Co-construction of the tourist experience in social networking sites: Two forms of authenticity intertwined

Abstract

Although social networking sites have become an important outlet for tourists to share their experiences – typically through mobile phones during their trips, communication of tourist experience in the context of social networking sites has been overlooked so far. In this article, we particularly focus on the ways sightseeing oriented tourist experience is communicated in social networking sites. By looking at the naturally occurring data generated by the users, we examine the ways the tourist experience is communicated in this particular context by using the analytical concept of authenticity. Based on the findings of language use strategies and interaction patterns in the data, we propose the concept of experientialisation to understand the tourist experience sharing in social networking sites. In that way, the article makes a contribution to the literature on authenticity.