printFrom Digital to Mobile Ethnography:
Prospects for Using the “Media Go-Along” Method
Bogomiagkova E.S.
Cand. Sci. (Sociol.), Assoc. Prof. of the Department of Theory and History of Sociology, Senior Researcher of the Faculty of Sociology, St. Petersburg State University, St. Petersburg, Russia e.bogomyagkova@spbu.ru
Kharmanskaia E.Yu.
Master of Sociology, Junior Researcher of the Faculty of Sociology, St. Petersburg State University, St. Petersburg, Russia elinakharmanskaia@gmail.com
This work is based on research supported by the Russian Science Foundation. the grant no. 24-18-00261.
Bogomiagkova E.S., Kharmanskaia E.Yu. From Digital to Mobile Ethnography: Prospects for Using the “Media Go-Along” Method. Sotsiologicheskie issledovaniya [Sociological Studies]. 2026. No 3. P. 40-51
The article examines the possibilities of applying a new methodological approach – the media go-along method. In the context of the mobile turn and the rapid development of networked and flow-based structures that form complex hybrids of institutions and interactions in the form of augmented reality, digital research faces significant methodological challenges. The limitations of existing digital ethnographic tools for studying online spaces are outlined, and the need to turn to the potential of mobile ethnography is substantiated. The article proposes key interpretations of this methodological approach, provides a substantive description of each, and systematizes the characteristics that unite them. For mobile ethnography, mobility functions both as an object of inquiry and as an original methodological technique. Particular attention is paid to one of the innovative methods of mobile ethnography – media go-along. Technically, this method represents a synchronous combination of interviewing and observation and reflects the broader trend toward the hybridization of techniques and methods in contemporary sociology. The shared experience of movement within and between digital platforms by the researcher and the informant makes it possible to explore patterns of user behavior that remain invisible when using classical methods. Based on the application of the media go-along method, its advantages and limitations are summarized, and prospects for its use in contemporary internet research are outlined.
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