A Bibliometric Analysis of Location-Based Social Networks and Applications: Research Trends and Future Challenges

Location-based social networks (LBSN) have undergone rapid development over the past decade, garnering extensive attention from scholars in various research domains. However, the current status and overarching trends in the field of LBSN and relevant applications remain unclear, and key research hotspots and keywords are yet to be distinctly identified. This bibliometric study delves into the expansive realm of LBSN, uncovering research trends and future challenges. This study aims to address these issues by analyzing 1,099 high-quality articles from the Web of Science database between 2010 and 2023, and the analytical tools are CiteSpace and VOSviewer. The study unveiled pressing challenges confronting LBSN research, such as privacy concerns, the integration of emerging technologies, and the imperative for interdisciplinary collaboration. These challenges present promising opportunities for future exploration and innovation within the LBSN domain. As a roadmap for future research endeavors, this analysis guides researchers to Supporting socially marginalized communities, discovering and preventing of public health issues, and integrating and organizing multimodal geographic information.