The social media research debate – when ‘public’ isn't public

Andy Evans has made a common mistake – that the Market Research Society (MRS) code of conduct forbids the use of information posted online that was not explicitly posted as part of a research study.

This is a misinterpretation of our guidance, which first and foremost requires our members to abide by the law in conducting their business. The law may not have been written with social media in mind, but it remains the law. It covers four issues which specifically relate to usage in this area:

• data protection
• privacy
• intellectual property
• terms of use of the service itself (e.g. Facebook or Twitter)

Not all information found in public is in the public domain – a fact the BBC recognises in its rules for news reporting. Researchers have to be careful because the Data Protection Act 1998 does not contain a distinction between personal data in the private or public spheres, referring instead to the purpose for which data is processed. A tweet is in all likelihood purpose-free (i.e. it can be re-used for any purpose), given that Twitter is effectively a broadcast medium; so the problem Andy describes does not really exist. On the other hand, a personal comment on a friend’s photo or a Facebook page could be more restricted in its purpose.

Accordingly, MRS guidelines place limits on the collection of personal data where it is not clear or obvious that the data should be used for research. Other information, such as brand mentions or sentiment, are not protected by law and are not restricted by our guidelines.

MRS published a discussion paper, Online Data Collection and Privacy, on this topic in July 2011 and a further paper will be issued by our Standards Board in the coming days. MRS is also heavily involved in discussions with legislators as their thinking is developing in this area. It is worth noting, however, that legislators in the European Union and the UK are generally inclined towards being more restrictive rather than less. Another reason for researchers to use data ethically.

• Click here to read Andy Evans’ original piece

Barry Ryan is standards and policy manager at the MRS