Preserving Social Media: The Problem of Access

This article is part of a 12-month study commissioned by the UK Data Service as part of the “Big Data Network” program funded by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC). The larger study focuses on the potential uses and accompanying challenges of data generated by social networking applications. This article, “Preserving Social Media: The Problem of Access,” comprises an excerpt of that longer study, allowing the authors a space to explore in closer detail the issue of making social media archives accessible to researchers and students now and in the future.