3.7.1 What is a Social Network?

The very concept of social networking as a tool or platform for engaging people and communities over the internet is clearly not very new. People have been social networking since the Stone Age through word of mouth and community gatherings. It was only after the rise of internet during the 199 s and ! s" people have got a chance to interact and share emotions" feelings etc to their friends and family around the world. The only new thing about the social networks is how the technology has influenced and facilitated the development of virtual social platforms that increase the reach" potential and power of the community. The social networks today focus on building online communities of people from across the globe who share common interests and activities and also the ones who are interested in knowing about the interest and activities that other people pursue. The social networks e#ploit the human tendency or desire to look into and know the lives of other people. $ost of the social networks today are web based and they offer a variety of interesting ways for subscribers%members to interact" like writing messages" emails" instant messaging services" sharing videos" pictures etc. The present day social networks harness the potential of the internet and web !. In a more peer&to&peer and collaborative fashion The users communicate with each other and while at the same time they contribute" share and participate in many activities Social networks shape the way you work with data and information on the world wide web They change the mindset of the people towards a more collaborative participation The focus of attention is the user here The user can make" modify" consume" choose and look out for relevant content

The information and IT revolution around the world has given rise to new economies built around flows of data" knowledge and information. 'n the other hand" social networking industry has grown stronger as a means of organi(ation of human activity. Social networks can be considered as the nodes of individuals" groups" organi(ations and related human systems that bind together in one or more types of interdependencies. The interdependencies include vision" shared beliefs and values" social contacts" mutual conflicts" e#changes& financial or otherwise" trade etc) these are some of the many forms of human relationships that form the basis of the social networking industry. Sometimes it is indeed apparent that
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networked organi(ations out compete all other forms of organi(ations. *hen such firms succeed" the social networks influence larger processes by connecting human" social" physical and financial capital" as well as the knowledge and information resources backing these.

3.7.2 Social features

Media

Web 2.0 sites can be described as applications that share common features such as Being participatory Inclusive Collaborative User centric and Information intensive these sites influence ho! users create share and use

Furthermore

information. "oreover due to the search#engine friendliness increased credibility e$periential properties and having no commercial interest in promoting the product consumer generated media is believed to have great influence in tourism. It has to be mentioned that social media adds on the positive features on the traditional W%" by adding search engine friendliness and e$periential feature. &he main difference bet!een social media and other traditional forms of media lies in the direction of communication as the content is generated by the consumer rather than by the mar'eter. Furthermore not (ust the direction of communication as !ell as than rather changes it allo!s only but it becomes a a a t!o#!ay communication communication interactivity providing peer#to#peer uni#directional

communication. )ocial media can ta'e on several forms such as !i'is blogs photo sharing sites revie!s and rating blogs or broadcasts. Categori*ation of the according to its nature+ different social media sites

blogs !hich can be understood as online (ournals or personal !ebsites Users, comments and revie!s !hich resembles W%" such

as &rip-dvisor Wi'ipedia Flic'r .ou&ube

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%nline social net!or's as "y)pace Faceboo' &!itter

3.7.3 Usage of Social Media 3.7.3.1 What Influences the use of Social Media Tourist characteristics influence the use of social media" of which a couple would be discussed here in more details" such as age" gender" nationality. It was argued previously that the +eneration , due to its uni-ue characteristics behaves differently in a tourism conte#t. As they were born in The Information Age" they are technology confidents and information hungry) moreover" they are strongly influenced by friends" adapt really -uickly to the new travel technologies" such as booking online" and they consult a wide range of information sources during their travel planning process. Therefore" one can argue here that due to these characteristics their behaviour towards the social media would be different and they would consult *eb !. applications more often and in a different way during their travel planning process then other generations. *hen it comes to India" the internet and social media statistics are presented below.

Source. http+00!!!.imediaconnection.in

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3.7.3.2 Internet Scenario in India

/ 0 of the Indian Population is below the age of !/ years and the same comprises the most of Internet users 1 0 of India2s Internet users are male India has grown by !/0 more internet users in the last 1! months ! million people in India use the Internet every single day. 'ut of this only !0 Indians are from rural areas and /90 access the Internet via their $obile 3evices An average Internet user in India spends !4 minutes online each day There are around 5 Internet usage Internet 6afes across India. These comprise of 4 0 of India2s

440 of Indian Internet 7sers check 'nline 8eviews before making the purchase decision 9&6ommerce in India is estimated to be of 7S3 :1 billion which is around 7S3 : 1 per Internet 7ser. 410 of the e&commerce comes from $obile users in India ;10 of those living in rural areas of India have never heard of the Internet. This is more than the total population of <ra(il

3.7.3.3 Social Media Scenario in India

=ideo consumption via ,outube > other social video sites is accessed by more than 1 0 users Indians spend an average of ; hours on Social $edia sites every month ?acebook is the top social network with ;5 million people followed by 'rkut @!5 millionA" Twitter @1; millionA > BinkedIn @1; millionA ?acebook in India has grown by ;10 in the past 4 months. This is the highest growth seen by any social network in India Social +aming is the most popular activity in India especially on ?acebook > 'rkut India has the second highest number of BinkedIn 7sers @1!"5;5" highest ?acebook 7sers @;5" C/" A in the world A and fourth

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This proDectEs aim is to research among the younger generation of Indians" as it was suggested that probably among the +en ,ers and even Fers there can be seen a more intense use towards social media. 3.7.4 Why Peo le use Social Media According to a study conducted there are four fundamental benefits that drive the e#tent to which consumers engage themselves in online travel communities. ?unctional benefits Social Psychological and Gedonic benefits

3espite the fact that they suggest these benefits for online travel communities" one can argue that these motivations partly or even all can drive the travellers to use social media in general as well. ?unctional benefits are e.g. support for information search" ease of decision&making process or e#change information from similar travellers" which can be argued also for reasons for using social media. The social aspect and the hedonic aspect of social media was already discussed" however" one can argue that while using the social media in certain phases of travel planning e.g. information search the hedonic and the social benefits might can be secondary" complementary drives after the functional benefits. The psychological benefits" described as a sense of belonging" identity e#pression" would clearly have maDor role in online communities than in other type of social media. 3.7.! "halle#ges of social $edia 3espite of the clear importance of social media it has its challenges as well. 6redibility and reliability is among the most argued challenges of social media. Authors also argue that as the conte#tual clues that help the interpretation of the information such as facial e#pressions are missing from the social media" therefore" its interpretation is more difficult which might lead to credibility issues. According to 6ompete @! 4A more than half of their surveyed respondents find the information generated by consumers credible" which is arguably not that high percentage. In contrary with many researches" that social media sites are not viewed as credible and trustworthy as more traditional information sources" such as official tourism websites or airline sites. $oreover" there are different trust levels between different types of
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social media. ?urthermore" the clearly user generated content sites such as TripAdvisor is perceived more credible than reviews posted on online travel agencies sites such as 9#pedia" due to the perceived commercial interest of the latter sites" therefore" being perceived less obDective. Additionally" the possible HfakeI content generated by travel operators as independent travellers" might be a driving factor why consumers trust certain sites more than others. The possible commercial interest relates to the credibility issue" as the maDority of their respondents claimed that it is better to use user&generated content during accommodation search then the hotelEs description. 3.7.% Possi&ilities of social $edia The user&generated content can raise possibilities for marketers as well in an informational and revenue generating perspective" where these possibilities can be linked to the post&trip and the pre&trip phase of the travel planning. <y the informational perspective they mean that hospitality and destination marketers can use up the content created online @post&tripA to improve visitor satisfaction through product development" increase the competitiveness of the product%destination or to monitor the reputation or image. 3$'s or travel marketers by engaging travellers post&trip in posting their e#periences or photos on the official website can reconfirm touristsE destination choice and can also build traveller loyalty. $oreover" revenue generation strategies can be designed to spread positive *'$ about the destination" thus" helping potential visitorsE information search @pre&tripA by providing supportive opinions. Gowever" it can be argued here that the stimulated e*'$" enhancing positive *'$ might raise credibility concerns from the travellersE side. To sum up" according to the reviewed researches social media can play an important role in several phases of the travel planning but is mainly used during the information search phase of the travel planning process. Social media is one type of information source which is a supplement to the e#isting types of travel info and a source which supports the consumer decision making process.

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4. 'esearch Methodology
This proDect applies an explorative approach, which is incorporated in the theoretical considerations presented in the above chapters. 7nderstanding the role of social media during the travel planning process clearly re-uires an e#plorative approach. $oreover" the relationship between travellersE social media usage and its possibilities for official tourism promotion will be identified through an e#ploratory approach as well. Therefore" in this proDect an e#ploratory survey was used to understand how and which type of the social media is used in travel planning" the use of it in the different planning phases and about its impact on the purchase decision. <y choosing the sequential model of travel planning process as discussed in the earlier chapters as the projects main theoretical framework" the researcher has adapted the ontological stand&point which is the base of behaviourism @cognitive psychologyA regarding peopleEs travel planning as a rational act which follows five consecutive steps. Gowever" it has to be critici(ed that travel planning can happen randomly and also the purchase itself can be an impulsive process. 8egarding the above discussion this proDect applied the proposed rigid framework of travel planning by designing the -uantitative -uestionnaires about social media usage according to the se-uential phases of the travel planning process.

4.1 (ua#titati)e *$ irical +ata a#d Sa$ li#g

The proDectEs -uantitative data collection took place through online surveys conducted during the months of Jan & Apr ! 1!. The aim to select young people%travellers aged between 15 to C and gain insights as to how they use internet and Social $edia while planning their holidays and travel. Kumerous probability indicators can have influence on how the survey -uestionnaires are sampled. The -uestionnaires of this proDect were sampled based on some predetermined types of probabilities that gave way to approach the aimed group of audience" which in this case were mainly the younger age groups of Indians @15&C yearsA who travel fre-uently. Though" it can be argued the age of the respondents should not be seen as a strict re-uirement when

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selecting the sample" as the behaviour patterns using social media will give the base for the analysis. The targeted respondents were selected in no particular numerical order. In order to stick to the proDectEs research focus mainly younger travellers were approached in a random selection" and some filter -uestions were fist asked like do you even use Internet and Social media at all. If the respondents did not use social media then" they were asked to leave the survey. In all" 4! respondents filled the -uestionnaire over the online form. 8espondents were from diverse background like students" software engineers" businessmen etc.

4.2 'esearch ,#stru$e#tatio#

formulated.

(uestio#s

<ased on the research papers and theory studied the following research -uestions can be

The social media has gained remarkable popularity in recent years) however" the -uestion arises whether the diverse social media pages are influencing the consumers in a tourism conte#t as well" more precisely in their travel planning process. The first three -uestions ask about the general demographic information from the respondents so to analyse the results of the survey according to Age groups" gender and occupation cohorts. The ne#t set of three -uestions basically e#amines the internet usage statistics and determines the awareness and usage trends of social media websites" blogs" photo sharing sites etc. The -uestion ask about what all social media platform the respondents use so that the marketer can easily focus on particular social media sites to attract ma#imum number of travellers. The remaining -uestions e#plore. o *hat is the role of social media in the travellersE travel planning processL o It will also be investigated how the social media is perceived in tourism conte#t o Gow do young travellers perceive the content presented in social media sitesL o Gow the travellers might react on official destination promotion initiatives placed in the social media.
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