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NORC at the University Chicago

Data Donation Program for AmeriSpeak Panelists

Overview

Overview

With billions of people regularly accessing some sort of social media platform, the content, messages, and interactions in this virtual space play a very important role in influencing and reflecting public opinion and behavior. NORC researchers are interested in understanding the implications of social media’s influence on society, but social media companies make access to the data nearly impossible. 

To address this data access issue, we are launching a new program that asks individuals to share copies of their social media data with us to use for research purposes—this process is called data donation. 

Questions?

Read our Frequently Asked Questions below. 

 

If you have further questions or encounter any issues donating your social media data, please contact the project team at:

Instructions

Instructions

Your social media data belongs to you. By donating it to NORC, you will help guide our understanding of how social media influences public opinion and public health. We also offer a monetary incentive as a token of appreciation for your time and contribution.

How to Donate Your Data

  1. Login to your social media account (either Facebook or Instagram).
  2. Navigate to the settings to request a copy of your data.
  3. Answer a few questions about what type of data you want to request. Please refer to the full instructions to answer these questions.
  4. Wait for the data to be compiled and sent to you via email.
  5. Download the folders and files containing the data to your computer.
  6. Upload those folders and files to NORC’s secure portal within your AmeriSpeak Member Profile.

View Full Instructions

To download the step-by-step instructions for donating your social media data, refer to our User Guide. 

opens in new tab Download Instructions

Why Donate Your Data?

Why Donate Your Data?

How Your Data Will Support Research

The social media data we receive directly from users is far richer than what social media companies are willing to provide to researchers. If you choose to donate your social media data, you can directly inform valuable research opportunities.

For example, we can better understand how social media scrolling and posting influences mental health, or how the marketing of potentially harmful substances like tobacco products may influence the use of those products among youth and young adults, or how political advertisements may influence voting behavior.

How You Benefit from Donating Your Data

If you decide to donate your data, and request a copy of your data from Meta, you will be able to retain a copy of your social media data. You can then explore this data to learn more about the kinds of information social media companies keep or the kinds of information you’ve shared about yourself on these platforms over time. 

The results of this research will inform the scientific community and further guide our understanding of social media’s influence on and reflection of public opinion and behavior. 

If you donate your data, you will be awarded with AmeriPoints. You will be given 25,000 AmeriPoints for successfully donating the last six months of your Facebook data and 25,000 AmeriPoints for successfully donating the last six months of your Instagram data, for a maximum incentive of 50,000 AmeriPoints. The points will be added to your NORC AmeriSpeak member profile within 10 business days of receipt and validation of your uploaded data to NORC’s secure portal.

About NORC

About NORC

NORC is one of the nation’s most trusted research organizations, and we put the utmost importance on the privacy and dignity of our study participants.

We conduct research that helps government agencies, nonprofit organizations, and a select few mission-driven businesses. They use that research to inform their programs and policies—everything from making childcare and education more accessible to making communities more resilient in the face of natural disasters.

The most important part of our research is study participants like you. Your willingness to share your time, your opinions, and details about your life can make your community and the world a better place. In return, we promise to protect your privacy, respect your person, and be as clear and transparent as possible about how the data you share with us will be used.

Our data donation effort is grounded in the principle of informed consent, ensuring that your social media data is sourced and used ethically and responsibly. Unlike social media companies, who sell or utilize your data for commercial gain (for example, selling your data to advertising agencies), our efforts prioritize consent, transparency, and participant control of their own data. 

The data you donate to us will be de-identified to protect your privacy and confidentiality (meaning that we will remove personally identifiable information like your name), and your data will be aggregated during analysis (meaning we will report our findings collectively and not at an individual level) to further ensure anonymity. Further, we do not intend to make the donated social media data public at any time—all data will remain secured at NORC.

Informed Consent to Participate

You completed the informed consent to participate in this data donation program during a recent AmeriSpeak Omnibus Survey. If you would like to refer to the informed consent terms and conditions or would like to request a copy of the form, please send an email request to Data-Donation@norc.org. 

Data Donation Project Team

FAQs

FAQ

During this pilot phase, NORC is recruiting participants from our AmeriSpeak panel. You must be an active member of the panel to participate in this initiative.

During this pilot phase, we are accepting social media data donations from personal Facebook and Instagram accounts.

We are asking individuals to donate the last six months of data.

If you agree to take part in this study, your involvement will take at most a few days. If you agree to donate your social media data, the time it will take to request, download, and upload your data may take as little as a few minutes to as long as a day or two, depending on:

  • How quickly you can complete the steps
  • Your social media activity level (i.e., if you are an avid user, you may have more data and activity, thus it may take longer for Meta to compile all your data for download)

Once you share your data with us, you’re done. This study is scheduled to last for one year. However, we will retain a copy of your de-identified social media data to use in perpetuity for research purposes at NORC.

Some of the information that social media companies have on each user is very sensitive, and not of any interest to our research. For example, we are not interested in user account login information, such as your username and password, or a user’s credit card information that is saved for online purchases. We do not want to obtain, see, or store this type of information on individuals. Our plans for handling sensitive and private information within your social media data includes:

  1. Providing instructions to users who are requesting to download their data to select and de-select specific data fields so sensitive and private information is not included in the downloaded data files. 
  2. Running an automated computer program that will read through the data files uploaded to the secure portal. This computer program would identify any fields deemed sensitive, and automatically delete those data fields before saving the files on our secure network. This process would be entirely automated with no human review.

If you consent to share or “donate” your data, you have the right to stop the donation process at any time. If you do not complete the upload of your social media data to NORC’s secure portal, you will not receive the offered incentive. If you complete the donation of your social media data and later decide not to participate, there will be no penalty or loss of benefits to which you are otherwise entitled (e.g., your AmeriPoints will not be revoked).

If at a later date you would like to have your social media data deleted, please submit a request of data deletion to the NORC study team at: Data-Donation@norc.org. We will retain a unique, randomly generated participant ID within the social media data, and that random participant ID will be linked to your AmeriSpeak Member Profile in a separate file which will allow the study team to identify your data and properly remove.

If you have any questions, complaints, or concerns related to this research, you may contact the NORC Project Team at Data-Donation@norc.org.