Netnography to uncover the new aesthetic of the zoomie

Since the first COVID-19 lockdown, video\r\nconferencing platforms like Zoom have emerged as a\r\nfast-growing virtual context where people can have\r\nexperiences such as education, entertainment, and\r\ntourism. Even now that restrictions have ceased, people\r\nare still seeking virtual experiences, particularly in the\r\ncontext of cultural tourism. This has brought to life a\r\nnew practice of selfie-taking: the ‘zoomie’.\r\nIn this paper, we explore the emerging aesthetic of\r\nzoomies to understand how self- and place-presentation\r\npractices are evolving in virtual contexts. To reach our\r\ngoal, we conducted a netnography of zoomies in the\r\ncontext of cultural tourism.\r\nOur findings depict zoomie as the repository of\r\nthree types of tourist gaze and highlight an unkempt\r\naesthetic and comfy culture that differentiates it from\r\ntravel selfie. We finally elaborate how netnography\r\nhelped us uncover the zoomie as a new technocultural\r\nobject.