As digital platforms continually evolve, rapid changes to platform affordances quickly render digital tools and data collection methods obsolete. Researchers of digital culture therefore must proactively adapt to the ephemerality of data. This paper examines these challenges within the context of Twitter (X) following its 2022 acquisition by Elon Musk, and the subsequent limiting of access to the API for data collection. Using a combination of manual data-collection practices and Zeeschuimer , a browser extension that collects social media data while browsing, researchers developed a novel data collection method, and model methodological adaptability within shifting digital terrains.
Mohammed et al. (Fri,) studied this question.