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114] Digital Media and Storytelling in Higher Education CHAPTER 6. NETNOGRAPHY Netnography is the ethnography of the Internet and examines the content and interactions of posts in micro-communities on Web 2.0 platforms, especially social media and video-sharing platforms. 1he cultural activities of users in the world of Web 2.0 often take narrative form. Fehér (2015) describes digital identity as the projection of the selfthrough digital platforms, claiming that such an identity is nothing more than a data set. In her research, she investigated what motivations and strategies university students (n — 15) have before entering the workforce by constructing their digital identities. Based on the content analysis of the interviews and the results of the questionnaire, Fehér found that 70-80% of the respondents self-identify with their online self-presentation. The survey also revealed that users make decisions based on their roles: women primarily use social media to build relationships, while men use it to achieve their moral goals. Based on the results of the research, Fehér asserts that online and offline identities cannot be separated, as online identities simply represent an attribute of offline identities. A positive self-presentation in a social environment enhances selfesteem, while self-management aids in building a personal brand. While users only make part of their private lives public, the reception of the stories of others is necessary for developing self-reflection. In a later study, Fehér (2019) investigated online decision strategies with a larger international sample (n = 60). 70% of the users consciously shaped their strategies and controlled their digital footprints. The majority of netnographic research is anthropological and sociological, focusing directly on narrative representations and their impact. The micronarratives of online self-representation present narrative identity, with users recording major episodes of their life histories on social media. In addition to personal posts, shared content and comments on the content of other users also provide important data regarding an individual's online self-expression. Analyzing this data can reveal a person's views, family relationships and cultural consumption habits. The duration of their online presence or the frequency of posts also represents data that can be used in quantitative research. Relevant elements in social science research include whether users use nicknames or avatars (and if so, which ones) and whether they use filters to aestheticize their visual content or not. Comparing the behavior and identity of users on social media with their behavior and virtual identity in video games also presents a complex research issue. User-manipulated, often idealized profile representations make research more difficult, as the data presented on the profile does not always reflect the real socio-cultural status of the user. At the same time, users’ profile use and activity vary; for instance, highly educated people protect more of their data and they are less reactive to other people's posts. Braga (2021) considers
