Abstract: This paper reviews 98 microblogging studies published in IS top journals and conference proceedings to assess existing theoretical foundations, methodological approaches, topic areas, and levels of analysis. The results show that: First, relevant theories in the disciplines of information systems, marketing, sociology, and psychology are combined together in microblogging research. Second, multiple methodological approaches such as case study, secondary data, content analysis, survey and mathematical modeling are adopted in microblogging research. Third, microblogging research can be classified into nine topic areas, including user behavior, word-of-mouth, information diffusion, organizational strategy, organizational performance, e-government, group decision and social computing, as well as system and tool. Finally, three levels of analysis in microblogging research are identified, they are information, service and network. Based on these analysis, this paper examines current status of microblogging research from the level of information and service in order to provide a comprehensive understanding of microblogging research. Opportunities for future research are also suggested.

Key words: microblogging, literature review, level of analysis