Digital sociology

Digital sociology is a sub-discipline of the academic field of sociology. It focuses on understanding the use of digital media as part of everyday life and how these various technologies contribute to patterns of human behavior, social relationships and concepts of the self.

In general, sociologists have been slow to take up research involving social media and to personally engage in using social media for professional practice, such as blogging and Twitter. This is despite the fact that digital devices are now central to the mediation and configuration of institutions and social relationships and therefore to the very nature of sociological inquiry and research. Indeed, digital technologies are beginning to have a major impact on university education and in other educational settings and workplaces. It is argued that academics need to engage and become familiar with their affordances, transforming themselves into 'digital scholars'.

The first scholarly article to have the term 'digital sociology' in the title appeared in 2009. The author reflected on the ways in which digital technologies may influence both sociological research and teaching. In 2010, 'digital sociology' was described, by Richard Neal, in terms of bridging the growing academic focus with the increasing interest from global business through the publication of the book, Expanding Sentience: Introducing Digital Sociology for moving beyond Buzz Metrics in a World of Growing Online Socialization. It was not until 2013 that the first purely academic book tackling the subject of 'digital sociology' was published. The edited collection of review chapters addressed a range of topics, including concepts and experiences of space, community, intimacy, the role played by gender and social inequalities in people's use of digital technologies and the impact of these technologies in education, health, finance and war reporting. The first sole-authored book entitled Digital Sociology was published in 2015. The first academic conference on "Digital Sociology" was held in New York, NY in 2015.

Although the term ‘digital sociology’ has not yet fully entered the cultural lexicon, sociologists have engaged in research related to the internet since its inception. These sociologists have addressed many social issues relating to online communities, cyberspace and cyber-identities. This and similar research has attracted many different names such as 'cybersociology', 'the sociology of the internet', 'the sociology of online communities', 'the sociology of social media', 'the sociology of cyberculture' or something else again.

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