Ambassadors of knowledge sharing: Co-produced travel information through tourist-local social media exchange

Purpose: The aim of this study is to understand the knowledge-sharing structure and co-production of trip-related knowledge through online travel forums. Design/methodology/approach: The travel forum threads were collected from TripAdvisor’s Sydney travel forum for the period from 2010 to 2014, whic...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Edwards, D., Cheng, Mingming, Wong, I., Zhang, J., Wu, Q.
Format: Journal Article
Published: Emerald Group Publishing Limited 2017
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/74059
_version_ 1848763169144569856
author Edwards, D.
Cheng, Mingming
Wong, I.
Zhang, J.
Wu, Q.
author_facet Edwards, D.
Cheng, Mingming
Wong, I.
Zhang, J.
Wu, Q.
author_sort Edwards, D.
building Curtin Institutional Repository
collection Online Access
description Purpose: The aim of this study is to understand the knowledge-sharing structure and co-production of trip-related knowledge through online travel forums. Design/methodology/approach: The travel forum threads were collected from TripAdvisor’s Sydney travel forum for the period from 2010 to 2014, which contains 115,847 threads from 8,346 conversations. The data analytical technique was based on a novel methodological approach – visual analytics, including semantic pattern generation and network analysis. Findings: Findings indicate that the knowledge structure is created by community residents who camouflage as local experts and serve as ambassadors of a destination. The knowledge structure presents collective intelligence co-produced by community residents and tourists. Further findings reveal how these community residents associate with each other and form a knowledge repertoire with information covering various travel domain areas. Practical implications: The study offers valuable insights to help destination-management organizations and tour operators identify existing and emerging tourism issues to achieve a competitive destination advantage. Originality/value: This study highlights the process of social media mediated travel knowledge co-production. It also discovers how community residents engage in reaching out to tourists by camouflaging as ordinary users.
first_indexed 2025-11-14T10:59:11Z
format Journal Article
id curtin-20.500.11937-74059
institution Curtin University Malaysia
institution_category Local University
last_indexed 2025-11-14T10:59:11Z
publishDate 2017
publisher Emerald Group Publishing Limited
recordtype eprints
repository_type Digital Repository
spelling curtin-20.500.11937-740592019-07-31T06:31:48Z Ambassadors of knowledge sharing: Co-produced travel information through tourist-local social media exchange Edwards, D. Cheng, Mingming Wong, I. Zhang, J. Wu, Q. Purpose: The aim of this study is to understand the knowledge-sharing structure and co-production of trip-related knowledge through online travel forums. Design/methodology/approach: The travel forum threads were collected from TripAdvisor’s Sydney travel forum for the period from 2010 to 2014, which contains 115,847 threads from 8,346 conversations. The data analytical technique was based on a novel methodological approach – visual analytics, including semantic pattern generation and network analysis. Findings: Findings indicate that the knowledge structure is created by community residents who camouflage as local experts and serve as ambassadors of a destination. The knowledge structure presents collective intelligence co-produced by community residents and tourists. Further findings reveal how these community residents associate with each other and form a knowledge repertoire with information covering various travel domain areas. Practical implications: The study offers valuable insights to help destination-management organizations and tour operators identify existing and emerging tourism issues to achieve a competitive destination advantage. Originality/value: This study highlights the process of social media mediated travel knowledge co-production. It also discovers how community residents engage in reaching out to tourists by camouflaging as ordinary users. 2017 Journal Article http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/74059 10.1108/IJCHM-10-2015-0607 Emerald Group Publishing Limited restricted
spellingShingle Edwards, D.
Cheng, Mingming
Wong, I.
Zhang, J.
Wu, Q.
Ambassadors of knowledge sharing: Co-produced travel information through tourist-local social media exchange
title Ambassadors of knowledge sharing: Co-produced travel information through tourist-local social media exchange
title_full Ambassadors of knowledge sharing: Co-produced travel information through tourist-local social media exchange
title_fullStr Ambassadors of knowledge sharing: Co-produced travel information through tourist-local social media exchange
title_full_unstemmed Ambassadors of knowledge sharing: Co-produced travel information through tourist-local social media exchange
title_short Ambassadors of knowledge sharing: Co-produced travel information through tourist-local social media exchange
title_sort ambassadors of knowledge sharing: co-produced travel information through tourist-local social media exchange
url http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/74059