A Content-Based Analysis of Travellers’ Social Media Websites

This paper describes a content-based analysis of Web-based travellers’ social media Websites. The proposed methodology is based on three levels of computer-mediated analysis, namely the lexical analysis, statistical analysis and semantic analysis. It is found that the use of systematic analysis of naturally occurring discussions in social media sites can lead to much stronger information about travellers’ destination choices. Web-based social media provides a perspective on travel services and facilities that is deemed more realistic than that provided by firm owners. Monitoring user-generated Web content is a cost-effective method for destination marketers to assess their service quality and improve the overall experience of travellers. In terms of methodological implications, a Web content analysis approach is based on what actually happened and thus has no respondent bias. With both quantitative and qualitative in nature, the methodology is able to identify emergent concepts in grounded research.