstract concepts they then moralise.

Your points here are perfect: researchers approach social media with biases. The two authors of this study do not have open FB accounts...

Public academics open up their public posts to be followed etc. As for Twitter; one author last posted in 2016, & posts lack engagement...

...Other author is well known & has large following, but most tweets are not engaged. Rarely writes to followers; almost exclusively WP.

As you noted, social media offers deep & vital social connections to ppl physically or socially isolated. I'd add also enriches lives of URM

It *does* matter that the biggest names in social media research are White, able bodied and don't use social media the way others do.

Social media amplifies and reinforces what people expect and do offline. It is bizarre to still see these articles saying "get offline."