Chicago Referencing Guide

• Only include a citation to social media content in your bibliography if it is critical to your argument or frequently cited.
• For the author include the screen name and real name, if known.
• In place of a title, quote up to the first 160 characters of the text of the post, capitalised as in the original.
• Include the type of post, and the date. You can include a time stamp if you need to differentiate a post from others on the same day.
• Also include a URL (which you can often find by right-clicking on the date or time stamp of the post).​
• Items shared on social media tend to disappear - it's good practice to keep screenshots in case you need to refer to posts later.

Note:

NB: Alternatively, you can choose to weave citation information for social media posts into your text, rather than including a reference. See Citing newspapers in text for more information on how to do this. 

• Information posted on electronic discussion groups or forums should be cited only in your notes.
• Include the author, the title of the thread, the name of the forum, group or site, the date and time of the post, and a URL. Don't include email addresses.
• If the post was to a private forum, it should be cited as a personal communication.

Note:

NB: Alternatively, you can choose to weave citation information for forum posts into your text, rather than including a reference. See Citing newspapers in text for more information on how to do this.