Tweeted, deleted: An exploratory study of the US government’s digital memory holes

Abstract

Deletion is part of the Internet’s history and predates Twitter. Today, research on the laws underlying and facilitating government social media use and deletion practices has remained limited. The question of how government agencies create their own Twitter archives and subsequently institutionalize cultural memory has also been largely unexplored. Drawing on a US case study, I argue that the lack of a standardized federal policy has led to the creation of myriad digital “memory holes” of varying porosities. I show that, when systematically drafted and deployed, research based on the US Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) can serve as a generative method of unearthing deleted tweets and memory narratives that might otherwise be inaccessible. Finally, I build on the US case study by offering pathways for other new media scholars to examine and trace tweeting and deleting by government employees in other jurisdictions.

Proactive ephemerality: How journalists use automated and manual tweet deletion to minimize risk and its consequences for social media as a public archive

“…As Meeks (2018) notes, such a tool provides scholars with an opportunity to study political impression management, and we would add that such a tool would allow scholars to consider the implications of social media deletion for the public record. In a study which examined the construction of Twitter archives of government agencies, McCammon (2020) demonstrates how deleted tweets create digital “memory holes” since government officials lack standards and policies regarding the practices of government employees on third-party social media platforms, such as Twitter. In a similar way, our findings suggest the construction of journalistic memory holes.…”

For perpetuating social media collective memory proactively and inclusively: Explore the interests and tensions of stakeholders in preservation actions

“…McCammon (2020) argued that in addressing the creation and preservation of digital memory, it needs to further contemplate the power and control underlying social media. And this paper gives readers, especially state regulators, more information about platforms' relationships to the public they serve and memory institutions.…”

Examining Social Media Policy and Records Management in Massachusetts Municipal Governments

“…The ways in which politicians and other government actors use social media has been the subject of numerous research studies (e.g. Kalsnes et al, 2017; Kavanaugh et al, 2012; McCammon, 2020; Netshakhuma, 2019), although preserving materials from these platforms has proven to be difficult (e.g. Breuer et al, 2020; Thomson & Kilbride, 2015).…”