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This study examines brands' vulnerability to fake news. The rapid spread of online misinformation poses challenges to brand managers, whose brands are co-created online, sometimes to the detriment of the brand. There is a need to identify the information sources that are likely to be trustworthy and to promote positive consumer attitudes toward brands. The data for this study were taken from a Flash Eurobarometer of 26,576 respondents across 28 European countries. Cluster analysis and partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) were used to analyze the data and unveil users' attitudes toward fake news. The findings show that users' attitudes toward fake news differ among European countries. Younger and tech-savvy users are more likely to recognize fake news and are consequently able to evaluate digital information sources without relying on policy interventions to limit the impact of fake news. Brand managers can use the findings of this study to better understand different kinds of users' susceptibility to fake news and reshape their social media branding strategies accordingly. It is hoped that this paper will encourage further research on brand management in relation to fake news and promote the widespread adoption of best practices in social media communication.

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to present knowledge acquired through examining three cruise lines’ social media strategies over a three-year period, analyzing the network structures involved and demonstrating the value of the STAR (storytelling, triggers, amusement and reaction) model for enhancing social media activity. Design/methodology/approach This study gathered data from three cruise lines’ official websites and Facebook and Twitter accounts, examining variables such as internet presence, engagement and fans/followers. Furthermore, the work also addresses several issues that researchers encounter when using the STAR model. Findings Digital activity was found to vary significantly between the three cruise lines’ websites and Facebook and Twitter accounts, with the companies adopting different approaches and obtaining different results. Each company tended to have its own base of fans and followers, who shared a common language, reflected in the hashtags they used. The results show that cruise lines wishing to develop a content-oriented strategy that maximizes engagement in social media should share rich multimedia content that supports storytelling values and can be used on multiple platforms. Originality/value This work can be of interest to practitioners aiming to use a comparison and assessment tool for their digital activity. It could also assist future researchers focusing on cruise line activity, as few researchers have analyzed the online content strategies of cruise lines, particularly on Facebook and Twitter.

The fast path of smart tourism developments within the tourism and hospitality field clarifies the need to identify its intellectual structures and monitor its evolution. 43% of the articles ever published are from the last two years. An initial work, covering the papers published between 2008 and 2018, reveal five dimensions under a humanware approach: (i) smart technologies; (ii) smart ecosystems; (iii) value creation; (iv) tourism experience; and, (v) sharing economy. With this classification framework, the present work aims to identify emerging trends and future research paths using a scientometric analysis of smart tourism research from 2008 to 2020. The scientometric analysis was conducted over the 1321 papers referenced and retrieved from Web of Science and Google Scholar, narrowed to the 225 classified as tourism and hospitality. These articles were subject to content, citation and authorship analysis. The content analysis produced eight clusters that represent the main research streams. This result confirms the field's fast evolution path since two of these clusters emerged in the last three years. The twenty most cited articles were reviewed and classified under the humanware framework. The vast majority of the works are still related to smart ecosystems and technologies, unveiling the need to enrich knowledge related to the other streams and the tourism and hospitality response to Covid-19 supported by smart technologies.