Dear member of AoIR I am currently going through IRB process (non-exempt) for my research which involves analyzing tweets containing certain hashtags. In my opinion, Twitter handles do not constitute as identifiable participant information. However, I got a response from IRB, saying: "Twitter handles may or may not be identifiable, depending on the user. In some cases they are not identifiable, in many other cases they are identifiable (i.e., twitter users' identities are known). Names and emails are not the only variable that are considered "identifiable." Any information that can lead to identification of an individual is considered "identifiable." (See FAQ for further information: http://cphs.berkeley.edu/faqs.html#e1). Please revise section 13a to account for this. Ensure that corresponding updates are also integrated into pertinent sections/documents." Which means I need to remove identifiers, Twitter handles in this case from tweets as soon as I collect them like item 13d says. "Identifiers should be removed from data/specimens as soon as possible following collection, except in cases where the identifiers are embedded (e.g., voices in audio or faces in video recordings). If data are coded in order to retain a link between the data and identifiable information, explain where the key to the code will be stored, how it will be protected, who will have access to it, and when it will be destroyed." This will be very cumbersome for me because my research is not quantitative and does not involve collecting massive amounts of tweets at once using Twitter API. It is a qualitative research using virtual ethnography to explore and understand the conversation around a certain hashtag movement, which means I will need to constantly go back to certain Twitter accounts and use snowball sampling to collect tweets like searching who they are following and looking into these accounts as well. (I plan to use NVivo 10 to collect and code tweets) I assume IRB is taking more precaution about the security issues because my research involves the risk of cyberbullying. I understand the risk and will completely anonymize Twitter handles on my paper. However, I honestly do not see the need to separate/remove identifiers in the process of collection. I`d really appreciate if anyone who`s done a similar research as mine could tell me about their experiences with the IRB process. Thank you in advance.