Consumer Tribes

An explanation of player motivations in purchasing commodities in virtual worlds provides the foundation of understanding how players make sense of virtual products differently to one another and how motivations of virtual consumption relate to in-game social interactions. In the article, virtual ethnography was used to explore the meanings of consuming goods in a virtual world -Audition Online Game. Participant observation, informal interviews and technological supports such as screenshots, video records were conducted during data collection process. Three different ethnographic themes that make sense of virtual consumption to three different groups of consumer tribes (newbie, independent players and subgroup members or couples) are found. Simultaneously, the explanations of how in-game consumers pervade in the system of consumption and change their relationships with marketers are also revealed. The results contribute to consolidate the similar value of virtual consumption and real consumption to social relationships. This current article also suggests marketers not try to shape the market but adapt it, and based on different types of social interactions to stimulate continuously different groups of players, especially protagonists.

El presente ensayo analiza el fenómeno del consumidor de ropa outdoor en Chile como objeto de estudio para el marketing de experiencia, el neuromarketing y la teoría de las tribus de consumo. A partir del surgimiento y consolidación de marcas locales como Lippi, Wild Lama, Haka Honu y Gnomo Wear combinado con la propia experiencia de consumidor de este nicho, se argumenta en este trabajo que el mercado outdoor chileno constituye un laboratorio singular donde la identidad, la tribu y la experiencia de marca operan de manera articulada y con una intensidad poco habitual en otros segmentos del consumo. El análisis integra marcos teóricos de Maffesoli, Belk, Pine y Gilmore, Schmitt, Damasio y LeDoux, con observación del comportamiento estratégico de las marcas mencionadas, para proponer que la naturaleza no es simplemente el telón de fondo de estas marcas sino el elemento constitutivo de su capital simbólico. El ensayo concluye con implicancias estratégicas para el branding emocional en mercados emergentes y una agenda de investigación empírica pendiente.

Palabras claves: Consumo simbólico, Identidad de marca, Tribus de consumo, Marketing de experiencia, Neuromarketing, Outdoor chileno.

Dedico este trabalho àquele que foi a fonte maior de motivação e força durante este percurso: Meu filho, Samuel. Aos meus pais, Marlene e Inocêncio, que nas palavras de coragem e apoio me fizeram manter a cabeça sempre erguida, pelas quais a honestidade e a humildade foi o mote da educação que me deram. À minha irmã, Thiane, que sem explicação, é meu talismã. À Fernanda, pela compreensão, pela força, pela paciência e pelo companheirismo. Aos amigos, que poucos e bons, nos alavancam no sucesso e nos protegem do medo de fracassar, com eles compartilhei não apenas sorrisos, mas temores e angústias, certo de que o apoio seria incondicional. À Turma 36 como um todo, que me deu a certeza de que o conhecimento só pode ser construído em conjunto e de nada vale se não for compartilhado, e com maior carinho agradeço à linha de pesquisa 'Marketing e Sociedade', que me proporcionou experiências carregadas de afeto e responsabilidade, marcadas para sempre na memória e no coração. À equipe de professores do programa, pela visão de mundo a que me expuseram, pelos exemplos de dedicação ao ensino e à pesquisa e pelas janelas de conhecimento abertas no decorrer do curso. Ao meu orientador, professor Nelsio Rodrigues de Abreu, que mais que orientar, educou-me como pesquisador, como estudante e como pessoa. Sua sabedoria e compreensão deram-me asas quando precisei voar e limites quando fui alto demais. À banca examinadora, formada pela professora Rita de Cássia de Faria Pereira e pelo professor Edvaldo Carvalho Alves, pela disposição em avaliar esta pesquisa e compartilhar sua sabedoria por meio das sugestões dadas ao trabalho. "A tarefa não é tanto ver aquilo que ninguém viu, mas pensar o que ninguém ainda pensou sobre aquilo que todo mundo vê.

Resumo Com o principal objetivo de verificar como o conjunto de representações sociais constrói o efeito do sentimento de tribo em uma comunidade virtual de marca, este estudo netnográfico analisou, na comunidade peladeiro.com.br, padrões de discurso que refletem tal sentimento. A análise baseou-se na intensidade das interações entre insiders e devotees e, na teoria das representações sociais, o processo de ancoragem originou os discursos do sujeito coletivo. Evidenciou-se na comunidade um comportamento de tribo em função das peladas, emergindo nos achados os elementos encontrados nas relações sociais de uma comunidade virtual que a transformam em uma tribo.

In the last decade, marketing studies have tried to define methodologies, models, and tools to support organizations in developing pathways "oriented to" and "based on" the value cocreation. To shed light on these dynamics, using the interpretative lens offered by Agency Theory, this study investigates the sociocultural and cognitive/figurative roots of the process of emergence of consumer tribes in which and by which value cocreation takes place. This paper offers a possible advancement in knowledge useful to define approaches, models, and instruments able to better explain and manage the dynamics of value cocreation.

The cultural impulse for fragmentation and the change to presentational forms of resistance through the means of music are found to be key forces in the growth and multiplication of subcultures through which consumers increasingly participate in life and organize their consumption activities and preferences in and through these subcultures

The growth of internet and the computers complexities has changed the way humans obtain information and communicate has undergone significant changes. The internet is the backbone of information and communication facilities, while various web-based services on the internet, such as social media, become an enabler for people nowadays in creating, distributing dan obtaining content, including when humans communicate on social media which is a form of content creation. Certain YouTube channels have their own culture, even each channel and each audience that is part of it will form a unique culture. This research will reveal the culture of one of the sports genre channels, the areas reviewed include Computer Mediated Communication and aspects of virtual communities. This study uses the Netnography method, which is a form of ethnography that is adapted for a social world that is mediated by computer devices to expose the culture of distictive sport youtube channel .

Netnography (Kozinets, 2010) is an ethnographic approach to study communities that exist primarily online. Engaging in online participant observation, the netnographer connects to the online community through a computer screen, and the field takes place inside the screen. Although having been used in marketing research extensively, netnography is a relatively new methodology in educational research. In this paper, I overview netnography and its applicability in studying online language learning and teaching communities. Drawing upon a netnography of a globally-distributed online community of practice of English language teachers, Webheads in Action, I provide detailed accounts of my experiences as I made particular methodological considerations during data collection in netnography in order to shed light on the often untold aspects of an ethnographic design in online research that involves participant observation. I conclude with a discussion of possible benefits of participant obse...

Over the past decade there have been a number of calls within the branding literature for a consideration of brand–consumer relationships (BCRs) and, certainly, it appears that the term relationship is fast infiltrating the branding vernacular. Such calls are not without foundation and there are a number of factors which provide a strong rationale for them. First, relational approaches to marketing thought remain fashionable and, thus, the relationship concept is being applied in all manner of situations. This fashionability is derived in part ...

Contemporary research in the field of media and communication underlines the importance of ‘subcultures of consumption’ (Schouten/McAlexander 1995), ‘brand communities’ (Muniz/O’Guinn 2001), or ‘consumer tribes’ (Cova et al. 2007) in addressing potential buyers. These studies additionally acknowledge that one of the most important and successful strategies adopted in selling specific products is represented by the creation in buyers of a desire for belonging that “may be satisfied through social interaction surrounding products or services” (Mardon et al. 2018: 1-2). Such feeling of belongingness is based on the discursive creation of ‘tribes’ whose members are bound together by “shared emotions, styles of life, new moral beliefs and consumption practices” (Cova/Cova 2001: 67). And nowadays, online platforms and social networking sites (SNSs) have increasingly provided digital ‘spaces’ where tribe members may construct and experience a collective identity which is conveyed predominantly via discursive cues and genre constraints that allow members to recognise themselves and be recognised as belonging to that community and, most notably in the case of consumption practices, in the products that are being sold to them. On the basis of this background, the present study wants to investigate the particular case of YouTube beauty gurus, an online consumer-centred community that focuses on beauty-related matters addressed via vlogs (García-Rapp 2017; Riboni 2020). In particular, the specific evaluative resources and generic constraints will be highlighted that define the contours of the linguistic practices adopted by the online beauty community embodied in the ‘emotion work’ (Hochschild 1983) that manages and regulates viewers’ feelings so as to enhance interpersonal relationships, resulting in ‘emotional labour’ (Hochschild 1983; Fuoli/Bednarek 2022), that is, the commodification of feelings of belongingness. Therefore, the ensuing investigation will examine the generic structure and discursive ‘tribe’ construction found in beauty product reviews uploaded by the most popular and influential beauty gurus on YouTube. In analysing such data, special attention will be paid to the construction of digital landscapes for culture-specific communities of affective practice in order to better understand how people forge alignments and negotiate meanings through digital practices (Zappavigna/Martin 2018).

In the last decade, marketing studies have tried to define methodologies, models, and tools to support organizations in developing pathways "oriented to" and "based on" the value cocreation. To shed light on these dynamics, using the interpretative lens offered by Agency Theory, this study investigates the sociocultural and cognitive/figurative roots of the process of emergence of consumer tribes in which and by which value cocreation takes place. This paper offers a possible advancement in knowledge useful to define approaches, models, and instruments able to better explain and manage the dynamics of value cocreation.

In the field of consumer and marketing research, netnographies have become a widely accepted form of research. Our social worlds are going digital, with perhaps hundreds of millions of people interacting through various online communities and their associated cybercultures. Netnography is a form of ethnographic research adapted to the unique contingencies of computer-mediated social interaction. This book aims to provide a set of methodological guidelines, a disciplined approach to the culturally—oriented study of that technologically—mediated social interaction that occurs through the Internet and related information and communications technologies. The methods that these various fields have used to investigate these topics are still somewhat uncertain and in flux. Most of this type of work written after the term was coined uses the guidelines and techniques that have been published about the netnographic approach.

Resumo Com o principal objetivo de verificar como o conjunto de representações sociais constrói o efeito do sentimento de tribo em uma comunidade virtual de marca, este estudo netnográfico analisou, na comunidade peladeiro.com.br, padrões de discurso que refletem tal sentimento. A análise baseou-se na intensidade das interações entre insiders e devotees e, na teoria das representações sociais, o processo de ancoragem originou os discursos do sujeito coletivo. Evidenciou-se na comunidade um comportamento de tribo em função das peladas, emergindo nos achados os elementos encontrados nas relações sociais de uma comunidade virtual que a transformam em uma tribo.

Post modern dönemde modern klan olarak tanımlanan toplulukların ortaya çıkması, klan pazarlaması olarak tanımlanan alternatif bir pazarlama yaklaşımının doğmasına yol açmıştır. Bu çalışmanın amacı Türkiye'de faaliyet gösteren dinsel toplulukları, modern klan davranışları açısından tanımlamak ve klan pazarlamasının söz konusu topluluklara ne ölçüde uygulanabileceğini belirlemektir. Bu amaçla Çanakkale, Biga'da kolayda örnekleme yöntemiyle seçilen topluluk üyeleriyle anket yapılmıştır. Analiz sonuçları, topluluğun bir ölçüye kadar modern klan niteliklerine sahip olduğunu, ancak üyelerinin çoğunun sembolik değerlerden haberdar olmadığını göstermiştir. Diğer taraftan üyelik türlerine göre davranış farklılıkları, üyelerin topluluğa bağlılığı ve toplulukla uyumlu davranış gösterip göstermediklerine yönelik kurulan hipotezler büyük ölçüde doğrulanmıştır. Bununla birlikte sonuçlar, üyelerin topluluğa karşı gösterdikleri uyum davranışının satın almaya yönelik tutumlarına yansımadığını göstermiştir.

Günümüzde sanal topluluklar, vegan-vejetaryen kimliğe sahip bireyler için kimliklerini öne çıkarabilecek ve kendilerini ifade edebilecek bir alan olarak değerlendirilmektedir. Daha da ötesi, üye olunan sanal toplulukların kişilerin tutum ve davranışları üzerinde etkili olduğu tartışılmaktadır. Veganlık-vejetaryenlik, yaşam tarzının yanı sıra bir felsefe ve biyoetik bakıştır. Vejetaryenlik, beslenmede hiçbir hayvan etinin kullanılmaması ve diğer hayvansal ürünlerinin tüketiminin daha sınırlı olması iken, veganlık hiçbir hayvan ürününün kullanılmaması ve tüketilmemesine dayanan bir beslenme tarzı ve hayat görüşüdür. Bu doğrultuda çalışmanın amacı, vegan-vejetaryen sanal topluluklara üye olan bireylerin tüketim davranışlarını, tutumlarını ve kültürlerini belirlemektir. Araştırmada, netnografi yöntemi kullanılmıştır. Araştırma kapsamında, vegan-vejetaryen sanal topluluklarına ilişkin en aktif olan altı Facebook grubu ve altı forum sayfası incelenmiştir. Araştırma sonucu olarak ortaya çıkan tüm ana ve alt kategorilerden yola çıkarak veganvejetaryen bireylerin kendilerine bir sosyal kimlik kazandırma amacı ile çeşitli sosyal platformlarda yer aldıkları söylenebilir. Yapılan paylaşımlar yeni başlayanlara yol gösterici Bu makale için önerilen kaynak gösterimi (APA 6.

Play theory has been underutilized to understand consumer behaviour. In this article, we adopt a play theory perspective to understand how consumers respond to and navigate macrostructural influences. The marketplace culture stream of consumer culture theory (CCT) research is particularly well suited to macrostructural analysis from a play theory perspective. We develop an analytical framework derived from play theory to interpret the context of marketplace culture. We show how the types of play foundational to marketplace culture experiences act as expressions of order or disorder to wider macrostructural influences. In contrast to agentic perspectives, we show how marketplace culture experiences, despite their fun appearance, embody the underlying tensions of the intensifying rationality, regulation and competition structuring neoliberal society. Finally, we express concern over the marketer’s control of playground expression and suggest CCT adopt a more critical stance to the com...

Resumo Com o principal objetivo de verificar como o conjunto de representações sociais constrói o efeito do sentimento de tribo em uma comunidade virtual de marca, este estudo netnográfico analisou, na comunidade peladeiro.com.br, padrões de discurso que refletem tal sentimento. A análise baseou-se na intensidade das interações entre insiders e devotees e, na teoria das representações sociais, o processo de ancoragem originou os discursos do sujeito coletivo. Evidenciou-se na comunidade um comportamento de tribo em função das peladas, emergindo nos achados os elementos encontrados nas relações sociais de uma comunidade virtual que a transformam em uma tribo.

Either referred to as the information age, computer age or most commonly now as the digital age, this era of an unprecedented technological advancement in all fields has captured the attention of scholars in the humanities to investigate the ubiquitous nature of computing and the prolific use of technology in almost all aspects of human activity. Because the last two decades or so have been characterized by communication based on information technologies, a myriad of researches studying the very nature of human interaction with and through new technologies has escalated. Aiming at redefining humanity in the digital age, many scholars have brought about new theorizations that seek to answer questions like: do we shape technology or is it technology that shapes us? Donna Haraway's Cyborg theory (1991), for instance, proposes an imaginary world of fusions between animal and machine. Rosi Braidotti's the Posthuman Project (2012) explains that in the era of advanced postmodernity, the notion of 'the human' is both destabilized by technologically mediated social relations in a globally connected world and is thrown open to contradictory redefinitions of what is to be human. By putting emphasis on the deeply-rooted changes that are happening to humanity at a high pace, the present paper reflects on new directions in the humanities that seek to decipher these technology-related changes. More particularly, my focus is to consider how Robert Kozinets' netnography, as an emerging research method in digital anthropology, can help educators, parents and students to understand the transformations that are taking place in their behavior in real life situations. By accentuating the strong impact spending long hours on social media and being glued to one's electronic devices have on our social behavior, I inquire, in this article, about the role netnographers could play in assisting teachers and parents to bridge the gap between the latter and youngsters by explaining to them the behavior of their students/ children who have become virtualized.

Netnography is a relatively new research method, which adapts research techniques of ethnography to study cultures and communities through computer-mediated communications. It has become a popular research method in marketing research during the 21st century. However, the use of netnography in the field of information systems (later referred as IS) has not been studied to great extent. Thus, we have conducted a systematic literature review to investigate the ethical practices of netnographic research in the field IS. To analyse the ethical practices of netnographic research and discussion surrounding it, we have collected 52 articles which use netnography either as their sole research method or as their completing research method. These articles were selected from 77 IS journals. Our findings indicate that netnography is an emerging research method which is still moulding its ethical guidelines. Researchers, who use netnography, do not completely agree on the ethically just manner of conducting netnography. However, it is apparent that certain ways of conducting netnography are often considered to be ethically just where as some other ways might be often considered to be ethically unjust.

This study analyses the elements of rituality in consumer tribes. Data are drawn from a qualitative study on the Reebok CrossFit 33100 fitness community. According to previous research, rituality is a primary contributor to the existence, creation and recreation of consumer tribes. However, further research is needed on how rituality is constructed in consumption tribes. This study identifies three elements, namely linguistic, physical and emotional, that hold the tribe together and give form to its shared myth of transformation. By conducting a cultural analysis of focus group interviews and online data, we identified a key ritual, the 'workout of the day' (WOD), which we analysed for elements of rituality. According to our findings, participating in this ritual creates a shared myth of transformation for tribe members that permeates the entire tribal experience. This article contributes to literature on consumer tribes by deepening knowledge on how rituality is constructed, especially the emotional and embodied nature of the tribal experience. By identifying the shared myth that is created through rituality, companies can better understand and cooperate with consumer tribes.

Managing consumption communities Companies are increasingly searching for ways to manage consumption communities. However, previous studies on consumption communities suggest that managing them is difficult, if not impossible. This article addresses this paradox and builds on recent conceptualisations of consumption communities as networks. By building on theory about network management functions, we discuss how companies can actually manage consumption communities without authoritarian and hierarchical control. Using three case studies of heterogeneous consumption communities, a footwear brand, a sports lifestyle community and a tableware and glassware design brand, the article identifies eight consumption community management activities. The article makes a theoretical contribution to the literature on consumption communities by introducing a network management perspective. In addition, it offers valuable practical guidance for managers who wish to manage consumption communities at the strategic level and as an essential part of their customer-related management processes.

The growth of internet and the computers complexities has changed the way humans obtain information and communicate has undergone significant changes. The internet is the backbone of information and communication facilities, while various web-based services on the internet, such as social media, become an enabler for people nowadays in creating, distributing dan obtaining content, including when humans communicate on social media which is a form of content creation. Certain YouTube channels have their own culture, even each channel and each audience that is part of it will form a unique culture. This research will reveal the culture of one of the sports genre channels, the areas reviewed include Computer Mediated Communication and aspects of virtual communities. This study uses the Netnography method, which is a form of ethnography that is adapted for a social world that is mediated by computer devices to expose the culture of distictive sport youtube channel

Due to the increased importance of marketing, concepts of marketing are continually evolving in the digital era. Creation of consumer tribe for brand promotion and consumption is one of the widely discussed concepts in marketing. As per literature, a tribe is a heterogeneous group of people presenting common interest and preferences for a brand. The links between consumer tribes are weak. Marketers through a marketing campaign, try to strengthen this relationship. Tribalism and tribe activity in favor of brand can be done through two approaches. The first approach is the postmodern approach which encourages users to get a higher status (Platinum, Gold or Silver) in the community via spending more. In contrasts, the second approach of a marketer is based on stimulating and activating a group of users through an opportunity or threat, i.e. limited time offers. However, the creation of tribes and the implementation of these campaigns are not well explained in the literature. Marketers ...

This theoretical study aims to verify the current state of the art of marketing academic research on consumer socialization, on reference groups and on brand communities through a literature review of recent and or seminal authors. A critical analysis was performed on these ideas, which indicated, in the relationship between the group and the individual, the role key played by both social representations within the sharing context, as well as social interaction, considered vital for the existence and survival of a social group. Consequently, it was evidenced that community strength is proportional to the concentration of its interaction and of its communication between its members, this interaction being defined as a social process of exchange and of co-creation between individuals who share the same context social or interests and habits.

This paper presents an alternative, 'Latin', vision of our societies. Here the urgent societal issue is not to celebrate freedom from social constraints, but to re-establish communal embeddedness. The citizen of 2000 is less interested in the objects of consumption than in the social links and identities that come with them. This Latin view holds that people like to gather together in tribes and that such social, proximate communities are more affective and influential on people's behaviour than either marketing institutions or other 'formal' cultural authorities. There is also an element of resistance and re-appropriation in the acts of being, gathering and experiencing together. This view of the shared experience of tribes sets it apart from both Northern notions of segmented markets and one-to-one relationship. In this Latin view, the effective marketing of 2002 and beyond is not to accept and exploit consumers in their contemporary individualisation, as Northern approaches might. Rather the future of marketing is in offering and supporting a renewed sense of community. Marketing becomes tribal marketing. In a marketing profession challenged by the Internet phenomenon, tribal marketing is by no means just another passing fad but a Trojan horse to induce companies to take on board the re-emergence of the quest for community.

Brand relationship, community identification and community participation represent the pillars of brand community dynamics. While brand relationship refers to the consumer’s positive attitude to a unique brand, by identification a consumer expresses the sense of belonging to the community, and through participation he or she shows the enthusiasm to run brand and community activities. Existing literature neglects the nature and the roles of participation, the identification and the differences between the constructs. Based on the ABC model (Attitude, Behavior and Cognitive), the paper empirically analyzes the antecedents of participation by a survey of 223 members belonging to the Vespa motorcycle off line communities. Data analysis is carried out by structural equation modeling through Lisrel software. The results show that the consumer’s brand responses are driven, in the attitudinal and behavioral aspects, more by participation than identification. From the other side, the last on...

This study explores how reflexivity contributes to the continuation of value creation for consumers throughout consumption journeys. Reflexivity is awareness of the self within the world. Our study establishes a framework for studying consumption journeys centered on progressive engagement with a practice-in this case surfing-over time. We discover that reflexivity manifests in consumption journeys in an iterative, recursive manner-i.e., recursive reflexivity-tacking between identity (mis)alignment (with dominant institutions) and reflexive outcomes, such as imitating, improving, adapting and reconciling. Our findings reveal that recursive reflexivity contributes to the continuation of value creation in consumption journeys by fostering practice continuity-i.e., immersion, adaptation, innovation and/or dissolution of a practice-which provides opportunities for enhanced consumption experiences and supports the evolution of identity projects. These findings deepen the understanding of how practices, identity, and institutions contribute to value creation. Implications from these findings suggest that firms should pay close attention to recursive reflexivity and practice continuity to cultivate value creation with consumers by (a) providing opportunities for enhanced consumption experiences, (b) aligning or misaligning brand identity with dominant institutions, and (c) sparking imagining, identity evolution, and practice innovation.

This paper aims to investigate the latest literature on Tribal Marketing. The tribe has always been a mean of segmenting people for marketing purposes, and community marketing is recognized as an efficient way of narrowing the target population for a given brand. With the development of social networks, another step in tribal marketing has been achieved. The maturity of digital marketing techniques and the growing mastery by brands of the social networks have now brought tribal marketing to another level as it is detailed in the following literature review.

O presente trabalho busca apresentar alguns desdobramentos do método do discurso do sujeito coletivo no que toca à densidade semântica por ele provocada, que implica a presença significativamente mais relevante, nas pesquisas sociais que envolvam coleta de depoimentos, do pensamento coletivo como realidade empírica. Tal presença mais significativa do material empírico, aliada ao entendimento do pensamento das coletividades como referente, permite o diálogo do momento descritivo com o momento interpretativo neste tipo de pesquisa, podendo assim, como nova possibilidade que aponta para o incerto e para o inesperado, contribuir para um entendimento renovado da natureza e do funcionamento das representações sociais como realidades complexas.

This paper presents an alternative, 'Latin', characterization of postmodernity. Here the urge is not to celebrate freedom from social constraints, but to re-establish social embeddedness. The citizen of postmodernity is less interested in the objects of consumption than in the social links and identities that come from them. This Latin view holds that people like to gather tohether in tribes and such social, proximate communities are more affective and influential on people's behaviour than either marketing institutions or other 'formal' cultural authorities. There is also an element of resistance and reappropriation to the acts of being, gathering and experiencing together. This view of the shared experience of tribes sets it apart from both Northern notions of one-to-one relationship and atomistic markets.

Recent aspects of Western life in general and of consumption particularly demonstrate a major trend-that of postmodernism-as we approach the coming fin de sibcle. This article looks at postmodern thinking as it affects marketing. Notwithstanding the strong French influence on this cultural phenomenon, it is suggested that managers all over Europe need to understand the meaning of postmodernism and the message it holds for the discipline of marketing. In particular, the author reviews five widely-held ideas about postmodernism and discusses their relevance for marketing management.

O presente trabalho busca apresentar alguns desdobramentos do método do discurso do sujeito coletivo no que toca à densidade semântica por ele provocada, que implica a presença significativamente mais relevante, nas pesquisas sociais que envolvam coleta de depoimentos, do pensamento coletivo como realidade empírica. Tal presença mais significativa do material empírico, aliada ao entendimento do pensamento das coletividades como referente, permite o diálogo do momento descritivo com o momento interpretativo neste tipo de pesquisa, podendo assim, como nova possibilidade que aponta para o incerto e para o inesperado, contribuir para um entendimento renovado da natureza e do funcionamento das representações sociais como realidades complexas.

Researching vulnerable groups has long been a subject of academic work and has been subject to rigorous ethical approvals for conducting face-to-face interviews. With new technologies come new challenges. Groups of people come together on online forums and have anonymous discussions about anything and everything; this often includes the source of their vulnerabilities. In the discussed research, the focus of these community support forums is mental health. It is difficult to shift the focus of researching vulnerable adults away from face-toface to online, particularly as there are no physical cues to give meaning to the language used. The value therefore must be contained in the written word, and there are "unique characteristics" in the data due to this. There is something quite refreshing about focusing on the text rather than body language, and there are many suggestions on how to conduct this type of research. My research focuses on using virtual ethnography of online focus groups, which has been fraught with issues, but has proved a useful learning experience. Learning Outcomes By the end of this case, students should be able to Recognize the limitations within their own research design and be able to defend their use of a particular methodology Critically evaluate the use of virtual ethnography Understand how virtual ethnography can inform the study of qualitative data sets from online environments Project Overview and Context There is an increasing amount of research focusing on online communities, and although there appears to be a plethora of research into support forums for users with health issues, there is a gap in the research market when it comes to specialist community support forums (Salzmann-Erikson and Eriksson, 2012). Online community forums for people with mental health issues are plentiful, and they are also incredibly accessible, particularly if you use open-access forums such as Reddit. Gatekeepers such as forum moderators control most of the closed access sites (where you must sign up and log in using a password each time), and some request that you fill out lengthy forms, proving who you are and what your intentions are, along with a copy of your ethical approval. This is cumbersome; however, once you have gone through this process, the gatekeepers can be very helpful. Extra time should be factored in for this process, and you are generally only able to complete this if ethical approval has already been granted (Witney, Hendricks, & Cope, 2016).

Post modern dönemde modern klan olarak tanımlanan toplulukların ortaya çıkması, klan pazarlaması olarak tanımlanan alternatif bir pazarlama yaklaşımının doğmasına yol açmıştır. Bu çalışmanın amacı Türkiye'de faaliyet gösteren dinsel toplulukları, modern klan davranışları açısından tanımlamak ve klan pazarlamasının söz konusu topluluklara ne ölçüde uygulanabileceğini belirlemektir. Bu amaçla Çanakkale, Biga'da kolayda örnekleme yöntemiyle seçilen topluluk üyeleriyle anket yapılmıştır. Analiz sonuçları, topluluğun bir ölçüye kadar modern klan niteliklerine sahip olduğunu, ancak üyelerinin çoğunun sembolik değerlerden haberdar olmadığını göstermiştir. Diğer taraftan üyelik türlerine göre davranış farklılıkları, üyelerin topluluğa bağlılığı ve toplulukla uyumlu davranış gösterip göstermediklerine yönelik kurulan hipotezler büyük ölçüde doğrulanmıştır. Bununla birlikte sonuçlar, üyelerin topluluğa karşı gösterdikleri uyum davranışının satın almaya yönelik tutumlarına yansımadığını göstermiştir.

Abstract—The growth of internet and the computers complexities has changed the way humans obtain information and
communicate has undergone significant changes. The internet is the backbone of information and communication facilities,
while various web-based services on the internet, such as social media, become an enabler for people nowadays in creating,
distributing dan obtaining content, including when humans communicate on social media which is a form of content creation.
Certain YouTube channels have their own culture, even each channel and each audience that is part of it will form a unique
culture. This research will reveal the culture of one of the sports genre channels, the areas reviewed include Computer Mediated
Communication and aspects of virtual communities. This study uses the Netnography method, which is a form of ethnography
that is adapted for a social world that is mediated by computer devices to expose the culture of distictive sport youtube channel
.
Keywords— netnography, social media, youtube channel, sport culture, computer mediated communication

Dijital pazarlama çabalarında yaşanan artışla beraber sanal topluluk kavramının önemi her geçen gün daha da artmaktadır. Sanal topluluklar, internet ortamında yeterli sayıda kişinin bir araya gelmesiyle oluşan kişisel ilişki ağlarıdır. Çevrimiçi gruplar gerçek anlamda bir araya gelmedikleri için, bu gruplara topluluk denip denemeyeceği tartışma konusudur. Rheingold, sanal toplulukları “yeterli sayıda kişinin internet aracılığıyla, sanal alemde insani duygulara dayalı kişisel ilişki ağları oluşturmak üzere, yeterli sürelerde devam ettirdikleri halka açık tartışmalardır” şeklinde tanımlamıştır.

Netnography has been there in the social science stream since 1995 but is mostly used only for market and consumer research. Kozinets (2007) defined Netnography as ‘doing ethnographic research online or on digital networks and also as a combination of internet and ethnography’. The objectives of this study is to understand the current trends & future of digital space of India and an extensive analysis of existing Netnographic studies in India. The study reflects that the digital space and digital users are growing with high penetration rate along with the popularity of 4Gs and Smartphones in India. Research findings further reveal that there exists a substantial gap between the scope of Netnographic studies and the size of the overall Indian digital space, virtual networks/SNSs and number of digital users. Also, there are only a few disciplines currently promoting Netnography as a serious research method in India.

The present paper assesses the usage of relational ontologies in the realm of macromarketing made available by consumer culture theorists. Our paper advances this movement by exploring the potential of relational ontologies to propel a more thorough methodological discussion and operationalization of relationality in macromarketing. To fulfill this task, the paper first identifies and discusses four perspectives that have provided stimuli for relational thought: the new mobilities paradigm, non-representational theories, practice theories and assemblage theories. Subsequently, the paper offers an organizing framework made of four steps (i.e., approaching, setting up, emplacing, and staging) in which the role of different relational perspectives is examined. Lastly, the paper sketches a hypothetical relational-inspired macromarketing study on the reputational capital of places as a way to encourage an applied discussion of this relational framework. By so doing, the paper seeks to better clarify the expected contribution of the different relational perspectives brought forward by CCT scholars to the realm of macromarketing, with a particular focus on methodological aspects.