In the digital era, self-media platforms have become important venues for people to express themselves. Photo: IC PHOTO

With the development of the internet and the advancement of digital technologies, online communities and self-media platforms have become important spaces for self-expression. As the ethnographic research paradigm extends into virtual spaces, “netnography” has emerged. While netnography has attracted widespread academic attention, it has also sparked debates over methodological definitions, ethical standards, and other concerns. Some scholars have even begun to question the legitimacy of netnography as an independent research method. In the context of rapid digital and intelligent transformation, how is netnography possible, and how should scholars observe and document it?

Based on long-term immersion

Netnography—also referred to as internet ethnography, cyber ethnography, or virtual ethnography—is an online research method that applies ethnographic approaches to the study of virtual communities and cultures. It seeks to understand the internet and its associated sociocultural dynamics through fieldwork. In the internet era, interpersonal communication has moved beyond face-to-face interactions, relying increasingly on mediated, non-physical forms of engagement. Consequently, the field of observation has evolved into a virtual space no longer constrained by geography. This transformation has made netnography a crucial lens for analyzing digital civilization. However, not all internet-based research qualifies as netnography.

“Long-term fieldwork is the cornerstone upon which netnography is built and through which knowledge is produced,” said Bu Yumei, an associate professor from the School of Sociology and Anthropology at Xiamen University. In netnographic research, scholars do not merely log in to virtual communities occasionally or make brief visits to collect data, nor do they simply download content for textual or content analysis. Instead, they must be persistently immersed in the virtual community over time—observing members’ daily lives, social interactions, emotions, and sentiments. When necessary, they also actively participate by joining conversations or directly engaging with community practices. Such fieldwork, often spanning six months to a year or longer, forms the foundation for crafting nuanced, multidimensional, and in-depth ethnographies—only then can the work truly be considered netnography.

According to Sun Xinru, a professor from the School of Journalism and Communication at Nanjing University, netnography—like traditional ethnography—emphasizes a strong “sense of orientation.” It is not a wholly new methodology, but rather a continuation or evolution of traditional ethnography adapted to the digital age. As such, its core methodological principles remain largely unchanged; what has shifted are the research settings and the progression of observed events. This requires researchers to be attentive to the unique spatial logic of digital environments. Unlike traditional ethnographers, who typically undergo a process of entering, staying in, and exiting the field, netnographers may access their “field site” at any time and from any location—and may even become “deep participants” within it.

As research has progressed, some scholars have extended the scope of netnography from online communities to platforms like WeChat and Douyin (TikTok). Mi Shuxian, an assistant professor from the College of Philosophy, Law and Political Science at Shanghai Normal University, has attempted to conduct a “micro-life ethnography” on Douyin. Some have questioned whether the platform is suitable for such research, arguing that its content often appears overly scripted. In response, Mi noted that while some Douyin videos are performative and influenced by algorithmic mechanisms, trending topics can still reflect real social realities and underlying value orientations at specific moments. Researchers can supplement online textual analysis with participant observation, in-depth interviews, and other methods, combining the strengths of both traditional ethnography and netnography to fulfill the core requirements of ethnographic inquiry.

Avoiding blind application

“Overall, the academic community has reached a fundamental consensus in the field of netnography: This is a new research domain that cannot be underestimated. It emerges from the development of information technology which prompts the digital transformation of social life, representing a scholarly response to the changes brought by technological civilization,” said Zhao Xudong, director of the Institute of Anthropology at Renmin University of China.

Domestically, research fields such as subcultures, ethnic group studies, migrant populations, pedagogy, media studies, and virtual reality have already produced notable scholarship using netnographic methods. However, debate continues within the academic community around issues such as how to define the research field, whether offline engagement is necessary, and how to address research ethics. Some voices even question the validity of netnography as an independent methodology.

In a May 2025 article titled “Is Netnography a Method? A Review, Reflection, and Repositioning,” first published online, Professor Liu Dehuan and doctoral candidate Hong Xinyi from the School of Journalism and Communication at Peking University outlined several major misconceptions surrounding netnography. They argued that netnography is not an independent method, but rather a hybrid of various established methodologies. If applied blindly, netnography risks becoming little more than “old wine in a new bottle” or falling into methodological laxity. The authors called for a thorough examination of a method’s origins, its necessity, and its broader implications before adopting it in research.

“Netnography is a new phenomenon, but it is not entirely distinct from past practices,” Zhao noted. Ethnography is a paradigm for systematically describing and interpreting the lives of specific groups, and netnography represents the application of this traditional ethnographic method to online communities in the context of digital cultural transformation. The interviews, observations, and analyses take place in the digital realm, with the aim of understanding the meanings behind individual self-expression in digital spaces. This is clearly not about “discarding the old in favor of the new,” but about “borrowing the old to pursue the new”—a postmodern coexistence of “the old and new intertwine, each shaping each other.”

Regarding whether netnography needs to extend to offline contexts, Bu believes that given the interweaving and mutual shaping of people’s online and offline lives and actions, incorporating offline research can better reflect social realities for certain research topics. However, this is not always necessary and depends on the needs of the study. Researchers should determine whether to expand into offline fieldwork based on their research themes and objectives. If extended offline, it can serve as a validation or supplement to the virtual environment study.

Uncovering underlying cultural logic

In the era of digital intelligence, how can netnography integrate with AI technologies and big data analysis? Mi explained that AI and big data analysis can assist netnography with tasks such as mining, preprocessing, coding, and analyzing textual data, enabling the scientific handling of massive datasets. Looking ahead, the discipline will face methodological innovations involving the incorporation of quantitative analysis and interdisciplinary collaboration. However, it is important to note the temporal specificity of online data, whereas human life is fluid and processual. When employing netnographic methods, researchers must clarify the level at which their research questions operate. It is essential to remember that research subjects cannot be separated from their social contexts; their actions are inevitably influenced by sociocultural factors.

Zhao pointed out that the era of digital intelligence is dominated by network media, with all dimensions of human social life undergoing digital transformation. Against this backdrop, fieldwork should focus on this cultural transformation, investigating how people engage in the production, consumption, and reproduction of digital media in their daily practices. Researchers must also analyze various traces left in cyberspace, delving beyond surface phenomena to uncover deeper cultural schemas, behavioral motivations, and unconscious impulses influencing the expression of these clues, thereby revealing the underlying implicit logic. For example, by dissecting viral short videos advocating the “Three No’s Principle” (no home-buying, no marriage, no children), researchers can explore its connections to life pressure among youth, the social rat race, and the awakening of labor value consciousness. In the digital intelligence era, the essence of netnographic observation lies in the interpretation of online presentations. Netnographic writing should rely on “clue ethnography” to achieve innovation at the level of cultural transformation, constructing a material system centered around the core issues researchers prioritize in ethnographic studies, thereby revealing the diverse ways in which different age groups, genders, and ethnic groups navigate and construct their lives in contemporary society.

Zha Jianguo and Chen Lian contributed to this story.