What is netnography?

One of the most important scholars elucidating netnographic research is Robert Kozinets, who published multiple works (e.g., 1998, 2002, 2010, 2015) on this topic and continues to publish about netnography. Kozinets defines netnography as “an adaptation of ethnography for the online world for the contingencies of online communities and online cultures” (Kozinets 2011) and an “ethnographic research that combines archival and online communications work, participation and observation, with new forms of digital and network data collection, analysis and research representation” (2015: 1). Data collection, Kozinets writes, “originates in and manifests through the data shared freely on the Internet” (2015: 19). In other words, it is the emphasis on Internet data that differentiates netnography from other forms of ethnographic data collection. (It is important to note that there are also non-ethnographic data collection methods that use the Internet, such as online surveys.) 

With the internet becoming an important site for research, a site that may allow for an examination of community characteristics or individual behaviour, a growing number of scholars engage in netnography. Netnography is particularly apt for studying cultures and communities, and research topics analysed through netnographic research range widely from consumer cyberculture (Kozinets 1998), tourism experience (Mkono 2012), to transnational nature of online cultural phenomena (Rokka 2010). Netnography is a methodology that can be used by both, senior scholars and students alike: “netnography is an excellent resource for the seasoned qualitative researcher and a useful entry point for the newcomer to qualitative research” (Bowler 2010, 1270).

Furthermore, a netnography can make use of data collecting methods similar to that of an ethnography – such as participant observation, archival data, elicited data and other forms of data, depending on the goals of research and the available data – but all data is collected through online interactions (Kulavuz-Onal 2015). In other words, familiar data collecting methods often used by social researchers are transformed and adapted into an online setting. A netnography also generates fieldnotes or reflective observational fieldnotes, which are “valuable interpretive insight, by building, through careful focus and analysis, what is available publicly on the Internet into a known and respected body of codified knowledge” (Kozinets, 2010: 113). In other words, these fieldnotes contain the researcher’s analysis, impression and interpretation of the online culture, community and phenomenon studied.

There are two types of netnographies in academic research in terms of how available data is collected (Costello, McDermott and Wallace 2007):

• Participatory (active) netnography, when the researcher takes part and participates in the studied online community, allowing to engage, observe and be immersed in the (cyber)culture of the given online community. Active netnography then resembles participant observation, albeit in online spaces.
• Nonparticipatory (passive) netnography, when the researcher takes on a role of an observer and does not participate while collecting data.

Both types of netnographies lead to rich descriptive data about the online cultures, community values or individual behaviour under investigation. Rich data, as Lisa M. Given (2008) aptly put it,

…describes the notion that qualitative data and their subsequent representation in text should reveal the complexities and the richness of what is being studied. Although it is never possible to comprehend all dimensions of a phenomenon, the qualitative researcher seeks to understand what is being investigated as deeply as possible and to situate it within the context of time and space rather than in isolation.

For example, since nethnography can be used to investigate online communities and social media spaces, netnography may be particularly useful for the study of groups that seek anonymity, that are marginalized or at risk, or to analyze topics that are sensitive or illegal, in which case group participants may hide their identity (Costello, McDermott and Wallace 2007). Netnography was initially used to study consumer behaviour and market characteristics, but since then, a wide array of topics were examined with netnographic research. Conducting a thorough literature review of studies that relied on netnographic research, Costello, McDermott and Wallace (2007) list examples of such sensitive topics or anonymity seeking groups that were previously studied: cosmetic surgery patients, political values of various groups, fat activism movement, marginalized and at-risk groups, migrants, vulnerable students or groups with specific health concerns and interests. The table below lists citations for articles that use netnographic research for exploration of the topics mentioned above, and advanced students may explore these articles on their own.

Listen to Robert Kozinets discuss the use of netnograpohy for a cultural understanding and market research: