Social Networks as a Source of Research Information

The purpose of the article is to demonstrate, based on the analysis of foreign and domestic publications, how social networks become an additional source of information for obtaining research and practical information of various directions. The research methodology is based on the inclusive use of general scientific (analysis, synthesis, comparison, descriptive, generalisation) and special research methods, in particular information science and the science of social communications. The bibliographic method, methods of processing textual information and content analysis of scientific information resources were not least important. The scientific novelty of the study consists in actualising attention to the practical-research possibilities of social networks as a source of basic or auxiliary information. Conclusions. The topics of publications that represent the possibilities of using social networks as a source of information for various purposes are quite broad and interesting for both scientists and marketers and other specialists. In general, we observed two important trends: firstly, despite the fact that the majority of users (for example, 76.6% of Ukrainians) use social networks to obtain information and communicate, their role as a source of information for practical application at work is increasingly growing, conducting various studies, presenting conclusions about various facts and trends that prevail in social life, as well as for the purpose of improving marketing or business projects. Secondly, perhaps due to the actualisation of the first trend, research has recently intensified, which presents the analysis of publications devoted to the use of social networks with different purposes in different areas, for example, in education, tourism, and so on. The latter makes it possible to quickly navigate a large array of publications and decide on those that can be useful for the implementation of research, work or business tasks related to the need to analyse information from social networks. Keywords: social networks, scientific publications, research, information, users.