I’m #studygramming! A Netnographic Exploration of Study-Oriented Social Media Content Creation Practices

Abed, Meriem (2022) I’m #studygramming! A Netnographic Exploration of Study-Oriented Social Media Content Creation Practices. Doctoral thesis, University of East Anglia.

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Abstract

Numerous online spaces have emerged and formed online communities around different topics. Of these online spaces, the online study community (OSC) hosted on StudyGram, StudyBlr and StudyTube has thus far attracted little academic attention. This thesis considers the voices of OSC content creators- StudyGrammers- their engagement and interactions, identity, and experiences. In doing so, this thesis proposes a conceptualisation of ‘study’ within OSC and reveals the impact it has on StudyGrammers at three levels: academic, personal, and social.

To explore these content creators and their practices within this community, a netnographic approach was deployed, coupled with an auto-netnographic account of myself as both researcher and StudyGrammer. Informing the findings of this research were interviews with four StudyGrammers, online observations, an immersive journal and the researcher’s own content creations across OSC.

Thematic analysis reveals that OSC is based on aesthetically pleasing presentations of studying, carefully and creatively crafted around beautifying the process of studying. Through these practices, StudyGrammers challenge traditional perceptions of ‘study’ as both hard and tedious, transforming it into a fun, enjoyable and aesthetic activity. Findings reveal that in OSC, ‘studying’ entails more than just reading and writing to learn information; it also nvolves a social dimension in the form of creating and sharing content and interactions with audiences.

StudyGram is shown to be a Community of Practice (CoP) Wenger (1998) but adds a fifth dimension to the four types of learning – learning through doing, through communication, through experience, and through becoming which is learning through study. Goffman’s dramaturgical approach (1956) is also used to explore both the frontstage and backstage of OSC and offers insights into the process of content creation. This thesis calls for a wider consideration and engagement with StudyGrammers and their practices to better understand and leverage their overall student-life experiences.

Item Type:	Thesis (Doctoral)
Faculty \ School:	Faculty of Social Sciences > School of Education and Lifelong Learning
Depositing User:	Chris White
Date Deposited:	10 Jul 2023 10:10
Last Modified:	10 Jul 2023 10:19
URI:	https://ueaeprints.uea.ac.uk/id/eprint/92578
DOI:

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