Data from social media offer us multimedia data brimming with multiple layers of meanings. Social media enable rapid-fire digital communications. These communications are incredibly complex in content, form and meaning. This representational complexity is a stumbling block in data analysis that stands in the way of deeper explanations. These unstructured data, rich in social meanings, are as complex as the phenomena they represent. While it is possible to formulate an entire research methodology around semiotics, it is not always necessary. We can adapt semiotic analysis within existing methodologies. This paper offers and illustrates an analytical technique to address representational complexity that can be used in conjunction with other methodologies such as case study, ethnography, etc. This analytical technique espouses a critical realist philosophy to develop much needed, deeper explanations from qualitative data.

来自社交媒体的数据为我们提供了充满多层含义的多媒体数据。社交媒体可实现快速数字通信。这些交流的内容，形式和含义极其复杂。这种代表性的复杂性是数据分析的绊脚石，阻碍了更深入的解释。这些具有社会意义的非结构化数据与其所代表的现象一样复杂。尽管有可能围绕符号学制定一套完整的研究方法，但并非总是必要的。我们可以在现有方法中调整符号学分析。本文提供并说明了一种用于解决表示复杂性的分析技术，该技术可与案例研究，人种志等其他方法结合使用。