Table 1.

Ethical and quality related aspects must be considered along the life-cycle of Social Media Research (adapted from (20))

	Planning, scoping	Data collection and analysis	Reporting and follow-up
Tools/methods	Selection: strength and weaknesses compared to alternatives	Application	Transparent reporting of methods and limitations
Data	Selection: strength and weaknesses compared to alternatives	Transparency	Transparent reporting including limitations
Risks	Assessments of possible risks and mitigation options	Active risk management	Follow-up risk assessment: Were all risks and threats foreseen? Would the consent of users change if they knew their data was being used for this research/intervention?
IRB/REC	Life-cycle approach along research (Planning, execution, reporting, follow-up) by qualified IRB/REC (specifically trained for technical and ethical challenges of social media research); repeated dialogue between IRB/REC and researchers
	Crowdsourced “Hippocratic Oath for Data Science”: Ensure that all data practitioners take responsibility for exercising ethical imagination in their work, including considering the implication of what came before and what may come after, and actively working to increase benefit and prevent harm to others.