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立 政 治 大 學
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l C h engchi U ni ve rs it y
CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION
The development of the Internet brought several changes in our lives. Among them, our way of interacting with others and gathering information significantly changed and continues to do so. However, it was not until recently that a new approach towards how people interact and share information came to light: social media. After the evolution from Web 1.0 to Web 2.0 (with richer methods of user interaction, new technologies, and
fundamentally different philosophy), websites such as Facebook, YouTube, Twitter and
many others started gaining more popularity among the Internet users for being both aplatform on which innovative technologies have been built and a space where users are treated as first class objects (Cormode, 2008). These new platforms allowed the users to share
contents directly and in real time, making it the new avenue for social interaction.Nowadays, the power and impact of social media is reaching new horizons, and one of the industries that are getting closer to social media is tourism. Specifically, travel related decisions are being influenced more than ever by social media contents, and online travel reviews are becoming popular sources of information (Gretzel, 2011). It is also changing the way consumers gather information and make use of it. This paper will focus in how social media affects consumer behavior towards travel planning in its different stages and levels of trustworthiness and usefulness.
The researcher chose international students living in Taiwan as the target for the study in order to obtain a wider diversity of opinions from people with different cultural
backgrounds. The target was also chosen due to the fact that these people are more frequent travelers than local students (they had to travel from their home countries to Taiwan in the first place).
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立 政 治 大 學
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N a tio na
l C h engchi U ni ve rs it y
1.1 Research Background
The travel and tourism industry is greatly influenced by word-of-mouth opinions and feedback regarding travelling experiences. Hence, the Internet is the perfect platform to find this information more conveniently. Social media has the power to affect advertising attitudes, brand attitudes, and purchasing intentions of consumers (Taining, 2012), therefore, they also hold the potential to influence travel plans and to motivate others to travel by looking at pictures, watching videos or reading posts that may entice the willingness to pack up and go around the world. Research in social media influence on this topic is scarce. The information that can be found is too shallow to make valid asseverations or to be used as a reference. The present study fills in this gap and will provide results that can help in future research.
According to a report made by global advertising agency network McCann (2010), there are currently more than 1.5 billion users visiting social media websites per day: “Social media is a very fast-evolving landscape and one that is taking an increasingly important role in consumers’ digital lives. Brands that want to engage with consumers in these spaces need to understand how, where and why they are using the many different platforms that enable content creation and sharing.” (p.21)
The new social web makes different requirements on both consumers and advertisers.
Consumers are not merely finding information, they are contributing by writing, uploading pictures, videos, creating regular status updates and live-streaming their everyday lives. But it’s not just a rise in the number of people joining social networks; people are using social media for a broader range of activities. In fact, in 2009 they were using them for 6.4 activities (such as sharing videos, organizing groups and events, sharing photos, dating, messaging friends, find old and new friends, updating their profile, etc.) and in 2010 this rose to 8 (McCann, 2010).
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Most research regarding social media are related to how people interact with others and how they make use of them. However, just in the past few years, researchers have changed their aim towards marketing and consumer behavior, analyzing the influence of information found in social media and how it affects the decision-making processes.
Regarding the particular topic of influence on travel-related decisions, there are few studies that address it, usually just mentioning the fact that there are more websites dedicated to the travel industry. Therefore, there is a gap in information that needs to be filled: how social media influence the consumer behavior in travel related decisions? In what way are social media being used for this purpose? How is social media perceived regarding levels of trustworthiness and usefulness? And what makes people share their experiences with others online?
1.2 Rationale
Virtual communities have become more important networks of consumer knowledge that influence consumer behavior (De Valck, 2009). Social media is enjoying an
extraordinary rise in popularity among the Internet users: Facebook monthly active users reached more than 1 billion worldwide (Facebook, 2012); YouTube users view an average of 4 billion videos per day (YouTube, 2012); and there are over 45 million trip reviews on TripAdvisor (TripAdvisor, 2011).
Figure 1.1: Time spent in different media per week, Source: McCann (2010)
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立 政 治 大 學
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N a tio na
l C h engchi U ni ve rs it y
Consumers are contributing in the creation of the information found online, they are sharing their lives and experiences, and they are using that information not only to socialize, but also to improve future experiences (Akehurst, 2009). All of these facts add up to the relevance of social media in today’s world. With its influence, the consumers’ behavior is experiencing a change towards a more active participation regarding the sharing of information with others in order to make better decisions that will improve different life experiences, among them, travelling (Cox, 2009).
1.3 Significance of the Study
Social media are becoming more important and influential to consumers as they change the way they gather and share information, especially travel-related experiences (Gretzel, 2011). The importance of the tourism industry can be easily inferred: with export earnings in the area of US$ 852 billion in 2009, tourism is among the world’s fastest growing economic sectors, with a volume that can easily be compared with that of oil, food products, or automobiles (UNWTO, 2011). Also, consumer behavior in tourism has always been influenced by advancements in information communication technologies (Buhalis, 1998).
Previous research has shown the influence of social media on consumer behavior and purchasing decision, however, the particular case of how travel planning is influenced by social media has not been investigated properly. This paper will investigate the role of social media on the travel planning process to fill this research gap by providing insights into usage levels, trustworthiness and levels of influence. The research also aims to understand the changing patterns of travel-related information gathering, sharing of experiences and decision making processes that influence the users.
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立 政 治 大 學
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l C h engchi U ni ve rs it y
1.4 Research Questions
As it was mentioned, there is a lack of information regarding the relation between users and travel-related information found in social media. The main objective of this research is to understand how consumers make use of social media with regard to travel planning; in particular, how much they trust and make use of others’ previous experiences to help them in their decision making processes. Therefore, this study will contribute in filling that gap and also to become a referent for future research. The particular questions that this study will attempt to answer are:
1. To what extent do social media influence the decisions of its users? What makes them share their own experiences on social media?
2. Which social media are used by them throughout the travel cycle? (before, during and after the trip takes place)
3. For what purpose do travelers use social media in their holiday travel planning process?
4. What is the perceived level of trustworthiness and usefulness towards information found in social media?
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