Netnography: Doing Ethnographic Research Online

With as many as one billion people now using online communities and social media such as newsgroups, blogs, forums, social networking sites, podcasting, videocasting, photosharing communities and virtual worlds, the internet is now an invaluable research site.

This exciting new text is the first to explore the discipline of 'netnography' - the conduct of ethnography over the internet - a method specifically designed to study the social web of cultures and communities online. For the first time, full procedural guidelines for the accurate and ethical conduct of ethnographic research online are clearly set out, with detailed, step-by-step guidance to introduce, explain, and illustrate the method to students and researchers.

The author also surveys the latest research on online cultures and communities, focusing on the methods used to study them. The research overview and procedural approaches are explained throughout with examples that include the latest developments in the social web, such as blogging, microblogging (tweeting), social networking, videocasting, podcasting, virtual worlds and more.

This book will be essential reading for researchers and students in social sciences such as anthropology, sociology, consumer research, marketing research, management and organizational research and cultural and media studies.