{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,5,1]],"date-time":"2026-05-01T00:47:31Z","timestamp":1777596451680,"version":"3.51.4"},"reference-count":62,"publisher":"SAGE Publications","issue":"12","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2020,9,20]],"date-time":"2020-09-20T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1600560000000},"content-version":"tdm","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/journals.sagepub.com\/page\/policies\/text-and-data-mining-license"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["journals.sagepub.com"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["New Media &amp; Society"],"published-print":{"date-parts":[[2021,12]]},"abstract":"<jats:p>Despite growing interest, there is a shortage of research about the methods and challenges that concern researching ephemeral digital content. To fill this gap, the article discusses two research strategies to study Instagram Stories. These allow users to share moments of their everyday lives in a documentary and narrative style; their peculiar feature is ephemerality, as each Story lasts for 24 hours. The article (a) explores how to bypass the Instagram API closure and (b) engages in an attempt at \u2018circumventing the object of study\u2019, taking advantage of how individual users archive Instagram Stories on other platforms (here, YouTube). In so doing, we contribute to the debate that seeks to innovate and \u2018repurpose\u2019 digital methods in a post-API environment. Besides the methodological utility, we show the tension between ephemeral content and archive cultures, and raise epistemological and ethical concerns about the collection, analysis and archival of ephemeral content.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.1177\/1461444820960071","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2020,9,21]],"date-time":"2020-09-21T01:47:29Z","timestamp":1600652849000},"page":"3656-3676","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1177\/sage-journals-update-policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":75,"title":["From archive cultures to ephemeral content, and back: Studying Instagram Stories with digital methods"],"prefix":"10.1177","volume":"23","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-4613-8841","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Lucia","family":"Bainotti","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Universit\u00e0 degli Studi di Torino, Italy"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-1168-882X","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Alessandro","family":"Caliandro","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Universit\u00e0 degli Studi di Pavia, Italy"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-7705-7625","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Alessandro","family":"Gandini","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Universit\u00e0 degli Studi di Milano, Italy"}]}],"member":"179","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2020,9,20]]},"reference":[{"key":"e_1_3_4_2_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1007\/BF00988269"},{"key":"e_1_3_4_3_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.4135\/9780857020260"},{"key":"e_1_3_4_4_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1080\/1369118X.2015.1084349"},{"key":"e_1_3_4_5_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1145\/1753326.1753689"},{"key":"e_1_3_4_6_1","unstructured":"Bruns A (2018) Facebook shuts the gate after the horse has bolted and hurts real research in the process. Internet Policy Review. Available at: https:\/\/policyreview.info\/articles\/news\/facebookshuts-gate-after-horse-has-bolted-and-hurts-real-research-process\/786 (accessed 8 February 2020)."},{"key":"e_1_3_4_7_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1080\/1369118X.2019.1637447"},{"key":"e_1_3_4_8_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1080\/1369118X.2016.1154086"},{"key":"e_1_3_4_9_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1093\/oso\/9780190493028.001.0001"},{"key":"e_1_3_4_10_1","volume-title":"Youtube: Online Video and Participatory Culture","author":"Burgess J","year":"2018","unstructured":"Burgess J, Green J (2018) Youtube: Online Video and Participatory Culture. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons."},{"key":"e_1_3_4_11_1","volume-title":"Qualitative Research in Digital Environments: A Research Toolkit","author":"Caliandro A","year":"2017","unstructured":"Caliandro A, Gandini A (2017) Qualitative Research in Digital Environments: A Research Toolkit. London: Routledge."},{"key":"e_1_3_4_12_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1177\/2050157915598180"},{"key":"e_1_3_4_13_1","unstructured":"Chellapilla K Larson K Simard PY et al. (2005) Computers beat humans at single character recognition in reading based Human Interaction Proofs (HIPs). CEAS. Available at: https:\/\/www.semanticscholar.org\/paper\/Computers-beat-Humans-at-Single-Character-in-based-Chellapilla-Larson\/e405e0f1bca55b7d0e17656533f63fd025c2dd58 (accessed 29 April 2020)."},{"key":"e_1_3_4_14_1","unstructured":"Constine J (2018) Stories are about to surpass feed sharing. Now what? Techcrunch. Available at: https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/2018\/05\/02\/stories-are-about-to-surpass-feed-sharing-now-what\/ (accessed 10 February 2020)."},{"key":"e_1_3_4_15_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1109\/TAI.1997.632303"},{"key":"e_1_3_4_16_1","unstructured":"Fiesler C Beard N Keegan BC (2020) No robots spiders or scrapers: legal and ethical regulation of data collection methods in social media terms of service. cmci.colorado.edu. Available at: https:\/\/cmci.colorado.edu\/~cafi5706\/ICWSM2020_datascraping.pdf (accessed 29 April 2020)."},{"key":"e_1_3_4_17_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1145\/2818048.2819931"},{"key":"e_1_3_4_18_1","unstructured":"Franzke AS Bechmann A Zimmer M et al. (2019) Internet research: ethical guidelines 3.0: association of internet researchers. Available at: https:\/\/aoir.org\/reports\/ethics3.pdf"},{"key":"e_1_3_4_19_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1177\/1470357219857118."},{"key":"e_1_3_4_20_1","first-page":"266","volume-title":"The SAGE Handbook of Social Media Research Methods","author":"Georgakopoulou A","year":"2017","unstructured":"Georgakopoulou A (2017) 17 small stories research: a narrative paradigm for the analysis of social media. In: Sloan L, Quan-Haase A (eds) The SAGE Handbook of Social Media Research Methods. London: SAGE, pp. 266\u2013281."},{"key":"e_1_3_4_21_1","first-page":"528","article-title":"Tweets are not created equal: investigating Twitter\u2019s client ecosystem","volume":"12","author":"Gerlitz C","year":"2018","unstructured":"Gerlitz C, Rieder B (2018) Tweets are not created equal: investigating Twitter\u2019s client ecosystem. International Journal of Communication 12: 528\u2013547.","journal-title":"International Journal of Communication"},{"key":"e_1_3_4_22_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1177\/1461444818776611"},{"key":"e_1_3_4_23_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1080\/1369118X.2014.987152"},{"key":"e_1_3_4_24_1","unstructured":"Hagen S (2018) Rendering legible the ephemerality of 4chan\/pol\/. Oilab. Available at: https:\/\/oilab.eu\/rendering-legible-the-ephemerality-of-4chanpol\/ (accessed 10 February 2020)."},{"key":"e_1_3_4_25_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1080\/09589236.2017.1280384"},{"key":"e_1_3_4_26_1","volume-title":"Video in Qualitative Research","author":"Heath C","year":"2010","unstructured":"Heath C, Hindmarsh J, Luff P (2010) Video in Qualitative Research. London: SAGE."},{"key":"e_1_3_4_27_1","first-page":"1629","article-title":"The selfie assemblage","volume":"9","author":"Hess A","year":"2015","unstructured":"Hess A (2015) The selfie assemblage. International Journal of Communication 9: 1629\u20131646.","journal-title":"International Journal of Communication"},{"key":"e_1_3_4_28_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1609\/icwsm.v8i1.14578"},{"key":"e_1_3_4_29_1","unstructured":"Instagram (2016) Introducing Instagram stories. Available at: http:\/\/instagram.tumblr.com\/post\/148348940287\/160802-stories (accessed 10 February 2020)."},{"key":"e_1_3_4_30_1","unstructured":"Jurgenson N (2013) Pics and it didn\u2019t happen. The New Inquiry. Available at: http:\/\/thenewinquiry.com\/essays\/pics-and-it-didnt-happen\/ (accessed 10 February 2020)."},{"key":"e_1_3_4_31_1","first-page":"244","volume-title":"Good Data","author":"Kazansky B","year":"2019","unstructured":"Kazansky B, Torres G, van der Velden L, et al. (2019) Data for the social good: toward a data-activist research agenda. In: Daly A, Devitt SK, Mann M (eds) Good Data. Amsterdam: Institute of Network Cultures, pp. 244\u2013259."},{"issue":"11","key":"e_1_3_4_32_1","first-page":"1","article-title":"A snap of intimacy: photo-sharing practices among young people on social media","volume":"21","author":"Koefed J","year":"2016","unstructured":"Koefed J, Larson MC (2016) A snap of intimacy: photo-sharing practices among young people on social media. First Monday 21(11): 1\u20139.","journal-title":"First Monday"},{"key":"e_1_3_4_33_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1037\/met0000081"},{"key":"e_1_3_4_34_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1093\/oso\/9780199256044.001.0001"},{"key":"e_1_3_4_35_1","volume-title":"Instagram: Visual Social Media Cultures","author":"Leaver T","year":"2020","unstructured":"Leaver T, Highfield T, Abidin C (2020) Instagram: Visual Social Media Cultures. Cambridge; Medford, MA: Polity Press."},{"key":"e_1_3_4_36_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1177\/1461444816675438"},{"key":"e_1_3_4_37_1","unstructured":"Manovich L (2016) Instagram and contemporary image. Manovich.net. Available at: http:\/\/manovich.net\/index.php\/projects\/instagram-and-contemporary-image (accessed 8 February 2020)."},{"key":"e_1_3_4_38_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1215\/08992363-2798379"},{"key":"e_1_3_4_39_1","volume-title":"Delete: The Virtue of Forgetting in the Digital Age","author":"Mayer-Sch\u00f6nberger V","year":"2009","unstructured":"Mayer-Sch\u00f6nberger V (2009) Delete: The Virtue of Forgetting in the Digital Age. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press."},{"key":"e_1_3_4_40_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1177\/0973258617743619"},{"key":"e_1_3_4_41_1","unstructured":"Newberry C (2019) 37 Instagram Stats that matter to marketers in 2020. Hootsuite. Available at: https:\/\/blog.hootsuite.com\/instagram-statistics\/ (accessed 10 February 2020)."},{"key":"e_1_3_4_42_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.4324\/9780203148617"},{"key":"e_1_3_4_43_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1002\/9781118458204.ch17"},{"key":"e_1_3_4_44_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1080\/13645579.2019.1682840."},{"key":"e_1_3_4_45_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1177\/1329878X1214500114"},{"key":"e_1_3_4_46_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1080\/1369118X.2019.1646300"},{"issue":"1","key":"e_1_3_4_47_1","first-page":"39","article-title":"Disagreeable privacy policies: mismatches between meaning and users\u2019 understanding","volume":"30","author":"Reidenberg JR","year":"2015","unstructured":"Reidenberg JR, Breaux T, Cranor LF, et al. (2015) Disagreeable privacy policies: mismatches between meaning and users\u2019 understanding. Berkeley Technology Law Journal 30(1): 39\u201368.","journal-title":"Berkeley Technology Law Journal"},{"key":"e_1_3_4_48_1","unstructured":"Rieder B (2015) Introducing the YouTube data tools. The Politics of Systems. Available at: http:\/\/thepoliticsofsystems.net\/2015\/05\/exploring-youtube\/ (accessed 8 February 2020)."},{"key":"e_1_3_4_49_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1177\/1354856517736982"},{"key":"e_1_3_4_50_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1007\/978-3-662-45472-5_5"},{"key":"e_1_3_4_51_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.7551\/mitpress\/8718.001.0001"},{"key":"e_1_3_4_52_1","volume-title":"Doing Digital Methods","author":"Rogers R","year":"2019","unstructured":"Rogers R (2019) Doing Digital Methods. London: SAGE."},{"key":"e_1_3_4_53_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1108\/EJM-08-2015-0517"},{"key":"e_1_3_4_54_1","volume-title":"Visual Methodologies: An Introduction to Researching with Visual Materials","author":"Rose G","year":"2016","unstructured":"Rose G (2016) Visual Methodologies: An Introduction to Researching with Visual Materials. London: SAGE."},{"key":"e_1_3_4_55_1","first-page":"1588","article-title":"What does the selfie say? Investigating a global phenomenon","volume":"9","author":"Senft TM","year":"2015","unstructured":"Senft TM, Baym NK (2015) What does the selfie say? Investigating a global phenomenon. International Journal of Communication 9: 1588\u20131606.","journal-title":"International Journal of Communication"},{"key":"e_1_3_4_56_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1177\/2056305119888657"},{"key":"e_1_3_4_57_1","first-page":"532","volume-title":"Digital Journalism","author":"Venturini T","year":"2019","unstructured":"Venturini T, Rogers R (2019) \u2018API-based research\u2019 or how can digital sociology and journalism studies learn from the Facebook and Cambridge analytica data breach. Digital Journalism 7(4): 532\u2013540."},{"key":"e_1_3_4_58_1","first-page":"297","article-title":"CAPTCHA: using hard AI problems for security","volume":"2003","author":"Von Ahn L","year":"2003","unstructured":"Von Ahn L, Blum M, Hopper NJ, et al. (2003) CAPTCHA: using hard AI problems for security. EUROCRYPT 2003: 297\u2013311.","journal-title":"EUROCRYPT"},{"key":"e_1_3_4_59_1","unstructured":"Warren J (2019) 10 strategies to drive traffic and sales from Instagram. Later. Available at: https:\/\/later.com\/blog\/drive-traffic-from-instagram\/ (accessed 8 February 2020)."},{"key":"e_1_3_4_60_1","unstructured":"Waterman T (2020) Web scraping is now legal. Towards Data Science. Available at: https:\/\/towardsdatascience.com\/web-scraping-is-now-legal-6bf0e5730a78 (accessed 8 February 2020)."},{"key":"e_1_3_4_61_1","volume-title":"Repurposing digital methods: the research affordances of platforms and engines","author":"Weltevrede E","year":"2016","unstructured":"Weltevrede E (2016) Repurposing digital methods: the research affordances of platforms and engines. PhD Dissertation, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam."},{"key":"e_1_3_4_62_1","first-page":"313","volume-title":"Ethics and Information Technology","author":"Zimmer M","year":"2010","unstructured":"Zimmer M (2010) \u2018But the data is already public\u2019: on the ethics of research in Facebook. Ethics and Information Technology 12(4): 313\u2013325."},{"key":"e_1_3_4_63_1","volume-title":"The Age of Surveillance Capitalism: The Fight for a Human Future at the New Frontier of Power","author":"Zuboff S","year":"2019","unstructured":"Zuboff S (2019) The Age of Surveillance Capitalism: The Fight for a Human Future at the New Frontier of Power. London: Profile Books."}],"container-title":["New Media &amp; Society"],"original-title":[],"language":"en","link":[{"URL":"https:\/\/journals.sagepub.com\/doi\/pdf\/10.1177\/1461444820960071","content-type":"application\/pdf","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"text-mining"},{"URL":"https:\/\/journals.sagepub.com\/doi\/full-xml\/10.1177\/1461444820960071","content-type":"application\/xml","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"text-mining"},{"URL":"https:\/\/journals.sagepub.com\/doi\/pdf\/10.1177\/1461444820960071","content-type":"unspecified","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2026,1,5]],"date-time":"2026-01-05T17:14:00Z","timestamp":1767633240000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"https:\/\/journals.sagepub.com\/doi\/10.1177\/1461444820960071"}},"subtitle":[],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2020,9,20]]},"references-count":62,"journal-issue":{"issue":"12","published-print":{"date-parts":[[2021,12]]}},"alternative-id":["10.1177\/1461444820960071"],"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1177\/1461444820960071","relation":{},"ISSN":["1461-4448","1461-7315"],"issn-type":[{"value":"1461-4448","type":"print"},{"value":"1461-7315","type":"electronic"}],"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[2020,9,20]]}}}