Social media activity in a festival context: temporal and content analysis

Abstract

Purpose This study explores the multi-phasic experience of festivals to understand the nature, purpose and degree of social media (SM) use before, during and after festival occurrence and how this may inform better engagement of attendees. Design/methodology/approach A census of tweets and posts from four festivals’ Twitter handles and Facebook accounts were coded and analyzed across three time points: one week prior, during and one week after the festival. They were coded on nature (e.g. conversational, promotional, informational), purpose (e.g. information-seeking, friendship/relationship) and presence of links, photos, etc. Tests for platform influences on usage were conducted. Findings In total, 1,169 tweets and 483 posts were captured. Two-thirds of SM activity occurred during the festivals, one-third pre-festival and minimal activity post festival. Temporal analyses found that while the purpose and nature of the message content varied across festival time points, this was often dependent on SM platform. Research limitations/implications Festivals are not taking advantage of the multi-phase experience model and the utility of SM to maintain contact and encourage visitors to continue processing their experience after the festival. This lost opportunity has implications for re-patronizing behaviour and sponsor relationships. Originality value Leung et al. (2013a) call for sector specific research to elucidate SM use in tourism. Festivals provide a unique environment of co-created experience. Findings suggest differential usage of SM across festival time frames and platforms that can be used to guide festival organizations’ SM communication to better engage its patrons.

Running Rotterdam: on how locals’ participation in running events fosters their sense of place

“…Research on festivals has increasingly included the (content) analysis of social media as the latter have greatly impacted on the way in which organizations communicate with their customers (MacKay et al 2017). To refer to Flinn and Frew (2014, p. 419), ''ubiquitous social media is a managerial and festival game changer'' and it enables festival goers to ''construct, re-tell and consume […] dynamic narratives of identity'' (Flinn and Frew 2014, p. 430).…”

Principales temas utilizados en la comunicación social de las ONG de inmigración en España a través de la red social Facebook

“…Se utilizó Ncapture, una herramienta complementaria de Nvivo 11, para la recopilación de los datos de las publicaciones realizadas en la rede social de Facebook. Gracias a esta herramienta se pudo recolectar y ordenar todo el contenido de las publicaciones de las ONG y de los comentarios de los usuarios lo que facilitó enormemente su posterior tratamiento y análisis (He et al, 2016;Garay y Morales Pérez, 2017;MacKay et al, 2017).…”

North American park agencies’ evolving use of Twitter: A content analysis of 2014 and 2017 tweets

“…First, during Phase 1 of the sampling process, feeds from all North American park agencies' official Twitter sites were monitored for a twomonth period to determine general categories for coding tweet content. These general categories were then compared with content analysis from the SM literature (Dann, 2010;Gibbs & Dancs, 2013;Hvass & Munar, 2012;Hays et al, 2013;MacKay et al, 2017). Finally, conservation and enjoyment, mandates common to most park agencies, were added as coding categories.…”

“…Visitor satisfaction can be increased through enhanced management of visitors' experiences and expectations. Twitter can also encourage visitors to recall memorable and meaningful park experiences through post-visit dialogue utilising SM (MacKay et al, 2017). This can serve to elevate park loyalty practices such as donations, return visits and positive word-of-mouth.…”