Becoming a Digital Anthropologist: Learning Netnography from Robert Kozinets

What does it mean to truly understand a culture? Not just observe, but engage, empathize, and embed yourself within it? This was the core question at the heart of the netnography workshop I had the privilege of attending at IAE Paris Sorbonne Business School, led by none other than Professor Robert Kozinets, the pioneering academic behind the method of netnography, a qualitative research approach that brings ethnography into the digital age.

The Mindset of Netnography

We explored netnography not just as a method, but as a mindset. A deeply reflexive, iterative, and ethical practice of cultural immersion. Instead of observing from a distance, netnography invites us to immerse ourselves, to learn with participants, not just about them. It’s a method built on empathy, engagement, and deep cultural awareness.

Understanding Culture and Technoculture

Through digital traces, such as memes, Instagram stories, YouTube comments, or conversations in forums, netnography aims to uncover not only how people talk about their offline lives online, but also how entirely new forms of digital culture and technoculture emerge within online spaces. From sharing real-life experiences like parenting or grief, to participating in distinctly digital phenomena like online dating or meme subcultures, these traces reveal complex layers of emotions, rituals, language, and meaning that shape both lived and mediated realities.

Professor Kozinets explaining the four stages of netnography during the workshop

Case Study: Ask Gen Z: A Deep Dive Into Gen Z's Scrolls

One compelling example that stood out during the workshop was a project on Gen Z’s media consumption habits. Using mobile ethnography, the research team didn’t just ask Gen Z what they consume, they witnessed it as it happened.

"The mobile ethnography approach we used to dive deep into Gen Z’s media consumption habits allowed us to be a digital fly on the wall. It provided us with an unprecedented glimpse into Gen Z’s dynamic consumption of a diverse array of media content. While other methods rely on recall, we were able to experience their media consumption as it unfolded." - Professor Robert Kozinets

Brand Strategy and Netnography

From an innovation and brand strategy perspective, netnography has proven itself as a powerful and reliable method. For brands aiming to stay ahead of the curve or revitalize their image among younger audiences, it offers far more than traditional data, it reveals deep cultural insights, emotional drivers, and emerging behavioral patterns in real-time. Instead of reacting to trends after they happen, brands can anticipate and co-create culture by aligning with the authentic digital experiences of new generations. In today’s landscape, where Gen Z not only consumes but also actively shapes brand narratives, netnography is more than a research method; it’s a strategic tool for innovation.

Key Takeaways from the Workshop

• Subjectivity is not a flaw, it’s part of the research game. Instead of futilely chasing the mythical creature of “objectivity,” researchers must learn to embrace the amphisbaena, the two-headed snake, representing the duality of objectivity and subjectivity. These two aspects of research are not opposing forces but interwoven dimensions. Subjectivity is not a bias to eliminate; rather, it’s a lens through which we interpret data, as long as the researcher consciously acknowledges and reflects on it.

  

  We must learn to embrace the Amphisbaena

• Netnography uses both a telescope and a microscope: First, zooms out to see the big picture, then zooms in to capture what Kozinets calls "deep data" emotionally rich, context-specific insights that bring meaning to both online and offline experiences shared digitally.

• RAIDR is a powerful framework for selecting meaningful digital data source: Relevance, Activity, Interactivity, Diversity, Richness.

• Netnography is like being a travel blogger: engage, observe, journal, craft, and tell a story through your research findings.

• Ethics matter deeply: anonymity, consent, and respectful engagement are not optional; they are essential.

Conclusion

Perhaps what stayed with me the most is how netnography asks us to be more than researchers, it asks us to be empathetic storytellers. If you’re curious to learn more, don’t miss Netnocon2026, happening June 17–19 in the lovely Aegean city of Izmir, Turkey!