Social Media and Tourism

Our research into tourism and social media over the past two years has provided us, along with our clients, with some key insights into how tourists use social media. Among our key findings is that it is almost equal between males and females using social media to research destinations (52% female to 48% male) across the broad demographic range of 20-55+. When it comes to sharing photo’s and videos of their experiences however, that changes to 64% female and 36% male. This correlates to other consumer demographics where women are more likely to share experiences. When it comes to business travel however, men are 15% more likely to share their experiences from their travels.

Niche tourism markets are also very heavily engaged in social media for both planning trips, sharing experiences and recommending locations, things to do and where to stay. Tourism operators and authorities however, are seemingly still unsure about reaching out to niche markets online. Traditional marketing isn’t very cost effective for reaching niche markets for tourism, but online marketing, especially through social media, is. Niche markets are the most active in social media channels and can be effectively targeted and engaged.

In some of the projects we’ve worked on however, tourism authorities have focused on traditional mass markets and their engagement in social media. This would mean families, retirees or a broad demographic. They too are active in social media channels, but reaching them cost effectively either online or through traditional channels such as television, radio and print, is harder to do and remains more scattershot than targeted. Our research has shown that targeting tourist “segments” through social media, from niche markets to more defined segments (e.g. cruise lovers or value seekers) is a far more successful approach.

Through our work, we see we are at the forefront of this kind of tourism research into social media. And lets be clear, there is a definitive difference between monitoring your brand in social media and conducting social media research on tourism. Monitoring brings up conversations “now” and is limited in its ability to find true trends. Nor do any social media monitoring tools effectively (or to any degree) identify niche markets. Using social media monitoring tools is useful once you’ve done the initial research, engaged and have something to monitor. Using social media monitoring tools to research tourists use of social media will lead to disappointing results.

Tourism is a very hot topic across all social media channels and is one of the top three online topics of discussion and engagement. Tourism authorities and operators that research these opportunities and then engage may find significantly valuable new opportunities.

Forums Are Alive & Well Thank-You!

With all the cool new ways to connect with people and share online like Facebook, Google+, Twitter et al, you would think those clunky, earliest of social media tools, those horrid “forums” would be dead and gone to the digital graveyard. Well, not so much. In fact, they remain as popular as ever. And may perhaps be growing. But there is a demographic issue at play.

Online forums were the evolution of the early Bulletin Boards and W’ell (which still exists) out of San Francisco from the early 80′s, arguably the precursor to today’s current social media technologies/channels. They became very popular along with IRC (Internet Relay Chat) services in the mid-90′s. From about 1993 to 2002, forums became the backbone of early social medias. IRC’s were popular, but restrictive in that they were time sensitive and somewhat clunky. From IRC’s grew instant messaging tools such as ICQ (the first big one later supplanted by AOL IM) and Microsofts later MSN Messenger.

But where IM tools are far less popular today (mostly just with the under 20 demographic) and IRC services almost completely gone, forums have persisted and in fact, play a critical part of overall social media usage. In the over 200 research projects we’ve conducted for business and governments, forums have played a role in 97% of these projects and account for anywhere between 5% and 15% of the overall measurable content we analyse with our text analysis software, mediasphere360.

What we do note is that forums are mostly used by the +35 demographic, although we have seen a trend of use by the under 25 to 18 demographic for academic discussions and technical (engineers, ICT, cars.) When the service Ning first came out, we suspected it may edge out forums, since it enabled groups to come together far more easy and included the ability to share rich content like videos. A surfeit of Ning like contenders came out targeting everything from sports associations through to community clubs. Forums, however, refuse to die.

Forums are very popular with tourists and people researching tourist destinations, car and motorcycle mod clubs and all other kids of clubs and interests. One of the largest online forum communities (aside from tourism) is sewing – yes, sewing machines and darning needle types. Outside of North America and consumer engagement, we also see increasingly heavier use of forums by citizens in developing nations and their diaspora living in other countries. For developing nations with limited (read “expensive”) broadband access, forums are much easier for dial-up connections and use far less bandwidth.

We believe that forums will continue to play a key role in online engagement for at least the next ten years, if not longer. If you’re a marketer looking to engage in social media, don’t get confused just thinking Facebook or Twitter is the only place you need to be, it isn’t. If you’re relying on social media monitoring tools like Sysomos, Trackur or radian6 to point you to those conversations – don’t. They rarely “crawl” them and analysing text from them is almost impossible without some heavy lifting by human beings and some deny access to crawlers and must be searched/analysed manually.

The Constant Rebellion Towards Channels

YouTube became successful in large part because people wanted an alternative to boring old tv broadcast stations that dictated what you could watch and when. Internet radio was largely the same reason and blogging etc., because people could tell their own stories, create and share their own ideas. Throughout history, whenever someone creates a media channel to broadcast, someone looks for a way around it because they have another view or find too many restriction imposed by the gatekeeper of that channel.

This is always happening. With Facebook effectively now a “channel” it was no surprise over their leak of Project Spartan with the intent to deliver apps within the Facebook channel. Some media channels are looking at developing apps in HTML 5 to be delivered in the Safari browser in iPad and the iPhone and other smart-phones, bypassing iTunes and the Apple gatekeeper. Sure they’re a tad slower, but they work. More importantly, they avoid Apple’s control.

As we indicated in an earlier article, it’s the Hippies who created the Bulletin Boards and the The Well back in the 70′s and into the early 80′s. Steve Jobs was one of them, he knows the aversion to enterprise systemic control – and yet is creating an Apple-centirc channel today. We’re always, as humans, looking for an alternative…technology always disrupts, just as the printing press eliminated scribes and the car the horse and buggy.

We see the issues of Apple, Google, Microsoft and Facebook as basic economic cycles. They are disrupting and in some cases creating, entirely new forms (i.e. app stores), of channels. People will certainly use them, but at some point, people will find a way around them when they want a different form of content and new channels will evolve. Google+ threatens Twitter more than Facebook, yet now Google and Facebook are trying to outdo each other by adding new features to encourage people to stay within their channels.

At its inception, Facebook was intended for a narrow audience with a channel that did not exist in the form desired. YouTube, DailyMotion, Break.com have succeeded because people wanted other forms of video content than what broadcast television was providing. Social media channels are simply alternatives or new forms based on either a want or need of the market. Therefore, disruption will be the norm and people will always look for ways to communicate that fill a new perceived desire, decrease friction and cost.

Social Media & Corporate Due Diligence

Is there any real value to social media when it comes to corporate due diligence? There is indeed. In the due diligence process, sometimes vital information may be uncovered that could impact an investment transaction; good or bad. The key is to know what you’re looking for, how to ask the question and where to go looking. A Google search will tell you a lot. Perhaps. An online reputation management tool will tell you about the same, perhaps with some nicely designed graphs that, well, mean nothing.

Case Study Example
A client came to us that we had done market intelligence work for. This time, they were looking to invest in a software company in their sector. It was a strategic investment that would give them the software they needed and revenues from selling it to others. They were in the final stages of the due diligence process. So far, everything had checked out; the software was where is was supposed to be and the financials were as they should be. Since the investment included the key management of the company, they wanted to gain a better understanding of these people. That’s when it got interesting. The result of the research we did showed one of the co-founders was deeply engaged with a competitor and there was evidence of a side deal taking place – all of this from publicly available sources. But unless you know where to look and unless you have the ability to connect relationships in social media, this information may not have come to light until it was too late.

Social Media Research in Due Diligence
Just as social media can have an impact on board governance, so can it play a role in due diligence best practices. Arguably, a deep look into social media before the deep due diligence begins, may save an investor or buyer of a company a lot of up front time; and may give clear direction for due diligence. So what can social media potentially tell a VC, investor or buyer? Here’s a partial list;

- Reputation and standing of the founder(s) of the acquisition target

- Business and industry standing (to avoid potential damages)

- Other potential issues with Intellectual Property

- Prior business dealings that could send up red flags or indicate a good outcome

- Validate founder(s) claims of work and past experience

- Provide insight into what customers are saying in case there is cause for concern

Just as an individual can be vetted to ensure accuracy and reliability of claims, so can the company. And lets face it, people like to talk, always have, always will. This is a key underpinning of social technologies – that humans like to communicate. Often times, employees, customers or partners may say something in a blog post, on a public Facebook page, Twitter or other public spot. In and of itself, what is said is seemingly innocent at the time. Within that context, it is. Later on however or combined with additional information – that innocuous comment or blog post suddenly becomes very relevant and very important. Dots can be connected and a picture comes together. Competitors may use this information or investors. Either way, this is incredibly valuable information in the public domain.

The Double Edged Sword of Social Media in Civil Unrest & Crises

Following the riots in the UK, the British government knee-jerked and an MP called for turning off social media during times of such civil unrest. Unfortunately, this would likely make the situation worse. When the Egyptian government in February of 2011 turned off Internet access, the protests grew stronger. Aside from this issue, is that social medias are varied and used in many different ways. They can also play a positive role in a crises. We’ve conducted a number of research projects for clients looking to understand the role of social medias in crisis situations; from natural disasters through to various forms of civil unrest. Here’s a summary of what we’ve come to understand:

The Challenge of Social Medias in a Crisis
Social Medias and technology do not cause a revolution or riots. Today, technology can help in organizing unrest and pushing out a message to a broader audience. In the case of the UK riots, one particular technology seemingly played a role; the Blackberry and it’s private messaging service – but the evidence is weak as to how much of a role it played, if indeed it did. In Egypt, Facebook and Twitter played a role. In Iran in 2009, Twitter, flickr, YouTube and blogs were primary tools. In peaceful protest of the proroguing of Canadian parliament in 2010, Facebook was used by the opposition party to organize national protests.

In almost all cases we’ve researched, more than one tool plays a role and in different ways. And the role of these technologies is not always quantifiable. We have found that there are “signals” that can indicate a climax to civil unrest and indicators that the momentum is waning or lost.

The Helpful Challenge of Social Media in a Crisis
Just as social medias can play a negative role (depending on who’s side you’re on and the nature of the issue at hand), so can these technologies play a critical role. Our research would indicate that social medias offer far more positives than negatives. Especially during and just after a natural disaster. After the earthquake in Haiti, txt messaging played a vital role in getting recovery crews to real emergencies. After a natural disaster in Canada, videos on YouTube helped the government identify key areas where help was needed.  A post-crisis analysis, such as the ones we’ve done, have helped governments learn about how to better handle future crises, when resources might be laid on and how to communicate with citizens. In the London riots, many more people than rioters used social medias to inform each other of how to be safe, where to go and who to help.

The Double Edged Sword of Social Media in a Crisis
These two issues present a complicated scenario of just what to do about these technologies in crises. On the one hand, they can result in saving lives and property and give comfort to those suffering or questioning. On the other they can help wreaking havoc. Then there is the public policy issue of freedom of information and civil liberties. An authoritarian government like Egypt’s Moubarak can hit the off switch, China can pull the plug or build great firewalls. Yet, as witnessed in Egypt and Bahrain, turning off the Internet doesn’t necessarily solve the problem. Riots and civil unrest aren’t caused by the technology, they are symptoms of a deeper cause. Then there’s the issue of democratic countries with established rule of law and protection of civil liberties – turning off the Internet in a crisis is seen as a totalitarian act and may jeopardize peoples lives.

These are some of the complex issues society has to endeavour to understand and develop policies for. The answers are not always clear and as good governments can use social media to help citizens, so can totalitarian states use it to censure and cause damage. But we still don’t clearly understand exactly what the impact is and until we have enough research and situations, we wont.