{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,6,13]],"date-time":"2026-06-13T00:13:04Z","timestamp":1781309584368,"version":"3.54.1"},"reference-count":46,"publisher":"Oxford University Press (OUP)","issue":"1","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2020,1,1]],"date-time":"2020-01-01T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1577836800000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/academic.oup.com\/journals\/pages\/open_access\/funder_policies\/chorus\/standard_publication_model"}],"funder":[{"name":"School of Communication and Information at Rutgers University"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":[],"published-print":{"date-parts":[[2020,3,23]]},"abstract":"<jats:title>Abstract<\/jats:title><jats:p>Online social networks (OSNs), comprised of varying types of relations among actors that interact through social technologies, are widespread in today\u2019s media environment. However, questions remain whether we are moving towards convergence within the sub-disciplines of communication and with other disciplines in OSN research. This article pursues two interrelated goals. First, it performs a bibliometric analysis of existing scholarship on OSNs in the past 20\u00a0years, highlighting both the convergence and divergence of inquiry on OSNs in computer-mediated communication (CMC) research. Second, based on the results of the bibliometric analysis, it articulates an agenda for future CMC research. Specifically, we advocate for a social network approach that will bridge various theoretical frameworks and disciplinary\/sub-disciplinary boundaries, for employing the communication network taxonomy, for greater effort to integrate traditional and computational approaches within and beyond social network analysis, and for addressing a greater diversity of institutional contexts.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.1093\/jcmc\/zmz020","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2019,10,4]],"date-time":"2019-10-04T19:31:34Z","timestamp":1570217494000},"page":"111-128","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":8,"title":["Are We Moving Towards Convergence or Divergence? Mapping the Intellectual Structure and Roots of Online Social Network Research 1997\u20132017"],"prefix":"10.1093","volume":"25","author":[{"given":"Jiawei Sophia","family":"Fu","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Communication, School of Communication and Information, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, New Brunswick NJ 08901, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Chih-Hui","family":"Lai","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Communication and Technology, National Chiao Tung University, Hsinchu County, Taiwan 302"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"286","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2020,1,21]]},"reference":[{"issue":"4","key":"2020032400374763300_ref1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"959","DOI":"10.1016\/j.joi.2017.08.007","article-title":"Bibliometrix: An R-tool for comprehensive science mapping analysis","volume":"11","author":"Aria","year":"2017","journal-title":"Journal of Informetrics"},{"issue":"4","key":"2020032400374763300_ref2","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"594","DOI":"10.1080\/10584609.2014.986349","article-title":"Social mobilization and the networked public sphere: Mapping the SOPA-PIPA debate","volume":"32","author":"Benkler","year":"2015","journal-title":"Political Communication"},{"key":"2020032400374763300_ref3","volume-title":"Content analysis in communication research","author":"Berelson","year":"1952"},{"issue":"4","key":"2020032400374763300_ref4","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"365","DOI":"10.1111\/j.1468-2885.2005.tb00340.x","article-title":"Reconceptualizing collective action in the contemporary media environment","volume":"15","author":"Bimber","year":"2005","journal-title":"Communication Theory"},{"issue":"6","key":"2020032400374763300_ref5","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"991","DOI":"10.1016\/S0149-2063(03)00087-4","article-title":"The network paradigm in organizational research: A review and typology","volume":"29","author":"Borgatti","year":"2003","journal-title":"Journal of Management"},{"issue":"5","key":"2020032400374763300_ref6","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"662","DOI":"10.1080\/1369118X.2012.678878","article-title":"Critical questions for big data: Provocations for a cultural, technological, and scholarly phenomenon. 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