Literature Review on the Influences Measurement of Tourism Social Media

Over the past decade, information and communication technologies have been applied and developed rapidly in the field of tourism marketing. Online social networks (e.g. Facebook), blogs, podcasts, forums, content communities, microblogging (e.g. Twitter, Sina Weibo) and other social media are becoming tools which can influence social development. Social media marketing is becoming a new trend in the development of all walks of life, and the rise of social media is both an opportunity and a challenge for the branding and communication of our tourist attractions. Based on literature analyses, this paper discusses the ways to measure social media influences into two categories, i.e. the measurement of structural interaction between social media, and the measurement of followers' behaviors in social media. Comparing the results of these two categories, we conclude that the results of social media influence should be specifically interpretated according to the measurement methods. This paper may contribute to facilitate tourism destinations to develop reasonably goals and recognize marketing effects, so as to promote sustainable development of the tourism industry.