Sonali Kulkarni introduces "feedwork" as a new approach to digital ethnography @diggitmagazine

Uploaded February 2026 | Updated September 2026, 2 hours ago

All academics who study content on TikTok and similar platforms know that researching digital discourse in these spaces involves a range of methodological and ethical challenges. In this video, Sonali Kulkarni proposes “feedwork” as an approach for analyzing content within volatile and unstable platform infrastructures. Feedwork is a variant of digital ethnography and places particular emphasis on the role of algorithms in adapting content to individual users.

At this moment, many researchers rely on research accounts when they gather data and analyze content online. However, according to Kulkarni, the use of such accounts can also obscure important platform mechanisms, as these platforms are designed to interact with real users rather than artificial or observational profiles.

#feedwork #digitalethnography #ethnography #digitaldiscourse #discourseanalysis #culturestudies #TikTokresearch #onlineresearch

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