SHARING EMOTIONS AND EXPERIENCE: HOW SOCIAL MEDIA CAN AFFECT TRAVELERS' BEHAVIOR

Nowadays, it is widely evident that we are more and more conditioned by, and dependent on, new technologies. Indeed, they are heavily entered in our everyday life, connecting us to worldwide networks and allowing continuous and ubiquitous interactions with data, people, digital programs, and, more recently, with objects. In this new dimension, what is the influence of the new technologies, especially social media, in determining a place reputation? Can social media have the capability to create/maintain a favorable/not-favorable reputation of a place? Or, dare we say, have they the capability of affecting the opinions and evaluations of travelers? This paper presents the first outcomes of an ongoing research on some popular traveler social networks. From our investigation, it emerges that the behavior of travelers doesn't seem significantly influenced by comments posted in the in forums. Usually, people post comments asking for very simple questions, such as mobility, weather, and attractiveness, whilst their comments refer essentially their experience of hotels and restaurants.