Travel Images, Capitalism and the Ideology of Enjoyment

2018 ◽  
pp. 62-66
Author(s):  
Janaki Somaiya
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Cultural Influences ◽  
Tourism Industry ◽  
Global Capitalism ◽  
Discursive Practice ◽  
Image Sharing ◽  
The Gaze ◽  
Cultural Order ◽  
Travel Photography ◽  
The Relationship

A commonly held assumption about social media is that because users create their own content such as images, videos and so on and thereby their own representations, social media are largely free from any ideological dispositions imposed from above. Creating images is a discursive practice, mediated by a myriad of social and cultural influences that we encounter in our everyday lives. Like in any other form of communication, certain image sharing practices become more dominant, where they intersect with a range of connotative meanings and their ideological dimensions. Within our current conjuncture of global consumerist capitalism, the dominant cultural order is that of maximizing enjoyment through consumption. This essay puts forth a semiotic reading of a cross-section of travel images shared by users on Instagram to explicate the relationship between travel photography, enjoyment as an ideology and capitalism. It is argued that to travel is not just an activity but it is a commodity that is consumed by us and sold to us by the tourism industry. Contradictions of life under global capitalism remain, with growing inequalities, precarious working conditions, casual job contracts and meagre pays. Material enjoyment remains illusory for many, while the ideological inducements to enjoy finds its outlet in the images we share. When shared on social media for the gaze and ‘likes’ of the viewers, our travel images are not just memoirs of a journey undertaken but also an affirmation of our enjoyment. For the viewers of these images, the enjoyment of others pertaining to consumption is to be envied or held up to an ideal against which the viewers may imagine their own enjoyment. Capitalism demands enjoyment in the form of consumption, and those who cannot enjoy, are ‘free’ to fantasize about such enjoyment in the future. While ‘free’ is the buzzword under neoliberal global capitalism, enjoyment is that kernel that underpins and sustains its ideology. Keywords: capitalism, enjoyment, ideology, social media, travel

scholarly journals Professionalizing and Profiting: The Rise of Intermediaries in the Social Media Influencer Industry

2019 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 205630511983258 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ryan Stoldt ◽  
Mariah Wellman ◽  
Brian Ekdale ◽  
Melissa Tully
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Digital Media ◽  
Tourism Industry ◽  
Third Party ◽  
Travel And Tourism ◽  
The Social ◽  
And Control ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Depth Interviews ◽  
Insight Into

This study examines the relationship between travel influencers (e.g., bloggers and social media personalities) and destination marketers within the changing travel and tourism industry. Through in-depth interviews, observations, and document analysis, we explore the tensions between travel influencers and destination marketers that shape the way travel is promoted, labor is compensated, and professional structures are negotiated. We examine a new breed of travel and tourism worker—intermediaries who seek to professionalize and formalize the relationship between influencers and destination marketers while simultaneously solidifying their own role within the industry. Intermediaries promote and facilitate relationships based on structured flexibility—formalized agreements designed to satisfy a brand’s campaign goals yet open enough for influencers to pursue their unique needs. By examining the relationships between digital content creators, destination marketers, and third-party intermediaries, this article provides insight into how digital media industries negotiate the tension between participation and control.

scholarly journals ‘Good food’ in an Instagram age: Rethinking hierarchies of culture, criticism and taste

2021 ◽  
pp. 136754942110557
Author(s):  
Zeena Feldman
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Data Analysis ◽  
Empirical Data ◽  
Image Sharing ◽  
Social Media Platforms ◽  
Empirical Data Analysis ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Knowledge Claims ◽  
Good Food ◽  
Insight Into

Through historical, economic and technological contextualisation and empirical data analysis, this article explores the cultural purchase the image-sharing app Instagram and the printed Michelin Guide have on contemporary food criticism. Both platforms contribute to popular understandings of ‘good food’. Yet, there are important functional and discursive distinctions in how culinary criticism is done in Instagram vis-à-vis Michelin. To that end, this article focuses on London’s restaurant scene and proposes the concept of the Instagram gaze as a means of understanding the representational repertoires and knowledge claims advanced by foodies on visual social media platforms. The Instagram gaze also facilitates insight into the relationship between Instagrammers’ culinary judgements and Michelin’ s.

scholarly journals Impact of social media on tourism education

2020 ◽  
Vol 210 ◽  
pp. 22008
Author(s):  
Rojanard Waramontri
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Information Search ◽  
Negative Impact ◽  
Tourism Industry ◽  
Tourism Management ◽  
Tourism Education ◽  
Use Of Social Media ◽  
Develop Strategy ◽  
The Impact ◽  
The Relationship

The essence of social media is growing rapidly in the tourism industry. More and more researchers are working on investigations in the areas of the impact of social media on many aspects of the tourism industry. Social media plays a significant role to develop strategy for tourism management. Therefore, this research based on the knowledge to support education in tourism management. The main objective of the paper is 1. To investigate the relationship between social media and tourism. 2. To examine the positive and negative impact of social media in tourism industry. Through a comprehensive literature review, this paper identifies information search and decision-making behaviors which is relevant to social media in tourism, and recommends the best use of social media for tourism.

A managerial perspective on omnichannel e-customer

2020 ◽  
pp. 5-17
Author(s):  
Maria Teresa Cuomo ◽  
Francesca Ceruti ◽  
Alice Mazzucchelli ◽  
Alex Giordano ◽  
Debora Tortora
Keyword(s):  
Social Networks ◽  
Social Media ◽  
Empirical Analysis ◽  
Customer Experience ◽  
Tourism Industry ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Social Commerce ◽  
Social Dimensions ◽  
Offline Channels ◽  
Managerial Perspective

The actual omnichannel customer uses indifferently both online and offline channels to express himself through consumption, which increasingly blends personal, cultural and social dimensions. In this perspective social media and social networks are able to assist e-retailers in their effort of creating a total e-customer experience, especially in the tourism industry, trying to satisfy their clients from the relational and commercial point of view. By means of an empirical analysis where managers were interviewed on the topic and its degree of application in the firms, the paper underlines how from the managerial point of view, that represents a new prospect on the topic, the expected shift from e-commerce to social commerce paradigm, facilitating the selling and buying of products and services by using various internet features, is nowadays not completely understood and realized.

‘Nature Has Its Own Soul and Speaks Its Own Language’

2010 ◽  
Vol 19 (2) ◽  
pp. 62-73
Author(s):  
Helena Ruotsala
Keyword(s):  
National Park ◽  
Tourism Industry ◽  
Reindeer Herding ◽  
Nature Protection ◽  
Economic Interests ◽  
Finnish Lapland ◽  
The People ◽  
Heated Debate ◽  
The 1960S ◽  
The Relationship

Nature and environment are important for the people earning their living from natural sources of livelihood. This article concentrates on the local perspective of the landscape in the Pallastunturi Fells, which are situated in Pallas-Ylläs National Park in Finnish Lapland. The Fells are both important pastures for reindeer and an old tourism area. The Pallastunturi Tourist Hotel is situated inside the national park because the hotel was built before the park was established 1938. Until the 1960s, the relationship between tourism and reindeer herding had been harmonious because the tourism activities did not disturb the reindeer herding, but offered instead ways to earn money by transporting the tourists from the main road to the hotel, which had been previously without any road connections. During recent years, tourism has been developed as the main source of livelihood in Lapland and huge investments have been made in several parts of Lapland. One example of this type of investment is the plan to replace the old Pallas Tourist hotel, which was built in 1948, with a newer and bigger one. It means that the state will allow a private enterprise to build more infrastructures for tourism inside a national park where nature should be protected and this has sparked a heated debate. Those who oppose the project criticise this proposal as the amendment of a law designed to promote the economic interests of one private tourism enterprise. The project's supporters claim that the needs of the tourism industry and nature protection can both be promoted and that it is important to develop a tourist centre which is already situated within the national park. This article is an attempt to try to shed light on why the local people are so loudly resisting the plans by a private tourism enterprise to touch the national park. It is based on my fieldwork among reindeer herding families in the area.

Analisis Pengaruh Interactivity Dan Sincerity Pada Social Mediaaccount Musisi Terhadap Sense Of Closeness Dan Reciprocity Antara Musisi Dengan Fans dan Implikasinya Terhadap Legal Purchase Intent Telaah Pada Social Media Account Instagram @Duadrum

2018 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 49-61
Author(s):  
Moses Natadirja
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Purchase Intention ◽  
Positive Relationship ◽  
Structural Model ◽  
Distribution Channel ◽  
Online Questionnaire ◽  
Channel One ◽  
Limited Budget ◽  
Marketing Social ◽  
The Relationship

Social media nowadays can be used not only for interacting with each other, exchanges ideas, and develop new friends, furthermore it can be used to promote and selling products or services. It is also used for musician for sales and promotion of their CD album to their fans through social media, especially for musicians , who choose to be independent with limited budget and distribution channel. One of the musician who choose to be independent is Dua Drum. The purpose of this study is to examine the relationship between musician’s social media (Interactivity & Sincerity), the tie that fans may develop via social media (Sense of Closeness & Reciprocity), and purchase legal CD album. This Research is using a quantitative approach with gathering 127 responses through online questionnaire and analyzed using Structural Model Equation (SEM). The result of this research is there are a positive relationship between Interactivity & Sincerity with Sense of Closeness & Reciprocity, and also a positive relationship between Sense of Closeness & Reciprocity with Legal Purchase Intention of CD album. Keywords: Music, Internet Marketing, Social Media Marketing, Purchase Intention

Association between Social Media Use for Health Purpose and Depressive Symptoms: A Cross-Sectional Survey (Preprint)

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hee Yun Lee ◽  
Yan Luo ◽  
Cho Rong Won ◽  
Jiyoung Lee ◽  
Jeongwon Baik
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Depressive Symptoms ◽  
Social Networking Sites ◽  
Inverse Relationship ◽  
Age Groups ◽  
Cross Sectional Survey ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Use Of Social Media ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Health Purpose

BACKGROUND The use of social media or social networking sites (SNS) is increasing across all age groups, and one of the primary motives of using SNS is to seek health-related information. Although previous research examining the effect of SNS use on depression exist, studies regarding the effect of SNS use for health purpose on depression is limited. OBJECTIVE Our study aims to explore the relationship between SNS use for health purpose and depression across the four age groups (18-34 years old, 35-49 years old, 50-64 years old, and above 65 years old). METHODS A sample of 6,789 adults aged 18 and older was extracted from a 2017 and 2018 Health Information National Trends Survey (HINTS). Univariate and bivariate analyses to examine the association between each variable and four age groups were conducted. Multiple linear regression analyses to predict depression level among participants with use of SNS for health purpose were conducted. RESULTS SNS use for health purpose and depression were positively associated for three age groups but not for those 65 years or older (=0.13, P<0.05; =0.08, P<0.05; =0.09, P<0.05). Income and self-reported health status indicated an inverse relationship for all age groups. The relationship with marital status differed based on age group with 18 and 34 years old showing an inverse relationship (=-0.13, P<0.01) while 65 years or older showing a positive relationship (=0.06, P<0.05). Gender was positively associated among those in the 35-49 years old (=0.09, P<0.05) and 65 years or older (=0.07, P<0.05). Being Non-Hispanic White was positively associated with depression among 50-64 years old (=0.07, P<0.001) and 65 years or older (=0.08, P<0.05). CONCLUSIONS Age-tailored education on determining accurate and reliable information shared via SNS is needed to reduce depressive symptoms.

scholarly journals Quantified Nostalgia: Social Media, Metrics, and Memory

2021 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 205630512110088
Author(s):  
Benjamin N. Jacobsen ◽  
David Beer
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Focus Group ◽  
Qualitative Interviews ◽  
The Past ◽  
Group Data ◽  
Focus Group Data ◽  
Social Media Platforms ◽  
Memory Practices ◽  
The Relationship

As social media platforms have developed over the past decade, they are no longer simply sites for interactions and networked sociality; they also now facilitate backwards glances to previous times, moments, and events. Users’ past content is turned into definable objects that can be scored, rated, and resurfaced as “memories.” There is, then, a need to understand how metrics have come to shape digital and social media memory practices, and how the relationship between memory, data, and metrics can be further understood. This article seeks to outline some of the relations between social media, metrics, and memory. It examines how metrics shape remembrance of the past within social media. Drawing on qualitative interviews as well as focus group data, the article examines the ways in which metrics are implicated in memory making and memory practices. This article explores the effect of social media “likes” on people’s memory attachments and emotional associations with the past. The article then examines how memory features incentivize users to keep remembering through accumulation. It also examines how numerating engagements leads to a sense of competition in how the digital past is approached and experienced. Finally, the article explores the tensions that arise in quantifying people’s engagements with their memories. This article proposes the notion of quantified nostalgia in order to examine how metrics are variously performative in memory making, and how regimes of ordinary measures can figure in the engagement and reconstruction of the digital past in multiple ways.

scholarly journals Linking Social Media Marketing Activities to Revisit Intention through Brand Trust and Brand Loyalty on the Coffee Shop Facebook Pages: Exploring Sequential Mediation Mechanism

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (4) ◽  
pp. 2277
Author(s):  
Blend Ibrahim ◽  
Ahmad Aljarah ◽  
Dima Sawaftah
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Brand Loyalty ◽  
Social Media Marketing ◽  
Equation Modeling ◽  
Brand Trust ◽  
Mediation Effects ◽  
Revisit Intention ◽  
Marketing Activities ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Coffee Shops

Social media marketing (SMM) is a new field that involves the marketing of goods, services, information, and ideas via online networks and social media. Drawing on the stimulus-organism-response framework, this study aims to examine how social-media-marketing activities (SMMA) affect brand loyalty, brand trust, and revisit intention (returning to the same place in the future) for coffee shops in Northern Cyprus. Empirical evidence was collected from 415 undergraduate students who follow specific coffee shops on Facebook, and a structural equation modeling approach was applied. The results showed a significant positive influence of SMMA on brand loyalty, brand trust, and revisit intention. The findings show that SMMA are a stronger predictor of revisit intention than brand loyalty and brand trust. Furthermore, brand loyalty and brand trust are significant mediators in the relationship between SMMA and revisit intention. Additionally, the sequential mediation effects of brand loyalty and brand trust in the relationship between SMMA and revisit intention are supported. Overall, with effective SMMA from coffee shops on Facebook, the customer grows confidence in the brand, which increases the level of brand loyalty. This, in turn, encourages revisit intention of the customer. As a result, brand executives on social media platforms (in this case, Facebook) should promote specific SMMA for their brands and engage in such activities to creates brand trust and brand loyalty. These findings contribute to the literature by examining the relationship between SMMA and revisit intention and exploring how SMMA affect revisit intention by adding brand loyalty and brand trust as mediators.

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