Role of social media in online travel information search ph d program - ulpgc

ROLE OF SOCIAL MEDIA IN ONLINE TRAVEL INFORMATION

SEARCHZheng Xiang – University of North Texas (USA)

Ulrike Gretzel – Texas A&M University (USA)

TOURISM MANAGEMENT - 2010

Role of Social Media in Online Travel Information Search

2 MEGA TRENDS

SOCIAL MEDIA WEBSITES

CGC

BLOGS, VIRTUAL COMMUNITIES, SOCIAL NETWORKS, MEDIA

SHARING…

SEARCH ENGINES USE FOR TRAVEL PLANNING

GOOGLE, YAHOO, MSN


RESEARCH BACKGROUND

• Werthner, H., & Klein, S. (1999). Information technology and tourism: A challenging relationship. Vienna: Springer.

• Xiang, Z., Wöber, K., & Fesenmaier, D.R. (2008). Representation of the online tourism domain in search engines. Journal of Travel Research, 47(2), 137-150

INDUSTRY PERSPECTIVE, SYMBOLIC REPRESENTATION

PERSPECTIVE, TRAVEL BEHAVIOUR PERSPECTIVE, TRAVEL INFORMATION SEARCH PERSPECTIVE


DMO, Planners Secondary& Administration Suppliers

Primary Suppliers

Intermediaries Consumer A

Social MediaWebsites

Airlines Consumer B

Social Media and Tourism Domain within the context of using a search engine (Xiang, et al., 2008)

Search Engine


THE ONLINE TOURISM DOMAIN CAN BE UNDERSTOOD AS COMPRISING ALL SUCH

INFORMATIONAL ENTITIES THAT RELATE TO TRAVEL

http://twitter.com/account/profile_image/turismogc?hreflang=es


RESEARCH QUESTIONS

TO WHAT EXTENT DOES A SEARCH ENGINE REPRESENT SOCIAL MEDIA WEBSITES IN THE SEARCH RESULTS WHEN AN ONLINE TRAVELLER USES

THE SEARCH ENGINE FOR TRAVEL-RELATED INFORMATION SEARCH?

WHAT TYPES OF SOCIAL MEDIA WEBSITES APPEAR AS A RESULT OF TRAVEL-RELATED INFORMATION SEARCH?


RESEARCH QUESTIONS

HOW ARE SOCIAL MEDIA DISTRIBUTED ACROSS SEARCH RESULTS PAGES?

DO DESTINATIONS DIFFER FROM EACH OTHER IN TERMS OF SOCIAL MEDIA RESULTS GENERATED? ARE LARGER DESTINATIONS MORE LIKELY TO GENERATE MORE SOCIAL MEDIA SEARCH RESULTS THAN SMALLER

DESTINATIONS, OR VICE VERSA?

ARE CERTAIN TYPES OF SOCIAL MEDIA WEBSITES MORE LIKELY ASSOCIATED WITH CERTAIN KEYWORDS USED BY TRAVELLERS?


THE PROPORTION OF SOCIAL MEDIA AMONG ALL THE SEARCH RESULTS RETRIEVED BY THE SEARCH ENGINE

THE WAY THE SEARCH ENGINE REPRESENTED SOCIAL MEDIA WEBSITES ACROSS DIFFERENT SEARCH RESULT PAGES

THE TYPES OF SOCIAL MEDIA WEBSITES

THE RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN THE TYPES OF SOCIAL MEDIA WEBSITES AND SPECIFIC SEARCH KEYWORDS AND DESTINATIONS

RESEARCH DESIGN

METHODOLOGY

Role of Social Media in Travel Information Search

ACCOMMODATION CHICAGO

HOTEL LAS VEGAS

ACTIVITIES NEW YORK CITY

ATTRACTIONS DALLAS

PARKS CHARLOTTE, NC

EVENTS SAN JOSE, CA

TOURISM ELKHART, IN

RESTAURANT BRADENTON, FL

SHOPPING PUEBLO, CO

NIGHTLIFE


VIRTUAL COMMUNITY SITES 40%

CONSUMER REVIEW SITES 27%

BLOGS AND AGGREGATORS 15%

SOCIAL NETWORKING SITES 9%

MEDIA SHARING SITES 7%

OTHER 2%



DOMAIN FREQUENCY PERCENTAGE CUMULATIVE PERCENTAGE

tripadvisor.com 96 8.3% 8.3%

virtualtourist.com 78 6.7% 15.1%

igougo.com 58 5.1% 20.2%

mytravelguide.com 54 4.6% 24.9%

yelp.com 37 3.2% 28.1%

meetup.com 30 2.6% 30.7%

travelpost.com 26 2.2% 33.0%

insiderpages.com 25 2.1% 35.1%

associatedcontent.com 17 1.4% 36.6%

yellowbot.com 17 1.4% 38.0%

Top ten unique domain names among social media search results



SEO, SEM

EMBRACE SOCIAL MEDIA

INTEGRATE SOCIAL MEDIA



LIMITATIONS

CROSS SECTIONAL APPROACH

MSN, YAHOO! …

MORE DESTINATIONS AND GEOGRAPHIC AREAS

FUTURE RESEARCH

Development of practical tools – Benchmarking systems


Role of social media in online travel information search

Thank you very much for your attention

Please, easy questions if so!