What is Netnography & Its advantages?

Netnography is the modern form of research method which uses internet user pattern for collection of data. The more people are shifting to internet to use their personal details, the better form of information can be gathered about their preferences and experiences (Stainton, 2020). Netnography is the branch of ethnography which analyses the behavior of individuals on internet which use online marketing and research techniques to obtain useful insights of the data (Bowler, 2010).  It is the type of participant observation research method which gives rise to three types of data:

•      Data generated directly through research
•        Data obtained through recording of online activities, interactions, and events.
•        Field notes and sketches by researchers

(Bowler, 2010). It is the adaptation of ethnography on participatory observation. It translates into writing about cultures and is a credible source to search for communities and sheering online cultures (What is Netnography? - SAGE Research Methods, 2021).

Netnography assembles and analyzes the data pertaining to free social behavior on the internet. It is different from research surveys as it is in the form of a pattern whereas research surveys can cause biases in the surveyor (What is Netnography? |Martech Zone, 2021). Research planning, data collection, compliance of ethical standards, research representation, and entrée the aspects of ethnography followed in netnography. The data is gathered through online cultural interactions which gives rise to a better understanding of the online social environment (Bowler, 2010).

Interviews, participation observations, and analysis of behavior on social networks. Each social networking site offers a unique set of data that can be assessed, analyzed, and interpreted by means of their online activities. Blog posts, tweets, Facebook, pin interest, Snapchat, YouTube, and other analyses of responses on other famous online forums help to generate data that is used to generate a better user experience for the customers (Stainton, 2020).

Objective data comprising of indicators reflected in lifestyle and brands is collected in the form of reports. Analysts compile this data to compose segments of profiles accurately using netnogaphy (Stainton, 2020).

Why use Netnography:

Netnography is extremely beneficial for businesses while planning their activities. Ranging from specific keyword researches for medicines or low packages for holidays, all the data is stored and gathered online to generate a better user experience. It more feasible form of the survey as it saves time and resources while conducting research. All the limitations of ethnography are easily overcome in Netnogaphy due to the online medium. Netnography is an essential tool for big data administration.

Advantages of  Netnography:

Netnography helps to monitor consumer patterns in growing marketing trends. It is the type of psychoanalysis that helps to advertise agencies in sophisticated algorithms.  The integration of big data and netnogaphy helps to understand public relations with the community. Comprehensive research results are obtained by using big data and netnography. It provides information regarding the needs of the consumers. It is the market research that follows systematic steps to analyze, diagnose, and implement innovation of desired points.

Similarly, this tool helps the companies to measure the efficiency of advertising campaigns, the impact of their products on their behaviors, and the overall perception of the brand on the consumers to explore new business opportunities. It has revolutionized the conventional market research strategies as it provides relevant results in real-time. Simple clicks and keyword research helps companies to draw conclusions of consumer behavior. In general, if a customer purchases one product there is potential for the purchase of similar products as well.

Digital humanitarians, librarians, anthropologists, marketing practitioners, and consumer researchers also widely apply netnography (Kozinet, Sacraboto, and Parmentier, 2018). It is beneficial for companies to instantaneously compile their big data in real-time. This is time-saving as traditional research methods require months of analysis and data integration. Therefore, critical information regarding the personal information of the people is collected in no time. 

 Other advantages of  Netnography include:

• The data sets obtained through netnogaraphy are contemporary and ideal for the analysis of valuable data.
• It can easily overcome geographical limitations.
  
• It provides meaningful insights into unexpected datasets.

 Examples of Netnography :

Similarly, Netnography conducted on Pininterest showed that this technique is a suitable analytical tool for e-tourism. Pin interest shows that capturing dreams and sharing them is recommended for the design (Gretzel, 2021). The impact of the digital influencers who travel and share their experiences impacts the opinions of the people. Netnography helps to gain insight of the experience developed due to their social media posts. One similar study conducted on Okinawa showed that the reviews of the influencers grab the attention of the people. This study helped to devise a protocol to use Netnography for identification of destination image attributes along with speculative and managerial connotations in tourism (Gholamhosseinzadeh, Chapuis and Lehu, 2021). It is helpful to identify service innovation, scanning and advertising as marketing tool for the firms ( Heinonen and Medberg, 2018).

The absence of holistic approach for the obtained data sets, unfamiliarity with online platforms and unavailability of sufficient time for research are basic disadvantages of netnography (Stanion, 2020).

The use of netnography has significantly increased during last years due to increase in use of social media. For this purpose, online researchers are deploying these social media sources as credible sources of data collection. It is also considered as second stage of internet genesis and helps to generate content.

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 References:

• Bowler Jr, G.M., 2010. Netnography: A method specifically designed to study cultures and communities online. The Qualitative Report, 15(5), p.1270.
• Martech Zone. 2021. What is Netnography? | Martech Zone. [online] Available at: <https://martech.zone/what-is-netnography/> [Accessed 30 October 2021].
• Stainton, H., 2020. Netnography made SIMPLE | What, how and why - Tourism Teacher. [online] Tourism Teacher. Available at: <https://tourismteacher.com/netnography/> [Accessed 30 October 2021].
• Kozinets, R.V., Scaraboto, D. and Parmentier, M.A., 2018. Evolving netnography: How brand auto-netnography, a netnographic sensibility, and more-than-human netnography can transform your research.
• Gholamhosseinzadeh, M.S., Chapuis, J.M. and Lehu, J.M., 2021. Tourism netnography: how travel bloggers influence destination image. Tourism Recreation Research, pp.1-17.
• Gretzel, U., 2021. Dreaming About Travel: A Pinterest Netnography. In Information and Communication Technologies in Tourism 2021 (pp. 256-268). Springer, Cham.
• Heinonen, K. and Medberg, G., 2018. Netnography as a tool for understanding customers: Implications for service research and practice. Journal of Services Marketing.
• Methods.sagepub.com. 2021. What is netnography? - SAGE Research Methods. [online] Available at: <https://methods.sagepub.com/video/what-is-netnography> [Accessed 30 October 2021].

- Rogin Joy , November of 2021