Social Media Archive (SOMAR) Newsletter | Summer 2026

What’s New?

Summer has been a busy season for the Social Media Archive (SOMAR). In this issue, we are sharing updates about the SOMAR Virtual Data Enclave (VDE) payment portal, recent growth across the archive, new researcher resources, and ways to stay connected with the SOMAR research community.

SOMAR by the Numbers

SOMAR continues to grow as more researchers discover, access, and use social media data. For Summer 2026, SOMAR welcomed 18 new subscribers to SOMAR updates, resolved 79 user-support issues, and completed 10 Virtual Data Enclave (VDE) setup and onboarding requests. These figures provide a quarterly snapshot of SOMAR’s continued growth and support for the research community.

Help Shape Future SOMAR Resources

Researchers have expressed interest in additional support to aid their work. We want to hear from you! What resources would be most valuable to your research community?

  • Reusable code examples
  • Research workflow guides
  • Training materials
  • Community events
  • Data deposit support
  • Resources for working with restricted social media data

Have an idea or specific topic in mind? Share your thoughts with us at [email protected].

SOMAR Virtual Data Enclave (VDE) Payment Portal is Now Live

In June, SOMAR launched a new payment portal for researchers using the Virtual Data Enclave (VDE). The portal provides a centralized way for research teams to register, submit payments, and maintain access to their secure research environment.

The SOMAR VDE fee structure includes:

  • $1,000 one-time setup fee for new VDE instances
  • $371 monthly fee for the duration of the research project

These fees support the continued operation and improvement of SOMAR’s secure research infrastructure, including computing, storage, security, and staff support.

Researchers with current approval to use the SOMAR VDE will receive payment instructions, deadlines, and confirmation details directly from the SOMAR team. Please allow several business days for payments to be processed and confirmed.

For additional information, review the SOMAR VDE Billing and Payments Portal User Guide or contact SOMAR Support at [email protected].

What the SOMAR Virtual Data Enclave Offers

The SOMAR Virtual Data Enclave provides a secure and flexible research environment for teams working with restricted social media data.

  • Flexible analytical tools: Researchers can work in R, RStudio, Python, JupyterLab, Jupyter Notebooks, and Stata.
  • Collaborative research environments: Approved team members can work together and share files within the same enclave.
  • Support for multiple output formats: Researchers may request disclosure review for code, tables, figures, charts, graphs, and approved summary statistics.
  • Specialized research resources: Teams may request reviewed machine learning models, software packages, or other approved resources needed for their research.
  • Dedicated infrastructure and support: The VDE includes secure computing, storage, access controls, and assistance from SOMAR and ICPSR staff.

Updated Login Process for SOMAR VDE Users

SOMAR VDE access transitioned to Okta Verify on June 15, 2026.

Researchers should complete the Okta enrollment process before attempting to access their enclave.

Visit oktaverify.umich.edu to complete enrollment. For assistance, visit the University of Michigan Okta Help page.

Researchers experiencing difficulty accessing the VDE can contact SOMAR Support at [email protected].

Meta Content Library API Reminder

Researchers using the Meta Content Library API must continue to follow Meta’s data retention, deletion, and security requirements.

Researchers who received a deletion notice from SOMAR should make sure all required deletion steps have been completed.

VDE users with questions about the deletion process can contact SOMAR Support at [email protected]. Questions about Meta applications, approvals, or MCL policy requirements should be directed to Meta through the appropriate Meta Research Tools Manager or Meta support channel.

Datasets Highlights

A Blue Start: A Large Scale Pairwise and Higher Order Social Network Dataset

With 308 recorded downloads, A Blue Start is one of SOMAR’s most downloaded public datasets.

The dataset consists of all starter packs and following network data available on Bluesky, a microblogging social media platform, as of late October 2025. It also includes network data on starter pack creators and members.

The dataset is intended for researchers interested in computational analysis of the networks created by starter packs or the influence starter packs may have on network formation and connections.

Explore A Blue Start

Interested in Depositing Data?

Learn More

SOMAR accepts research data from and about social media platforms.

Depositing data with SOMAR helps preserve valuable research materials, supports transparency and reproducibility, and makes social media data available for future research.

Researchers may submit datasets with descriptive metadata, documentation files, and data files up to 30 GB. For larger files or restricted data, contact [email protected].

Event Hosting

Interested in hosting a class, workshop, webinar, or research event using SOMAR datasets? Email us at [email protected] to discuss potential opportunities.

Stay Updated

Want to be notified about newly published datasets, new resources or tools, upcoming events, and more?

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