From the self to the screen: a journey guide for auto-netnography in online communities

ABSTRACT

Supported by the previous literature, the author explores the method of auto-netnography, delimiting and differentiating its scope and boundaries. This article contributes to the literature with a Journey Guide for Auto-Netnography that can be used in online communities in social media by practitioners, organisations and scholars. That guide is constituted by six elements: (1) the traveller, (2) the map, (3) the routes, (4) the learning, (5) the telling and (6) the safety of the trip. The article also advances the literature by identifying and discussing the novel concept of brand auto-netnography. For illustrative purposes, the author uses an example of his own efforts to perform an auto-netnographic study in the context of a presidential candidate’s Facebook community; the author was the candidate’s campaign manager.

KEYWORDS:

• Auto-ethnography
• auto-netnography
• ethnography
• introspection
• netnography
• research methods

Acknowledgments

I want to thank three anonymous reviewers, the associate editor and the editor for their critiques, guidance and ideas.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Dino Villegas

Dino Villegas is an Associate Professor of Practice in the area of Marketing at the Rawls College of Business, Texas Tech University. His research interests cover areas such as social media, marketing communications, communication strategies, branding and netnography. He has over a decade of experience as a consultant in industries such as mining, construction, postal services, transport, financial services, retail, telecommunications, non-profits organization and politics, among others. He is the Vice President of the Iberoamerican Communication Strategies Forum (FISEC), a research effort that brings together academics from over 20 countries.