Using Social Network Analysis to Guide Theoretical Sampling in an Ethnographic Study of a Virtual Community

The Usenet discussion network is a popular area of the Net, attracting participants from every corner of the world. It works as a public bulletinboard, organized into topical discussion groups called newsgroups, whose number Turner, Smith, Fisher and Welser (2005) put at 150,000. It thus provides a convenient way for people with very diverse interests to find each other and discuss their passion. Usenet’s large base of participants, neatly organized into distinct knowledge realms, has resulted in the emergence of many topicallyfocused virtual communities. Most are virtual communities of interest (Blanchard & Markus, 2004), focused on a particular passion or hobby, such as the Harry Potter books (alt.fan.harrypotter) or stamp collecting (rec.collecting.stamps. discuss). Others are more specialized communiABSTRACT

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