A Systematic Review on Willingness to Donate Social Media Data: Best Practices for Research

Data donation, a research approach in which users voluntarily contribute their personal digital data, addresses challenges associated with traditional self-reporting and digital trace methods by enabling researchers to collect comprehensive, objective, and ethically-sourced usage information across multiple platforms. However, this promising method remains underutilized due to low willingness to participate in data donation studies. In this systematic review of 37 articles published between 2019 and 2024, we identify key factors affecting participants’ willingness to donate, including concerns related to data sensitivity, privacy, autonomy and control, complexity of the donation process, and individual characteristics. To overcome these barriers, we propose a set of best practices for future research. We recommend maximizing participant privacy through robust frameworks, enhancing transparency and user-friendliness of data donation processes, empowering participants by increasing autonomy and control over their data, and proactively addressing potential selection biases. These recommendations provide practical guidance for researchers seeking to effectively leverage data donation methods in the future.