Social Media Anthropology

The term Social Media Anthropology and Social Media Anthropologist & Social Network Anthropologist (TM) are neogolisms coined by Erika Preuss of Technology Goddess LLC and Russell Wright of Theme Zoom LLC in late 2007. We have mutually been redefining a new field of online media, networking and cultural study of online neural networks, communities and cultures.

Erika Preuss, originated the term as a professional credential for a previously un-defined field of Social Media Study in the neurosciences in published articles and started using “Social Network Anthropologist” on her professional credentials in late 2007 and professionally published the term with Russell Wright in early 2008 while working on the NeuroSocial Media project and published articles. Russell also publicly used the neogolisms and referenced both he and Erika several times as the original and only professional Social Media & Network Anthropologists in global radio and online interviews and videos distributed online through both of our respective companies.

Since it’s inception, like NeuroSocial Media, many online marketing and PR reps have picked up the term without proper reference for it’s origins, and this article is meant only to clarify any misunderstandings as some very well-known industry individuals are now using the neogolisms inaccurately and without full understanding of both it’s meaning and origins.

When a term becomes viral it can easily lost it’s powerful root meaning or the identity of it’s origin and professional reference, I hope to correct that misunderstanding!

While Wikipedia defines Social Anthropology as: “Anthropology (/ˌænθɹəˈpɒlədʒi/, from Greek ἄνθρωπος, anthrōpos, “human”; -λογία, -logia) is the study of humanity. Anthropology has origins in the natural sciences, and the humanities.^[1] Ethnography is both one of its primary methods and the text that is written as a result of the practice of anthropology and its elements.”

and Cultural Anthropology as:

“Cultural anthropology is one of four fields of anthropology (the holistic study of humanity) as it developed in the United States. It is the branch of anthropology that has developed and promoted “culture” as a meaningful scientific concept, studied cultural variation among humans, and examined the impact of global economic and political processes on local cultural realities.

The anthropological concept of “culture” reflects in part a reaction against earlier Western discourses based on an opposition between “culture” and “nature“, according to which some human beings lived in a “state of nature”. Anthropologists have argued that culture is “human nature,” and that all people have a capacity to classify experiences, encode classifications symbolically (i.e. in language), and teach such abstractions to others. Since humans acquire culture through the learning processes of enculturation and socialization, people living in different places or different circumstances develop different cultures. Anthropologists have also pointed out that through culture people can adapt to their environment in non-genetic ways, so people living in different environments will often have different cultures. Much of anthropological theory has originated in an appreciation of and interest in the tension between the local (particular cultures) and the global (a universal human nature, or the web of connections between people in distinct places/circumstances).”

Russell and Erika took the application of Cultural and Social anthropology into the Neurological- or Neural-Networking Technology and Social Media cultural view and further developed it into a system of understanding online Social Media Culture, Networks and human drivers and behavioral considerations within the global and local cultural neural networks.

They have defined Social Media Anthropology within the context of neurobehavioral and neurocognitive science, online culture/ nature, technology and humanity.

The full report and personal development system they have created will be available online soon and in workshop format through outlets of Social Media Mantra, Technology Goddess and Social Butterfly Effect.

I hope this clears any confusion as to where the term originated or what it references professionally to be considered a Social Media Anthropologist and/or Social Network Anthropologist through the Technology Goddess courses.

~Erika Preuss, Social Network Anthropologist SNA
CEO Technology Goddess LLC