Datcha—Introducing a Tool to Track Data Changes and Measure (In)Consistency in Mobile Platform Data

Mobile online platform data are inherently dynamic and often ephemeral: content can be deleted, added, or edited over time. Because mobile communication research relies heavily on such platform-derived data, systematic (non-random) changes can create serious data-quality and reproducibility problems. To address this, we developed Datcha, an application that quantifies dataset consistency using standardized indicators. Datcha additionally supports comparative analyses—word frequency comparisons, keyness, topic modeling, and sentiment analysis—between modified and remaining content, enabling researchers to detect whether content deletion, addition, or editing follows systematic patterns.