A case study on the usage of social network analysis to complement participant observation on Twitter

Based on digital ethnography conducted between 2013 and 2015 on the social network service Twitter, this article develops a theoretical-methodological discussion on the usage of data mining and network visualisation as a “quantitative” complement to the “qualitative” approach of participant observation. Starting from a literature review, this article argues that ethnography, from its beginnings, has been open to “quantitative” research. This article also tackles the anthropological origins of terminology and methodology regarding social network analysis, thus recovering the anthropological interest on the subject. Finally, based on an empirical case study, this article shows a possible usage of such methods as a way to enrich ethnographic analysis.