Dr. Alessandra Renzi discusses the results of her research on data and activism in a new collection Compromised Data: New Paradigms in Social Media Theory and Methods, Elmer et al. (eds.), published by Bloomsbury Press in July. This collection explores the limits and challenges of social data research in order to invent and develop new modes of doing public research. At its core, this collection argues that we are witnessing a fundamental reshaping of the social through social data mining. Dr. Renzi’s article examines how data objects like metadata and “like buttons” and new tools for live streaming and information visualization impact the behaviour of activists and citizen journalists.