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Request for Proposals: Facebook URLs Dataset

Before submitting your application, please read all the information below.

Applications are processed quarterly, and the submission deadlines are: Q1: 2/16    Q2: 5/18     Q3: 8/18     Q4: 11/17

                                           

Overview

Social Science One is a new kind of partnership between academic researchers and private industry to advance the goals of social science in understanding and solving society’s greatest challenges. Our mutually incentive-compatible approach enables academics to analyze and use the increasingly rich troves of information amassed by companies to address societal issues, while protecting their respective interests and ensuring the highest standards of privacy and data security.

URLs dataset

Through Social Science One, researchers can apply for access to a unique Facebook dataset to study questions related to the effect of social media on democracy. The data set has about 57 million URLs, more than 1.7 trillion rows, and nearly 40 trillion cell values, describing URLs shared more than 100 times publicly on Facebook.  It also includes characteristics of the URLs (such as whether they were fact-checked or flagged by users as hate speech) and the aggregated data concerning the types of people who viewed, shared, liked, reacted to, shared without viewing, and otherwise interacted with these links. This dataset enables social scientists to study some of the most important questions of our time about the effects of social media on democracy and elections with information to which they have never before had access. The full codebook for the dataset is here.

Successful proposals will obtain access to the dataset through Social Science One, and training that will help with data access and analysis. (This RFP is for data access only, not funding.) All accepted proposals must acknowledge having received the data through Social Science One in future publications.

Proposals will be reviewed quarterly based on criteria detailed below, with a rapid turnaround (targeting 4-6 weeks) on decisions, followed by further information from Facebook about how access will be granted.

Conditions for Access

Researchers approved for obtaining access to the URLs dataset will be required to sign a Research Data Agreement with Facebook, which enables approved researchers to obtain legal, trusted, secure, and privacy-protected access to Facebook data under the Social Science One framework.

Researchers should acknowledge the support of Social Science One and Facebook in any research published as a result of this access, cite the correct version of the data with a citation format as indicated in the codebook, provide drafts of academic papers to Social Science One as they are released publicly, and participate in a private online community to receive technical help and offer it to others. Facebook will have no right to pre-publication review of academic results. We also engage specialists in ethics and social media research to evaluate the URL shares data set, and provide researchers with guidance and best practices.

Eligibility

  • Applications are welcome from individuals or teams of researchers with Principal Investigator (PI) privileges at a college or university. Individuals who are unsure of PI privileges should inquire with their faculty advisor or department chair.
  • Projects must be focused on the effects of social media on democracy and elections.
  • Projects must be for academic research and, in particular, shall not be accepted if their goal is to aid in the election or defeat of certain candidates or parties or commercial activity.

Proposal Content

  • Proposals should consist of a memo to Social Science One, on university letterhead, of no more than three pages.
  • All proposals should use no less than 1-inch margins (2.54 cm), with a font size no less than 12 pt. Proposals should be single-spaced.
  • Proposals must be submitted in English.
  • The proposal should consist of the following:
    • An abstract - of no more than one page - written for a non-specialist audience,  clearly explaining the proposed project. Abstracts for successful applications may be made public. As a reminder, projects should pertain to the effect of social media on elections and democracy.
    • In your abstract, please make sure to address: general area of focus, proposed methodology (including specifics where available), and any planned use of other datasets in conjunction with the URLs data.
    • Basic information about the PI and team members: name, title, affiliations and a link to an online website and CV. Please also include a Github page URL and Facebook Profile ID for each researcher.
    • An outline of technical qualifications of the PI and team members
    • A statement indicating that all research conducted will be first approved by your university IRB
    • If applicable, a description of any plans to use analysis results for commercial purposes or release them publicly. 
  • Proposals should also include the Facebook Onboarding Information detailed below.

Facebook Onboarding Requirements

The section below lists Facebook’s requirements for approved teams to access the URLs dataset. Please review the Research Data Agreement and submit the required form to Social Science One to expedite the review and access process.

First, the contract governing this data access (the Research Data Agreement or RDA) is posted for review only on the Social Science One website.  We recommend that you download it and work with your university legal team to immediately start reviewing it.  You will not sign this copy, but instead an electronic one.  This copy exists to help you familiarize yourself and your team with the document, so they can quickly execute it upon receiving the electronic copy.  Because more than 90 universities and hundreds of researchers have already signed this agreement, Facebook has informed us that it is strictly non-negotiable, except in the case where a provision is illegal in your geography.  If you feel that is the case, you’ll have an opportunity to converse with Facebook.  However, we will need to know this information BEFORE we submit you to be onboarded by Facebook so we may route you appropriately.  We will put you in touch with the appropriate Facebook legal team within one business day of receipt of your question.  Facebook has committed to a five-business day turnaround time on any RDA questions, with the caveat that the agreement itself is, as noted above, non-negotiable.

In addition, please note that we’ve written a blog post highlighting what we believe to be important aspects of the RDA, if you’d like to read and share it.

Also, please note that your collaborators will all need to sign letters that bind them to the terms of the RDA.  A collaborator is anyone who will touch the data.  If your collaborators are at a different university, both a representative of their institution and they will need to sign a letter that binds them and their university to the terms of this RDA.  As such, we recommend you share this email with collaborators at other institutions as soon as possible.  All the above stipulations about non-negotiation etc. apply to your collaborators as well, which makes early and regular communication with them even more important.

  • For every person who will access the data on your team, including you, the PI, Facebook  requires the following information
    • First and last name (native/legal name)
    • University/Institution
    • University Email Address
    • Is a PI or Collaborator (there should be just one PI -- you)
    • Facebook Profile URL (Required -- if you do not have an account, you need to create one)
    • GitHub Username (Required -- if you do not have an account, you need to create one)
  • For each unique university participating in your project, Facebook requires the following information about an “Institutional Signatory” -- that is someone from an office of sponsored research or a senior administrator who may sign on behalf of the entire university.  Except in extraordinary circumstances, this is NOT a dean or academic, but instead an administrator.  If you and all your collaborators are at the same university, we need just one institutional signatory.  If you have collaborators at other universities, we will need this information for every university which has a collaborator on your team.
    • University/Institution Name
    • Institutional Signatory Name
    • Institutional Signatory Title
    • Institutional Signatory University Email Address (a direct university email address, not a shared inbox e.g. officeofsponsoredresearch@university.com)
  • Please fill out the Request for Proposals form found here. PLEASE NOTE: Facebook processes new users once per quarter, on the first business day of each new quarter. For your proposal to be reviewed by Social Science One in time, it must be submitted six weeks before the close of each quarter. Each quarter's annual deadlines are as followed: Q1: 2/16; Q2: 5/18; Q3: 8/18; Q4: 11/17.
  • Please be absolutely certain of the accuracy of this information before you submit it.  Again, we would like to note that small errors can cause significant delays.  Changes in your team make up will also result in significant delays, so please be accurate in the information you submit to us.

Review and Selection Process

Proposals will be reviewed by Social Science One, on the basis of the following:

  • Academic merit & feasibility: the intellectual significance of the proposed project, its capacity & likelihood to advance scholarship and/or scientific understanding
  • Research Ethics: compliance with ethical guidelines and privacy protection.
  • Likelihood of knowledge resulting from the project advancing social good.
  • Qualifications of the proposed team including expertise, skills, and knowledge to undertake the proposed project.
  • Once an application is approved, we will submit your information to Facebook, and reply by email confirming to you and Facebook (via the general email address <erconboarding@fb.com>) that your information is submitted.  Our email reply will include you, the PI only, not every collaborator.

Facebook Onboarding Process

Once we submit this information to Facebook, they will process new users once per quarter, on the first business day of the quarter. They will take the information you have given us, check that your Facebook account is in good standing, and then prepare a contract to be signed by you electronically.  The only permissible mechanism for signing this agreement with Facebook is via the company’s Adobe Sign electronic signature platform.  Please discuss this explicitly with your legal counsel, and ensure they are aware that such an electronic signature will be required.

The RDA will arrive by email, to be signed electronically, to the email addresses you provided to us in the previous step.  It is signed in order:

  1. The institutional signatory you identified above at your university. 
  2. You, as the PI
  3. Facebook’s U.S. signatory
  4. Facebook’s EU signatory

Facebook batch-processes signatures, meaning it could take up to two weeks for a contract to be fully executed by Facebook after your institutional signatory and you have signed.  If you have questions about the status of your contract, you may email erconboarding@fb.com.

All signatories (but not us at Social Science One, as we are not a party to the agreement) will receive a copy of the fully executed agreement by email for record keeping.

Once the RDA is completed, your collaborators letters will be sent for signature, in order as well:

  1. The Collaborator’s institutional signatory
  2. You as PI
  3. The collaborator themselves

Again, please note that collaborators will not be onboarded until their letters are fully executed.

Onboarding

Facebook conducts one onboarding of new researchers per month into the URL Shares dataset, on the second-to-last business day of the month.  For every individual whose agreement has been fully executed in the last month, Facebook will add them to the research tool, and provide them with instructions for accessing data.  This process can take up to a day, which is why we process on the second-to-last business day.

As a reminder, it is not permissible to share credentials, so if you want your entire team to get access at once, please ensure they have completed their agreements in a timely manner.

Your access to the URLs dataset will be via the Facebook Open Research Tool (FORT), which is a Juypter Notebook server behind a VPN that does not have access to the Internet.  In addition, you’ll have access to a GitHub repository that contains additional documentation, FAQs, how to request support, and information about the regular meetings Facebook holds with researchers.

Please direct all questions about this program to socialscienceone@iq.harvard.edu, with “URLs RFP” in the subject line.

RFP Originated: June 2021

RFP Updated: April 2023