  Timestamps in digital traces include significant detailed information on when
human behaviors occur, which is universally available and standardized in all
types of digital traces. Nevertheless, the concept of time is under-explicated
in empirical studies of online behaviors. This paper discusses the
(un)desirable properties of timestamps in digital traces and summarizes how
timestamps in digital traces have been utilized in existing studies of online
behaviors. The paper argues that time-in-behaviors perspective can provide a
microscope with a renovated temporal lens to observe and understand online
behaviors. Going beyond the traditional behaviors-in-time perspective,
time-in-behaviors perspective enables empirical examination of online behaviors
from multiple units of analysis (e.g., discrete behaviors, behavioral sessions,
and behavioral trajectories) and from multiple dimensions (e.g., duration,
order, transition, rhythm). The paper shows the potentials of the
time-in-behaviors perspective with several empirical cases and proposes future
directions in explicating the concept of time in computational social science.
