1 September 2022

Conference Overview

The inaugural International Netnography Conference (NETNOCON23) will be a meeting of minds dedicated to the theme of “Building Bridges” through netnography. Since its initial development in 1995, netnography has become one of the most popular methods for gaining qualitative insights across the social sciences, including Health Communication, Education, Nursing, Medicine, Disability Studies, Management, Marketing, Consumer Research, Communication, Human Geography, Political Science, Sociology, and more—as well as in applied business settings. Now, the Association for Netnographic Research brings you NETNOCON23, a conference that will provide an unprecedented international forum for sharing knowledge and results about the development of ethnographic methodology applied to social media, apps and immersive technologies. NETNOCON23 welcomes conceptual and empirical papers about or based on netnography across any domain in applied or basic science, from any field and at any level.

The goal of NETNOCON23 is to build bridges and supportive connections among the global community of netnographers. Although devoted to netnography, NETNOCON23 is open to significant contributions from all ethnographers studying social media or immersive technology, regardless of methodological inclination.

Registration includes admission to all sessions on July 26, 27 and lunches, coffee breaks and snacks. Please note if you wish to attend the July 28 “Netnography in Practice” workshop or the gala dinner on July 27 this can be booked as part of your registration by selecting the options during the booking process, there is an additional charge for this. Accommodation is not included in the conference fee.

Good value conference accommodations are available on The University of Salford main campus and at The Holiday Inn, MediaCityUK. Please book early as quantities are limited. More details, including pricing and accommodation are available on our registration page.

The Conference Dinner will be held on 27 July 2023 at the Lowry, Salford Quays in the Pier Eight Room. The Lowry is a unique event venue like no other.  Located only 2 miles away from Manchester City Centre, the creative venue sits at the heart of MediaCityUK, an international hub for technology, innovation and technology. Pier Eight Room is a modern meeting / event space that has views of the waterside and its own private terrace Conferences & Events | Venue Hire Manchester | The Lowry.

Scholarships were awarded to eligible PhD students to help them attend the conference. For each scholarship recipient, the non-cash prize includes one free student conference registration, one free workshop day registration, free student accommodation at the University of Salford for the duration of the conference, and one year of student membership in the Association for Netnographic Research.

Authors were invited to contribute to the conference by submitting extended abstracts that provide research results, overviews, and applied research projects that present meaningful advances in the following, or other related areas.

Topics of interest include, but are not limited to, the following

  • Ad hoc and “flash” netnographies (short time spans)
  • Affordances and netnography
  • Audiovisual netnography (e.g., on YouTube or Instagram)
  • Audio netnography (e.g., on Clubhouse, Discord, or podcasts)
  • Augmented, immersive, and virtual technology and netnography
  • Auto-netnography
  • Combining in-person ethnography and netnography
  • Combining netnography and other approaches (e.g. surveys, focus groups, network analysis)
  • Comparisons of methodological approaches (e.g., netnography and online, virtual, and digital ethnography)
  • Critical approaches to netnography
  • Data privacy and netnography
  • Digital diaries
  • Educating about netnography
  • Group dynamics in netnography
  • Humanist and emancipatory approaches to netnography
  • Ideologies in netnography
  • Influencer netnography
  • Informed consent in online research
  • International/transnational netnography
  • Intersectional netnography
  • Interviews in netnography
  • Introspection and netnography
  • Gender, race, and netnography
  • Longitudinal netnography (long time spans)
  • Metaverse and netnography
  • Mobile ethnography in netnography
  • Movements of netnography
  • Multi-method netnographies
  • Netnographies in particular fields (e.g., management, nursing, education, marketing, etc.)
  • Netnographies and specific theories (e.g., assemblage, affordance, algorithmic culture, etc.)
  • Network analysis and netnography
  • Organizational netnography
  • Philosophical and epistemological bases of netnography
  • Qualitative data analysis methods and netnography (e.g., grounded theory, discourse analysis, narrative analysis, thematic analysis)
  • Reflexivity, positionality, and netnography
  • Regulatory and legal concerns in netnography
  • Representation and netnography (art, poetry, music)
  • Research ethics in netnography
  • Social media netnography on Discord, Clubhouse, Telegram, WeChat, podcasts, Twitch, TikTok and other platforms
  • Visual netnography (e.g., on Instagram, Pinterest, or Snapchat)

 

  • “Presentations will have 15 minutes to present research in depth, will be grouped by similar topics and themes, will have a discussant, and will leave time for questions and feedback from the audience.
  • The NETNOCON23 Programme Committee assessed all entries.