Digital media and the transformation of ecoliteracy

A systematic and bibliometric review

Abstract

Social media and ecoliteracy increasingly intersect as digital platforms come to function as structuring environments in which environmental awareness and identities take shape. Despite substantial empirical output, the field lacks an integrated mapping of its intellectual architecture, thematic trajectories, and methodological evolution. This study addresses that gap through a combined systematic and bibliometric review of 235 peer-reviewed documents indexed in Scopus and Web of Science, following the PRISMA 2020 protocol and applying a mixed-methods design that integrates bibliometric mapping via VOSviewer with inductive-deductive thematic coding. The analysis documents a marked growth in scholarly production over the past decade, peaking in 2024, the last complete publication year covered by the review, with keyword co-occurrence mapping revealing a temporal shift from foundational concerns with environmental awareness and school-based education toward recent concentrations around artificial intelligence, machine learning, sentiment analysis, and platform-specific dynamics on TikTok and Instagram. Five higher-order thematic domains are identified: public environmental awareness through digital media; green consumption and value systems; ecoliteracy in education; platformization and algorithmic logics; and eco-identity and sustainable tourism. The review also maps the journals, institutional contributors, and citation structures that organize this interdisciplinary field. Across the reviewed literature, digital environments operate as socio-technical settings that co-construct ecoliteracy, conditioned by platform architectures, algorithmic governance, and the political economies of digital capitalism. The review provides an empirical and theoretical foundation for future research connecting environmental education, media infrastructures, and civic engagement in the digital age.