Zachert 1 Hannah Zachert Professor Neal Haldane English 1050 29 June 2010 Article Critique Webnography: A New Tool

to Conduct Marketing Research is an article about the benefits and challenges of using the internet for marketing research. The author, Pradeep K. Tyagi, points out that marketers need to learn new skills to analyze feedback from their audience because traditional interpersonal skills cannot be used in the collection and analysis of data from web users. Tyagi writes that Webnography or web-ethnography is an attempt to utilize information generated in natural context on the web (262). Although it can be easier to collect data through webnography research than traditional face-to-face research, it can also be harder to sort through the many details. Marketing research is an area of interest for writers for a couple of reasons. First, it affects the promotional literature that they write. Secondly, written communication of web users and the analysis of this communication also pertains to a writers job. In fact, Tyagi states that researchers need to incorporate computer mediated communication in their research studies for approaching and interacting with their subjects (262). This computer-channeled communication could be performed by a writer. The article defines webnography research and discusses the characteristics of the research and the data. The author also considers the role and responsibility of researchers observing and joining an online community. The author breaks the data retrieved from webnography studies into the categories of textual, visual, and interview data.

Zachert 2 The article is well written for several reasons. Despite technical terms in the article, a reader can easily understand the information presented because the author defines terms with which readers may be unfamiliar. For example, Tyagi explains that webnography examines both textual and visual data. Even someone with little knowledge of computer terms could read this article without getting confused. For instance, the fairly common term blogging is defined. However, someone with more web experience could benefit from this article as well because of the technical information included, such as longitudinal trends and quasi-synchronous modes of communication. The author quotes more than thirty sources, which also shows that the article is wellresearched. Both statistics from studies as well as quotes from authors are included. The hard numbers give credibility to the article, while the quotes from authors explain data and add thoughts for readers to consider. The author, a professor at San Diego State University, has written multiple articles for marketing journals, which also gives the article credibility. The article includes thoughts on ethical behavior for researchers. Tyagi seems to be aware of the potential for beneficial information as well as the potential for unethical behavior that webnography could produce. The author thought through some of the misuses that could occur with the information he presented, which shows integrity and contemplation. This also gives the article more credibility than if it had been written hastily without forethought. However, the article provides readers with a number of practical approaches in addition to more theoretical considerations about webnography. These practical approaches range from examining photos and emoticons that web users post to using video cameras and electronic interviews in studies. After reading this article, a reader can grasp some of the concepts of webnography as well as how to put those concepts into action.

Zachert 3 I agree with the points made in the paper, such as the point that researchers will have to shift the traditional ways of conducting research and adapt to the unique conditions of the online environment (Tyagi 266) in order to effectively use this new method of research. Tyagis observations correlate with my own observations about how people use the internet. People today are more willing to be open when they do not have to interact with someone face to face. I personally like having time to think through an answer to a question instead of having to instantly answer someone in person. Researchers can also learn a great amount of information about a persons online activity because of how frequently people use the internet. For example, Facebook alone has more than 400 million active users, and Facebooks press room states that Fifty percent of our active users log on to Facebook in any given day. I found this article personally applicable because of my interest in marketing. I have taken two marketing classes as electives and greatly enjoyed them. It makes sense that writers could help marketers communicate clearly and succinctly to internet users they are studying. Writers could also help researchers read between the lines of responses from internet users. Even for writers who are not involved in research, this article can be worthwhile because it gives some background of how information and statistics are obtained that writers use in their writing. This articles persuasiveness is effective because of the amount of research and thought that went into it. Tyagi wrote it a manner that is approachable for people who are not experts on marketing, but included information that would be of interest to readers with a marketing or web background. Webnography: A New Tool to Conduct Marketing Research is a timely, wellwritten and well-researched article for the market-place in todays web-driven society.

Zachert 4 Works Cited Facebook Press Room page. 2010. Web. 28 June 2010 Tyagi, Pradeep K. Webnography: A New Tool to Conduct Marketing Research. The Journal of American Academy of Business, Cambridge Vol. 15 Num. 2 (March 2010) : 262-267. n. d.Web. 24 June 2010.