Social media data are increasingly used to study a variety of social phenomena. This development is based on the assumption that digital traces left on social media can provide insights into the nature of human interaction. In this research, we turn our attention to what remains invisible in research based on social media data. Using Andrea Brighenti’s work on “social visibility” as a point of departure, we unpack data invisibilities, as they are created within four dimensions: people and intentionality, technologies and tools, accessibility and form, and meaning and imaginaries. We introduce the notion of quasi-visible data as an intermediary between visible and invisible data highlighting the processual character of data invisibilities. With this conceptual framework, we contribute to developing a more reflective and ethical field of research into the study of social phenomena based on social media data. We conclude by arguing that distancing ourselves from the assumption that all social media data are visible and focusing on the invisible will enhance our understanding of digital data.

社交媒体数据越来越多地用于研究各种社会现象。这种发展是基于这样的假设，即社交媒体上留下的数字痕迹可以洞察人类互动的本质。在这项研究中，我们将注意力转移到基于社交媒体数据的研究中仍然看不见的地方。使用Andrea Brighenti在“社会可见性”方面的工作作为出发点，我们解开了数据不可见性，因为它们是在四个维度中创建的：人员和意图，技术和工具，可访问性和形式以及含义和虚构。我们介绍了准可见数据的概念，它是可见数据和不可见数据之间的中介，突出了数据不可见性的过程特征。有了这个概念框架，我们致力于在社交媒体数据的基础上，为社会现象研究提供更具反思性和伦理性的研究领域。我们通过争论得出结论，将自己与所有社交媒体数据都是可见的假设区分开来，而将注意力集中在不可见的内容上，将会增进我们对数字数据的理解。