What are the rules and tools of qualitative research in

social media?

Ray PoynterThe Future Place

Passive Active

Small Scale

Larger Scale

MROCS

Community Panels

Participant Blogs

WE-Research

Blog & Buzz Mining

Reading Social Media

Stan SthanunathanVP, marketing strategy and insights, Coca-Cola

“The most important thing is that in all the work we do, we’re basically going after the tip of the iceberg. ……..It’s about understanding the human condition. We’re too focused on understanding consumption behaviour and shopping behaviour. We need to understand the human condition, which you’ll only know by observing, listening, synthesising and deducing.”

Listening

Ethnography

E-ethnography

Netnography

Virtual Ethnography

Online Ethnography

?

X FactorInSites Consulting & RTL Netherlands

71,230

From ME-Research

To WE-Research

QualityEthics

Effectiveness

Recognition Problems

Some ethical thoughts

1. Do pretend to be something you’re not

2. Announce your presence

3. Be careful of literal quotes

4. Be aware of “intentions” when searching and reviewing comments

5. Informed consent, means INFORMED consent

Key Challenges

1. Social media research a qualitative domain, but who will dominate its research?

2. How are we going to process large amounts of discourse?

3. How to keep pace with ethics, in particular the ‘expectations’ of subjects?

4. What can we learn from other disciplines?

QUESTIONS?

Thank You!