The role of space and place in social media communication: two case studies of policy perspectives

The study of how space and place intersect with social policy is still nascent but developing rapidly. As two exemplars of the potential that such research offers, the objective of this review is to integrate the research collected during recent studies of fracking and the death penalty. The primary disciplinary value of this review is to demonstrate the spatial value of communication and social media studies. This study adopts a communication-based theoretical framework as a lens to guide methodological choices in analyzing public perceptions. The social media application from Twitter is used as the engine to capture opinions of social media users engaging public controversies. This review locates connections in the literature between geographers/spatial scientists and communication media theorists.