NASF in Twitter: An Entrepreneur's Community of Practice Using Electronic Networks of Practice

摘要

A group of Navarrese business men and women have formed an alliance called NASF. The group is a Community of Practice (CoP) committed to fostering entrepreneurship within and beyond its local geographic borders. Contemporary CoPs are often extended to become Electronic Networks of Practice (ENP). NASF is an ENP whose online presence appears through individual contributions and community facilitators. The group is actively involved in social media campaigns. By using social media and appropriating information that circulates on it, NASF builds its identity. This manuscript presents the initial results of an ethnographic study of the group. The purpose of the study is to explore the mechanisms the group uses for sharing knowledge in order to start, support and grow businesses. The discussion presented in this manuscript is based on two years of monitoring group activity. A conventional content analysis was used to examine a subset of group tweets on Twitter in order to gain an understanding of the group and it use of social media to support the CoP.