Netnography
is defined as a specific set of qualitative research practice that relates to
data collection, research ethics, analysis, participant observation as well as
representation. The term netnography was coined by Robert V. Kozinets, in the
year 1998. It is an adaptation of a very old and traditional approach in
anthropology, called ‘ethnography’. Netnography, much like ethnography, is
naturalistic, immersive, descriptive and adaptable. However, netnography can be
differentiated from ethnography on several topics such as research focus and
method, communication focus, retroactivity, efficiency and most of all, number
of participants. It is an online research method, focused on understanding
social interaction in digital communication contexts. It has been proven that
netnography is a cost-effective and time-efficient approach as it supports
brand development through achieving a far better understanding of consumer behavior and perceptions. Its unique approach to the online world, along with the multi-method
analysis of data from consumer research, cultural studies and cultural anthropology,
are just a few of the things that makes this method stand out from the rest. Netnography
has had a massive impact on marketing and, according to a 2011 study titled, “A
Review of the Academic Impact of Three Methodological Innovations: Netnography”,
by Bengry-Howell et al., it has been revealed that mentions of netnography
occurred in a range of disciplines such as business (12%), management (17%) and
marketing (47%).
According
to Kozinets, netnography consists of four main categories and they are as
follows:
- Auto-netnography: It is a critical form of netnography in which the researcher renders the data through their own identity as it contains personal elements.
- Symbolic netnography: It is a complementary as well as most commonly used version of netnography which uses social media information and interactions to render identities around individuals or websites.
- Digital netnography: It encompasses a large amount of social data, focusing mainly on cultural understanding, rather than statistical trends.
- Humanist netnography: It is mainly focused on research questions with deep social import and attempts to utilize social media to influence social change.
Even though the main application of netnography is to observe and
explore consumer behavior, it has also been known to predict trends and serve
as an effective driver of innovation and developments of new products. However,
some researchers have stated that the limitation of netnographic research is the
inability of the researcher to guide topics and discussions, probe for
clarification, details, or confirm demographic information. (Mkono, 2013c;
Osman, Johns & Lugosi, 2014). However, it has been observed that
netnography suffers from five major disadvantages such as respondent
authenticity, instability of the user base, an underdeveloped analytical
toolkit, inadequate quality of textual discourse, and last but not the least,
ethical sensitivity. There have been several debates regarding what online
information can be considered as private, in opposition to public. While some
believe that consent must be obtained from all online participants, some
believe that the boundary between public and private is thin and quite often,
blurry. Netnography is, quite honestly, a complicated branch of qualitative
research practice, essentially when it comes to ethics, but netnographers must
ensure that they produce their research by legitimately contributing to real lives,
real places and real social causes.
As far as healthcare and fitness is concerned,
healthcare issues are considered a sensitive matter and it is believed that
sensitive research is significant as it sheds light upon the darker corners of
society. Patients and potential customers are turning towards the communication
between their known peers in communities, through the means of the internet.
These communities can be referred to as virtual communities and they are
getting recognition all across the globe now, especially with different behavioral
and demographic backgrounds. In fact, there was an upsurge in online health
information in the last couple of decades. Netnography helps health educators
in improving their interventional programs while also providing help in
developing new strategies, as a result of individuals sharing and participating
in online communities. Patient online communities (POCs) have a common and
simple purpose of easing the patient’s process of getting informed,
self-diagnose as well as spread word of mouth efficiently. According to Kozinets,
the internet offers increased opportunities for social group participation, in
the shape of virtual communities of consumption so as to assess social power to
unite and to claim symbols and ways of life that are meaningful to them and
implicitly, to their communities. The
Internet also provides people with anonymity, which ultimately results in these
people being completely honest with their responses. To summarize, netnography
has had quite an impact on health and fitness as an industry so far and even
though it is a fairly new qualitative method of research, there is more than
enough evidence for us to believe that in the coming years, netnography will severely
impact all of the different industries, especially those affiliated with
digital marketing. This particular type of qualitative research has completely
revolutionized the field of digital marketing.
Author: Sanjana Cyriac
Keywords:
#Netnography #Ethnography #ResearchMethod #Internet research #Qualitative research #SocialMedia #SocialMediaMarketing #DigitalMarketing #DigitalMarketingAgency #Health #Fitness #Healthcare
References:
- Kozinets, R.V., 2019. Netnography: The essential guide to qualitative social media research. Sage.
- Costello, L., McDermott, M.-L. and Wallace, R. (2017) ‘Netnography: Range of Practices, Misperceptions, and Missed Opportunities’, International Journal of Qualitative Methods. doi: 10.1177/1609406917700647.
- Heinonen, K. and Medberg, G. (2018), "Netnography as a tool for understanding customers: implications for service research and practice", Journal of Services Marketing, Vol. 32 No. 6, pp. 657-679. doi.org/10.1108/JSM-08-2017-0294
- Xun, J., Reynolds, J. Applying netnography to market research: The case of the online forum. J Target Meas Anal Mark 18, 17–31 (2010). doi.org/10.1057/jt.2009.29
NetBase Quid. (2021). Netnography: What It Is and How to Use It.
www.canstockphoto.com. (n.d.). Abstract word cloud for netnography with related tags and terms. | CanStock.
Bratucu, R. et al. (2014) “The relevance of netnography to the harness of Romanian health care electronic word-of-mouth,” Journal of medicine and life, 7(3), pp. 363–367.
Kozinets, Robert. (2015). Management Netnography: Axiological and Methodological Developments in Online Cultural Business Research. 10.13140/RG.2.1.3029.4487.
Rice RE, Katz JE. The internet and health communication: experiences and expectations. Thousand Oaks: Sage. 2001 [Google Scholar]
Well written. Its an interesting digital method to understand digital social interactions. Its multi-method analysis of data has immensely helped the marketing world. It’s a research method that helps to understand digital communication through social media channels. In simple words, it’s a type of research method that uses social media conversations as data. Netnography is used to understand consumer behavior on social media channels like Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, Pinterest, YouTube and Twitter. It is also used for blog analysis. Netnographies might be brief and focused on a single community, or they can be lengthy and require years of research across numerous communities.
ReplyDeleteIt's a fun digital way for deciphering digital social interactions. Its multi-method data analysis has been extremely beneficial to the marketing sector. It's a study technique that aids in the comprehension of digital communication via social media platforms. In simple terms, it's a research method that uses data from social media interactions. Consumer behavior on social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, Pinterest, YouTube, and Twitter is studied using netnography. It's also used to analyze blogs. Netnographies might be short and focused on a single community, or they can be long and involve years of research across multiple communities.
ReplyDeleteGreat insight n informative.
ReplyDeleteThis blog is a well-written piece of knowledge that has assisted me in better understanding how to Netnography differs from ethnography, which is a centuries-old anthropological technique. It clarifies how Ethnography is the study of human communication in its various forms, such as body language, tone of voice, and so on. Human online communication, which is textual communication or some multimedia communication such as video, audio, and photographs, is referred to as Netnography. This, in my opinion, will not only make a quantity of relevant and informative information immediately available, saving time and money over the traditional techniques of acquiring data from field research.
ReplyDelete