Estudo de usuários da informação nas redes sociais na internet: uma etnografia virtual na fanpage do TVU notícias

Abstract

The research deals with a study of information users from the theoretical bases present in the concept of informational behavior and informational practices. These two perspectives are based, respectively, on the cognitive and social paradigm of Information Science. It is characterized as a qualitative and descriptive research, applied through the technique of virtual ethnography, supported by the instruments of participant observation, semi-structured interviews and statistical data collection. The empirical field is the fanpage of TVU Notícias on Facebook, considering that information users are becoming more and more present in these non-physical environments. In this way, the objective was to analyze aspects related to informational behavior, as well as evidence elements of the actions of information users that match the socioconstructivist approach, emerging as the third paradigm of user studies in the field of Information Science. The results of the investigation were analyzed from the categorial content analysis, according to Bardin. Four final categories were listed, consistent with elements of behavior and information practices: recognition of the need for information, search, use of information, and user interaction. As a result, users use fanpage as a source of information, which is especially provided by the convergence characteristic of the social network on the internet. The relationship of subjects with information does not always occur due to an explicit need or an anomalous state of knowledge. There is not always a problem to be solved that demands the user's effective search for information to solve it. It is understood that the studied environment becomes interactive and the subject may come across casually with the information or seek it for simple pleasure or curiosity. In addition, the sociability element was evidenced as fundamental in this relation between user-information and the construction of knowledge. Finally, some recommendations for the applicability of the findings for improvements and adaptations in TVU Notícias fanpage were outlined.