Since 2006, Twitter's APIs have been rich sources of data for researchers studying social phenomena such as misinformation, public communication, crisis response, and political behavior. However, in 2023, Twitter began heavily restricting data access, dismantling its academic access program, and setting the Enterprise API price at $42,000 per month. Lacking funds to pay this fee, academics are scrambling to continue their research. This study systematically tabulates the number of studies, citations, publication dates, disciplines, and major topics of research using Twitter data between 2006 and 2024. While we cannot know exactly what will be lost now that Twitter data is cost-prohibitive, we can illustrate its research value during the years it was available. A search of eight databases found that between 2006 and 2024, a total of 33,306 studies were published in 8,914 venues, with 610,738 citations across 16 disciplines. Major disciplines include social science, engineering, data science, and public health. Major topics include information dissemination, tweet credibility, research methodologies, event detection, and human behavior. Twitter-based studies increased by a median of 25% annually from 2006 to 2023, but following Twitter's decision to charge for data, the number of studies dropped by 13%. Much of the 2024 research likely used data collected before the API shutdown, suggesting further decline ahead. This trend highlights a growing loss of empirical insight and access to real-time, public communication-raising concerns about the long-term consequences for studying society, technology, and global events in an era increasingly connected by social media.

翻译：自2006年起，Twitter的API已成为研究人员研究错误信息、公共传播、危机应对和政治行为等社会现象的丰富数据来源。然而，2023年，Twitter开始严格限制数据访问，取消了学术访问计划，并将企业级API定价为每月42,000美元。由于缺乏支付此费用的资金，学术界正竭力维持其研究。本研究系统整理了2006年至2024年间使用Twitter数据的研究数量、引用次数、发表日期、学科领域及主要研究主题。尽管我们无法确切知道在Twitter数据因成本过高而难以获取的当下将失去什么，但我们可以展示其在可获取年份的研究价值。通过对八个数据库的检索发现，2006年至2024年间，共有33,306项研究在8,914个出版物上发表，涉及16个学科，累计引用次数达610,738次。主要学科包括社会科学、工程学、数据科学和公共卫生。主要研究主题涵盖信息传播、推文可信度、研究方法论、事件检测和人类行为。从2006年到2023年，基于Twitter的研究数量年均增长中位数为25%，但在Twitter决定对数据收费后，研究数量下降了13%。2024年的研究很可能使用了API关闭前收集的数据，预示着未来将进一步下滑。这一趋势凸显了实证洞察力的日益丧失以及对实时公共传播访问途径的减少——这引发了对社交媒体日益互联的时代中，研究社会、技术和全球事件的长期后果的担忧。