Netnography: Understanding Online Communities
Netnography itself is categorised into four types: Symbolic,
Auto, Digital and Humanist
Symbolic netnography is the most commonly used type
and sets out to understand the thought-processes and practices of a particular
online community, often through social media interactions.
Auto netnography requires the researcher to be a
member of the online community in question and forces them to look inward into
their own thoughts and emotions to develop a documented understanding of said
community. On top of the researcher’s reflections, external data is used to develop
a clearer understanding of context as well as decreasing the influence of the
researcher’s natural bias
Digital netnography is the practice of tying
statistical data analysis with cultural information using mostly publicly
available social data. The researcher must be somewhat discreet in their
observation of a community to ensure that natural behaviour is practiced and
accurate insights are gathered.
Humanist netnography is the situation in which the
researcher acts as an advocate and often an activist to use data from social
media as a catalyst in encouraging social change.
As stated in Morais et al (2020), netnography collaborates
with the idea that human beings must be studied in depth, resisting the
tendency to reduce humanity to numbers, decontextualizing its constituent
elements and descriptors.
There are twelve phases in the effective implementation of netnography,
as outlined by netnography’s inventor, Robert Kozinets in 2015: Introspection,
Investigation, Informational, Interview, Inspection, Interaction, Immersion,
Indexing, Interpretation, Iteration, Instantiation and Integration.
Technological determinism is a term used to describe the
idea that technology has a huge impact on society, and even moulds our culture
as well as being a leading influence in the shaping of the current zeitgeist.
Those who argue against technological determinism tend to argue in favour of
the idea of social determinism, which poses the opposite theory to the former
term. Social determinism posits that society completely moulds technological
development. (Hauer, T., 2017)
Regardless of somebody’s stance, there appears to be a
shared understanding among all that society and technology do not exist
independently of each other. They share somewhat of an interdependence, but
technology is just “one of the many social processes”. (Hauer, T., 2017)
While some may argue that the lack of physical interaction, social cues and tone of voice may skew the authenticity of activity among online communities, the contrary could also be the case. The internet often allows an additional sense of security and sometimes anonymity, which could influence more genuine and honest personal reflections than any physical interaction ever would. Regardless of one’s stance, technology, and specifically the internet, are too large an aspect of our society to not be researched thoroughly and utilised properly.
#socialmedia #community #ethnography #culture
Author: Jamie Carty
References
- Morais, G., Santos, V. and Gonçalves, C., 2020. Netnography: Origins, Foundations, Evolution and Axiological and Methodological Developments and Trends. The Qualitative Report; Fort Lauderdale, 25(2).
Author: Deirbhile
ReplyDeleteNetnography is regarded as one of the most important research tools today, As it can truly provide highly in-depth insights into consumers, which helps so many industries. It and can be argued that relying only on digital sources can harm studies. A trademark of genuine Netnography is where each detail consists of true human interactions, stories and understandings of individuals using technology. To avoid relying only on digital approaches to Netnography it is important to first truly define what type of online/ digital studies are being conducted. A more consistent and strong approach to create genuine studies is key to continue helping industries give a better understands of critical fields like psychology and education.
Author: Elizabeth Duffy
ReplyDeleteDigital netnography is a prominent part of how we understand the events that happen in today's society particularly social media. Informal news channels and tv shows are using any form of social media, Tweet's and TikTok's, as credible evidence to back up the stories they're presenting. Audiences have accepted this as a credible form of research without a second thought about who was harvesting that information because it was made public and they must be aware of research teams for these programmes. Marketer's use digital netnography to conduct 'social listening' to build personas of their customer types. Harvesting interests, hobbies, values and sentiments about their brand and products. It is an invaluable resource in this respect and can be of very low cost to businesses. As you stated, it can also be discreet or annoymous and the business's persona can be upheld in every interaction with the community in the process. It was not something that was available before but is now more important than ever to remain competitive. During my research about generation Z as consumers, I found digital netnography is used to help understand this new generation by analysing the changes in culture and technology and how these have shaped their behaviour as a consumer. Generation Z are the most diverse consumer yet, more cultured and concerned about things like the environment, inclusivity and diversity. In this respect, digital netnography is key to connect the gap between data and the consumer.