Due to the popularity of social media amongst individuals and organsiations, it has become an emerging phenomena for academic research, evidenced by the volume of papers published in ICIS, AMCIS, and ECIS. This paper gives a snapshot of this research, highlighting the trends across the following categorisations: paper type (empirical vs. non empirical), research design, theories used and theory type, and theoretical strength. This provides an understanding of the emerging field of social media, with the results indicating that it remains consistent with the IS discipline. Empirical research is much more published than non-empirical, as well as case studies and surveys being the dominant research designs. It is also evident that there is tentative agreement on what the underpinning characteristics of social media are, so these are extracted and explained from the literature.