This special issue of Social Media + Society originates from the first AoIR Flashpoint Symposium, entitled “Below the Radar: Private Groups, Locked Platforms and Ephemeral Content.” The aim of this conference was to investigate platform-driven changes and emerging practices of everyday-life content production occurring “below the radar” of internet research, or outside of previous standards of data visibility and accessibility on which most internet studies have been based over the last decade. In the current context, online spaces seem to be heading toward more circumscribed and unsteady forms of publicness, which contrast with the platform affordances upon which the theorization of networked publics has been built. Private groups, locked platforms, and ephemeral contents are some of the challenges that require the development of new perspectives and research tools capable of adapting to this shifting environment. In this introduction, we will illustrate how the theme of “below the radar” has evolved since the initial call thanks to the confrontation with the researchers who participated in the conference, and this special issue, and we will introduce the nine articles that make up the collection. These articles, which combine different research disciplines and techniques, provide a map of some of the most urgent theoretical, ethical, and methodological issues concerning the current transformations of the visibility regimes of online social action.

本期《社会媒体+社会》特刊源自第一届AoIR闪点研讨会，题目为“雷达下：私人团体，锁定平台和临时内容”。这次会议的目的是调查平台驱动的变化和日常生活内容生产的新兴实践，这些变化发生在互联网研究的“雷达之下”，或者超出了大多数互联网研究所基于的数据可见性和可访问性的先前标准。最近十年。在当前情况下，在线空间似乎正朝着更加局限性和不稳定的形式发展，这与建立网络公众理论化的平台能力形成鲜明对比。私人团体，锁定的平台，和短暂的内容是一些挑战，需要开发能够适应这种变化环境的新观点和研究工具。在本引言中，我们将说明自首次通话以来“雷达之下”的主题是如何演变的，这要归功于与参加会议的研究人员的对抗以及本期特刊，我们将介绍构成本文的9篇文章。集合。这些文章结合了不同的研究学科和技术，提供了一些有关在线社交活动可见性制度当前变革的最紧迫的理论，道德和方法论问题的地图。我们将说明自首次通话以来，“雷达之下”的主题是如何演变的，这要归功于与参加会议的研究人员的对抗以及本期特刊，我们将介绍构成该系列的九篇文章。这些文章结合了不同的研究学科和技术，提供了一些有关在线社交活动可见性制度当前变革的最紧迫的理论，道德和方法论问题的地图。我们将说明自首次通话以来，“雷达之下”的主题是如何演变的，这要归功于与参加会议的研究人员的对抗以及本期特刊，我们将介绍构成该系列的九篇文章。这些文章结合了不同的研究学科和技术，提供了一些有关在线社交活动可见性制度当前变革的最紧迫的理论，道德和方法论问题的地图。