Cultures & Communities online

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1 Klaus M. Janowitz Cultures & Communities online 1

2 Social Media... have prevailed in the Internet and are used by a major part of society blur the frontiers between producers and consumers of content enable people to make contacts and socialize over distances enable companies and organisations for direct contact to customers and target groups 2

3 Social Media... boost word of mouth or word of mouse are a nearly unfailing source for market- and social research opinions und sentiments spread fast; ratings and references have a growing impact on (buying) decisions companies are interested in the remarks made about themselves and their brands 3

4 Social Media Monitoring or Web-Monitoring web-monitoring (social media monitoring) means the software based analysis of public communication in the internet, mostly applied for products and brands monitoring provides information on key platforms, major sources, discussion topics, sentiments etc. software based sentiment analysis could not convince yet error sources: ambiguous items, irony, abbreviations, context depending significance, software not really adapted for different languages etc. 4

5 Monitoring-Software - free or to pay for 5

6 Netnography Transmission of ethnographic methods to online communities and cultures Internet creates new social environments, regardless of physical proximity: translocal communities Field: Online cultures Online communities Clusters of Affiliation Author: Robert V. Kozinets (cultural anthropologist and marketer) Brandthroposophy: A Marketing, Social Media, and Research Blog Several approaches of online ethnographies evolved independently Netnographie claims setting methodical standards for social sciences and marketing Virtual ethnography (Christine Hine) Webnographie (Anjali Puri ; Strübing not continued) 6

7 Methods Netnography... method mix: hermeneutic Interpretation and analysis of data participant observation, surveys, interviews, document analysis (text, pictures, sound, video), use of monitoring-software for detecting relevant sources suits for several kind of studies: research in online communities research in online and offline existing communities for explorative studies research in social media research topic maybe a specific online-culture or community (such as Star Trek) or a selective theme (such as coffee culture) there are several specifications and adaptations such as social media netnography 7

8 Fan - Communities netnographic field researches began with (media-) fan cultures Star-Trek community (1996) X-Philes' subculture of consumption (1997) soap-opera fans (2000) fan cultures as prototypes of posttraditional socialization and avantgarde of a new network economy (compare.: C. Wenger 2006) 8

9 e-tribes M. Maffesoli: les temps des tribus (1988) (postmodern) tribes: networks of people, who are linked by a common passion : online-gamer, fashion victims, theme based political groups consumer tribes the internet is both: the technical infrastructure to serve those different cultures, backgrounds, etc., in the same way an own environment, whose specific conditions lead to new forms of deterritorial communities and network-based sociality. 9

10 Community constituting via consum: Brand Communities/ Consumer Tribes Brands act as a medium, a style über das sich ein als gemeinsam erlebter life- and workstyle synchronizes - bzw. Arbeitsstil synchronisiert Brand Communities become Consumer Tribes: Communities with an own aesthetic and own loyalties 10

11 Research Process community identification and selection data analysis and iterative interpretation offindings CAQDAS-Software may be used (NVivo, Max QDA, AtlasTi) definition of research questions, social sites or topic to investigate community participant observation (engagement, immersion, data collection: and data collection (with regard on ethics: informed consent) write, present and report research findings and/or policy implications (Kozinets, 2010 S. 61) 11

12 CAQDAS - Software structures data in qualitative research as transcription analysis, coding and text interpretation, content analysis, discourse analysis, grounded theory methodology etc. 12

13 The Roots: Ethnography - Genesis of a Method Ethnographic methods descend from cultural anthropologic field research (Malinowski, Mead) generally within the natural setting of a social group The ethnographer participates, overtly or covertly, in people s daily lives for an extended period of time, watching what happens, listening to what is said, asking questions in fact collecting whatever data are available to throw light on the issues with which he or she is concerned. (Atkinson & Hammersley 1983) 13

14 In Sociology research in subcultures or sub-systems within the own society ethnography gives a deep insight in everyday life and lifestyle - with all strategies of survival, symbols and rituals Ethnography of scenes (R. Hitzler): participation in the social field - into linguistical and habitual customs and patterns; narrative interviews Steps ( R. Girtler): scheduling pre-understanding collection of material (fieldnotes) participant observation other sources interpretation presentation ot the results 14

15 ethnographic methods in Market Research: how people use brands, products or services in their natural environments hidden needs und desires should be discovered 15

16 Consuments form new cultures of consumption, which require considerable expertise Consumer Insights are based on unbiased consumer statements within the natural setting. Motivations, attitudes, experiences and needs become definite 16

17 Perspectives - examples of research fields e.g.: strategies of debt management Fashion-Communities, translocal work or: cultural impact of Online-Communities in Saudi-Arabia An essential part of modern social life happens in the web. Social- and market research can not neglect this living environment. Netnography defines tools for research. Differences to Web-Monitoring Web monitoring captures systematically and softwarebased the public communication in the Internet about specific terms and topics - mostly quantitative Netnography is a mostly qualitatative research process, which integrates different tools - and monitoring-software provides valuable service Monitoring software can provide a valuable service Differences to Market Research Online Communities Netnography occurs in the natural setting, MROCs are a managed environment for use in market research 17

18 Market Research Online Communities (MROC) Market research-driven online communities: The Internet serves as a media tool of the collection, not as a social space to be explored - private communities for specific clients - panel communities no natural setting activity and engagement are highly dependent on binding to a particular company or incentivation 18

19 Ethics Basic Questions: Are online-communities public or private spaces? How does the researcher gains informed consent? content accessible without limitation may be considered as public 1) The researcher should fully disclose his or her presence, affiliations, and intentions to online community members during any research 2) The researchers should ensure confidentiality and anonymity to informants (3) The researcher should seek and incorporate feedback from members of the online community being researched (4) The researcher should take a cautious position on the private-versus-public medium issue. Kozinets. 2002, S

20 Thanks for your attention Klaus Janowitz M.A., Kuenstr. 43, Köln, Tel. : mail@klaus-janowitz.de 20

21 Quellenangaben: Bilder: Start Slide: Screenshot Touch-Graph Darstellung zum Netnocamp S. 2: S. 5: Logos von Anbietern von Monitoring-Software S. 6: twittpic von Clive Lavery, Köln S. 8: S. 8: S. 9: photos.techfieber.de/ wp-content/uploads/ S. 4,7, 16, 17 (leere Taschen), 19, 20 S. 12: (S. 8) S. 11: eigene Bearbeitung S. 16: (Fahrräder) Marc Wansky: S. 18 oben: Globalpark - pdf zu Customer Feedback Communities Literatur: Atkinson Paul & Hammersley, Martyn: Ethnography: Principles in practice. ISBN: ,278S. 1. Auflage New York 1983 Brauckmann, Patrick (Hrsg.): Web-Monitoring. Gewinnung und Analyse von Daten über das Kommunikationsverhalten im Internet. Konstanz 2010, 412 S. Cova, Bernard; Kozinets, Robert V.; Shankar, Avi (Hrsg.): Consumer Tribes, Butterworth Heinemann, Oxford und Burlington MA 2007, 339 S. Janowitz, Klaus. M. : Netnographie, Kozinets, Robert V.: Netnography. Doing Ethnographic Research Online. Sage Publications Ltd 2010, 232 S., ISBN: Kozinets, Robert V.: The Field Behind the Screen: Using Netnography for Marketing Research in Online Communities. Journal of marketing research. vol. 39, 2002, No. 1, pp Verhaeghe, Annelies (InSites Consulting, Gent): Getting answers without asking question. White paper Wenger, Christian: Gemeinschaft und Identität in Medienfankulturen Fankulturen als Prototypen posttraditionaler Vergemeinschaftung und Vorreiter der neuen Netzwerkökonomie? 2006 (Broschiert) 21

Netnography: A Method Specifically Designed to Study Cultures and Communities Online

The Qualitative Report Volume 15 Number 5 September 2010 1270-1275 http://www.nova.edu/ssss/qr/qr15-5/kozinets.pdf Netnography: A Method Specifically Designed to Study Cultures and Communities Online Gary