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Tourism, Communication and Photography on Social Media
Sharifah Fatimah Syed-Ahmad
BBA (University of Michigan, USA), MSc Public Relations (University of Stirling, UK)
Supervised by: Professor Jamie Murphy and Professor Jane E. Klobas
This thesis is presented for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy of The University of Western Australia
Business School
Marketing 2011
i
Abstract
This thesis investigates how social media has changed communication related to
tourism and photography. Social media facilitates communication among individuals
about various topics including tourism. Interest sites such as Flickr (photos) and
TripAdvisor (travel) attract and bond members with common interests.
Communications among individuals with strong, weak and latent ties assist destinations
by creating product awareness and interest through word of mouth (WOM).
Traditionally, WOM involves the spoken word, but social media expands WOM to
written text and photos.
The thesis examines social media through two research objectives. Firstly, it seeks to
understand travel photography as WOM on social media. To identify reasons for
individual travel photo posts, the research employed the Theory of Planned Behavior –
well known for explaining individual behaviours. To examine destination photo posts,
the research employed keyword searches for Islamic tourism on an interest site Flickr.
The number of shared travel photos for the League of Arab States countries reflected the
number of country‟s Muslims, tourists, Internet users and Internet hosts in each State.
The content of photo images was examined by adapting an offline photo technique,
Visitor-Employed Photography. Common Muslim images for the Arab League were
mosques and women with headscarves.
Secondly, this thesis argues that, with computer mediation, the message – exemplified
by social media content photos – conveys social presence. The investigation adapted
Visitor-Employed Photography and another offline analysis technique, the Q method, to
analyse images and responses. Responses increased with the nearness of human images.
While theory and previous studies have focused on social presence conveyed by the
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communicator, these findings relating to audience responses reveal that messages in the
form of photos can also convey social presence, through their portrayal of subjects.
This thesis adds to existing knowledge in four ways. Firstly, it shows that user-
generated travel photos convey social presence. In doing so, it has expanded Social
Presence Theory by identifying a new element, messages, influencing Computer-
Mediated Social Presence. Secondly, it identifies how researchers could employ user-
generated travel photos for analysis of images and audience responses by adapting two
offline photo techniques. Thirdly, the thesis reveals that user-generated photos are
WOM for destinations such as Islamic and Arab States. Finally, it identifies rich future
research streams that could assist researchers and consequently benefit destinations and
organisations.
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Table of Contents
Abstract ........................................................................................................................................................ i
Table of Contents ...................................................................................................................................... iii
Acknowledgements .................................................................................................................................... vi
Statement of Candidate Contributions for Publications Associated with this Thesis ....................... viii
List of Tables ............................................................................................................................................ xii
List of Figures .......................................................................................................................................... xiii
Abbreviations .......................................................................................................................................... xiv
Glossary..................................................................................................................................................... xv
Chapter 1 Introduction ........................................................................................................................ 1
1.1 Thesis Background ........................................................................................................................ 2
1.1.1 Social Media and User-Generated Content .......................................................................... 2
1.1.2 Theory of Planned Behavior ............................................................................................... 10
1.1.3 Social Presence Theory ...................................................................................................... 11
1.2 Research Objectives and Research Questions .............................................................................. 12
1.3 Research Design .......................................................................................................................... 19
1.4 Thesis Structure ........................................................................................................................... 21
Chapter 2 User-Generated Photos as Destination Word of Mouth ................................................ 23
2.1 Introduction .................................................................................................................................. 24
2.2 Literature review .......................................................................................................................... 27
2.2.1 Social Media and Word of Mouth ...................................................................................... 27
2.2.2 User-Generated Photography ............................................................................................. 28
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2.2.3 Theory of Planned Behavior Beliefs ................................................................................... 31
2.3 Studies .......................................................................................................................................... 32
2.3.1 Qualitative Studies .............................................................................................................. 32
2.3.2 Quantitative Study .............................................................................................................. 35
2.4 Discussion and Implications ......................................................................................................... 39
2.4.1 Industry Implications .......................................................................................................... 40
2.4.2 Academic Contributions ..................................................................................................... 41
Chapter 3 Arabian Sights: Muslim States’ Shared Photos ............................................................. 44
3.1 Introduction .................................................................................................................................. 45
3.2 Literature Review ......................................................................................................................... 47
3.2.1 Photos as Destination Recommendations ........................................................................... 48
3.2.2 Tourism, Muslims and Muslim Images .............................................................................. 49
3.3 The Study and its Findings ........................................................................................................... 54
3.4 Conclusion .................................................................................................................................... 64
Chapter 4 Computer-Mediated Social Presence: Investigating Arab States’ Shared Human
Photos ...................... .................................................................................................................................. 67
4.1 Introduction .................................................................................................................................. 68
4.2 Computer-Mediated Social Presence ............................................................................................ 73
4.2.1 User-Generated Photos Creating Sensory, Mutual and Multiple Awareness ...................... 73
4.2.2 Photo Distance Projecting Intimacy .................................................................................... 78
4.2.3 Islamic Tourism, the Arab League and User-Generated Photos ......................................... 79
4.3 Conceptual Development ............................................................................................................. 80
4.3.1 Social Presence ................................................................................................................... 81
4.3.2 Gender ................................................................................................................................. 81
4.4 Study Methods .............................................................................................................................. 83
4.5 User-Generated Photo Portrayals and Audience Responses ......................................................... 85
4.5.1 Content Photos and Social Presence ................................................................................... 85
4.5.2 Member Portrayals .............................................................................................................. 87
4.6 Discussion .................................................................................................................................... 89
4.6.1 Gender Presence and Projected Intimacy Levels ................................................................ 89
4.6.2 Projected Computer-Mediated Social Presence .................................................................. 90
4.6.3 Academic Contributions ..................................................................................................... 93
4.6.4 Industry Implications .......................................................................................................... 95
4.6.5 Limitations and Future Research ........................................................................................ 96
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Chapter 5 Discussion .......................................................................................................................... 99
5.1 Summary of Findings ................................................................................................................... 99
5.1.1 Understanding Travel Photography Postings on Social Media .......................................... 99
5.1.2 Understanding Computer-Mediated Communication via User-Generated Photos and
Responses ....................................................................................................................................... 102
5.2 Managerial Implications ............................................................................................................ 103
5.2.1 Generating Posts ............................................................................................................... 103
5.2.2 Viewing to Monitor and Manage UGC ............................................................................ 104
5.2.3 Employing Images for Promotions ................................................................................... 105
5.3 Academic Contributions ............................................................................................................ 106
5.3.1 Apply Social Presence Theory for Computer-Mediated Communication ........................ 106
5.3.2 Use of Two Offline Photo Techniques for Analysis of Online Content ........................... 107
5.3.3 Future Research Streams .................................................................................................. 108
Bibliography ........................................................................................................................................... 115
Appendix ................................................................................................................................................. 134
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Acknowledgements
This is the „festive arena‟ that I‟ve been working for the past three and a half years or
about 10% of my life. This journey would never have been possible without
Allah God, also known as
Ar-Rahman The Compassionate, Ar- Rahim The Merciful – from You I have life
Al-Ahad The One, Al-Waahid The Unique – to You alone I pray and seek help
Al-Qawiyy The Most Strong, Al-Matin The Firm – from You I gain strength
Al-Hakim The Wise, Al-Wasi’ The Knowledgable – from You I gain knowledge
Al-Mujib The Responsive, Al-Wahhab The Bestower and
Al-Muqtadir The Creator of All Power – from You I continue to seek:
knowledge and wisdom
ability and motivation to conduct research and disseminate knowledge
guidance to stay on the correct path and gain happiness in this and the afterlife
Thank you for the experiences that got me to this point in my life. YOU alone can
change one‟s life in unimaginable ways.
This endeavour might be more challenging than what I‟ve faced if not for...
My parents – Umi and Abah – for unrelenting support and unconditional love
throughout these years, from far and near.
My sponsors – the Malaysian government and University of Malaya – thank you
for this chance and the financial investment in me.
My main supervisor – Jamie. Thank you for your belief and confidence in me
and my ideas, as well as the countless and almost instantaneous (and never
ending ;)) comments, guidance and suggestions. I also appreciate the tireless and
genuine interest in my research and work. Thank you for also empowering me to
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explore the vast fields of knowledge and choose what I want to study, as well as
making me ultimately responsible for details on manuscripts.
My other supervisor – Jane. Thank you for giving excellent and detailed
feedback on manuscripts and the thesis. I also appreciate your positive
encouragements and belief in me.
My family – Thank you for the concern, emotional support and love especially
from my sister Farhanah, daughter Amirah, brother Faarouk, and..
- Aunts especially Khala Yam, Khala Gai, Ma, Aunty Gai, De Edah
- Uncles especially Walid, Ami Ali and Ami Amad
- Cousins especially K.Mas, K.Anan, Yah, K.Uyun, K.Nawal, K.Norilah
- and my extended family – Mak & three sons, as well as Aunty Noorliah.
Friends that I met in various places, giving online and offline support especially
- Perth: K.Mai & family & Aunty Arah, and MyPSA/MAWAR family
- Scotland: K.Ina, Syireen, Lina, Marizah & my cleaning buddies
- Michigan: Sam, Enny, Zach, Amy, Hany, Nina, Zurin, Awie
- Tun Fatimah School: Hana, Lily, K.Haz, K.Tasha, K.Zue, Nelly.
The fellowship of the PhD especially Suzie, Azlinda, Nazlida, Nana, Mahestu,
K.Ita, Fareed, Steffen, Rosila, Nonie, Sheeda, Fatin, Florence, Janty, Ismah,
Thang, Azman, Saleem, and my Albany Retreat/Thursday writing group –
thank you for words of encouragements, motivation and friendship.
Co-authors, especially Jamie, Jane, Dayangku Ida, Dr Yong & Dr Sh. Hayaati,
thanks for the chance to collaborate and may we produce more papers together.
University of Malaya Business Faculty Deans and colleagues – thank you.
Colleagues and friends in University of Malaya: thank you for the
encouragement especially to Wan Mazni and Aishah for willingness to
guarantee my PhD journey, and ICR/PRO/BKK colleagues especially K.Lina,
K.Gee, K.Asma, K.Tun, K.Daeng, Has, Ita and Puan Sabariah. Also colleagues
who helped during the PhD process: Ermiza, Wan Farahana and Naufal.
University of Western Australia staff especially in the Business School
Kimberley 2nd
floor, Research Office & Helpdesk, and Krys Haq from GRS.
Teachers since my foundation years until now. Thank you for your patience and
interest to give me knowledge – formal academic and informal life lessons.
Participants & Flickr posters for photo use – thank you.
Examiners and reviewers whose comments helped me improve the thesis and
research publications.
And finally, numerous others who encouraged me in studies and touched my
life, but not mentioned – thank you all.
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Statement of Candidate Contributions for Publications
Associated with this Thesis
This dissertation is an original composition and that of the candidate, unless specified,
acknowledged and referenced. Two journal manuscripts and a book chapter directly
relate to this thesis, while other papers are preliminary works to that presented in this
thesis. The co-authors have kindly given permission to use these works in this thesis.
The contribution of the candidate and co-authors to the papers in Chapters 2, 3 and 4 are
as below.
Papers in Thesis:
Paper 1
The paper presented in Chapter 2 is first-authored by the candidate and co-authored by
Professor Jane E. Klobas, Dr. Norman Au and Professor Jamie Murphy, and submitted
as
Syed-Ahmad, Sharifah Fatimah; Klobas, Jane E.; Au, Norman and Murphy,
Jamie, User-Generated Destination Photos: Emerging Word of Mouth. Cornell
Hospitality Quarterly, Under Second Review
The candidate designed and performed the research, analysed the data and wrote the
manuscript. Professor Jamie Murphy supervised aspects of the study and co-wrote the
manuscript. Dr. Norman Au provided a part of the Flickr data (7 January 2010 search
results) and gave feedback on the manuscript. Professor Jane E. Klobas gave valuable
feedback during the preparation of the manuscript.
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Paper 2
The paper presented in Chapter 3 is an edited version of the paper cited below,
copyright held by Emerald Group Publishing Limited. It is first-authored by the
candidate and co-authored by Ms. Dayangku Ida Nurul-Fitri Pengiran-Kahar, Dr. Ali
Medabesh and Professor Jamie Murphy, and published as
Syed-Ahmad, Sharifah Fatimah; Pengiran-Kahar, Dayangku Ida Nurul-Fitri;
Medabesh, Ali and Murphy, Jamie (2010). Arabian Sights: Muslim States'
Shared Photos. In J. Jafari & N. Scott (Eds.), Tourism in the Muslim World (pp.
289-307): Emerald Group Publishing Limited.
The candidate designed and performed the research, analysed the data and wrote the
manuscript. Professor Jamie Murphy aided the study and co-wrote manuscript. Ms.
Dayangku Ida Nurul-Fitri Pengiran-Kahar assisted with the coding process, the
literature review and gave feedback during the preparation of the manuscript. Dr. Ali
Medabesh gave feedback in the early developments of the coding variables.
Paper 3
The paper presented in Chapter 4 is first-authored by the candidate and co-authored by
Ms. Dayangku Ida Nurul-Fitri Pengiran-Kahar, Professor Jane E. Klobas and Professor
Jamie Murphy. The paper was submitted to the Journal of Computer-Mediated
Communication in September 2010. Revised according to the reviewers‟ comments,
this paper is work in progress for
Syed-Ahmad, Sharifah Fatimah; Pengiran-Kahar, Dayangku Ida Nurul-Fitri;
Klobas, Jane E. and Murphy, Jamie, Computer-Mediated Social Presence:
Investigating Arab States‟ Shared Human Photos, Annals of Tourism Research,
Prepared for Submission.
The candidate designed and performed the research, analysed the data and wrote the
manuscript. Professor Jamie Murphy helped with the study and co-wrote the
manuscript. Ms. Dayangku Ida Nurul-Fitri Pengiran-Kahar assisted with the coding
process and provided data from a conference paper (in the next section titled "Shared
Arabian Muslim Travel Photos") for a section in the Appendix. Professor Jane E.
Klobas gave valuable feedback during the preparation of the manuscript.
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Preliminary Papers Contributing to the Thesis:
In addition to the papers that form the basis of this thesis, a number of preliminary
papers were prepared and published. These papers are listed below, with the chapter to
which they contributed noted in brackets. With the exception of the journal article
below and two of the conference papers, "MySpace, My Friends, My Customers," and
"Shared Arabian Muslim Travel Photos”, the candidate designed and performed the
research, analysed the data and wrote the manuscript, with supervision by Professor
Jamie Murphy and feedback from co-authors.
For the journal article and the “MySpace, My Friends, My Customers” paper, the
candidate assisted a group of Masters students with a case study, with supervision by
Professor Jamie Murphy. The candidate wrote the conference paper with Professor
Jamie Murphy and feedback from everyone involved in the project. The candidate,
together with Professor Jamie Murphy, then developed the paper further for the journal
article. The four students who graduated in 2007/2008 preferred not to develop the
journal article and not be listed as authors, but were duly acknowledged in the journal
article for their early contributions.
For the "Shared Arabian Muslim Travel Photos” paper, the candidate designed and
performed the research, co-analysed the data and co-wrote the manuscript with Ms.
Dayangku Ida Nurul-Fitri Pengiran-Kahar, supervised by Professor Jamie Murphy.
Refereed Journal Article
Syed-Ahmad, Sharifah Fatimah and Murphy, Jamie (2010). Social Networking as a
Marketing Tool: The Case of a Small Australian Company. Journal of Hospitality
Marketing & Management, 19(7), 700 – 716 (Chapter 1)
Refereed Conference Papers
Carrera, Patricio; Chiu, Chia-Yu; Chienwattanasuk, Pailin; Pratipwattanawong, Somjai;
Syed-Ahmad, Sharifah Fatimah and Murphy, Jamie (2008), "MySpace, My Friends, My
Customers," Information and Communication Technologies in Tourism (ENTER),
Innsbruck, January (Chapter 1)
xi
Syed-Ahmad, Sharifah Fatimah; Pengiran-Kahar, Dayangku Ida Nurul-Fitri; Lahadzir,
Azlinda and Murphy, Jamie (2010), "Arabian Photos: Investigating User-Generated
Content," the Information and Communication Technologies in Tourism Conference
(ENTER), Lugano, February (Chapter 2)
Syed-Ahmad, Sharifah Fatimah; Ismail, Fareed; Hashim, Noor Hazarina, and Murphy,
Jamie (2009) "Travel Word of Mouth Norms on User-Generated Content Sites," the 7th
Asia-Pacific CHRIE Conference (APacCHRIE), Singapore, May (Chapter 2)
Syed-Ahmad, Sharifah Fatimah; Hashim, Noor Hazarina, Horrigan, David and Murphy,
Jamie (2009) "Travel Research and Sharing through User-Generated Content," the 7th
Asia-Pacific CHRIE Conference (APacCHRIE), Singapore, May (Chapter 2)
Syed-Ahmad, Sharifah Fatimah; Hashim, Noor Hazarina; Zubairi, Yong Zulina and
Murphy, Jamie (2008) "An Exploratory Study of Digital Word of Mouth in Travel by
Malaysian Women," 6th Asia-Pacific (APacCHRIE) Conference and THE-ICE
International Panel of Experts Forum, Perth, May (Chapter 2)
Pengiran-Kahar, Dayangku Ida Nurul-Fitri; Syed-Ahmad, Sharifah Fatimah; Syed
Ismail, Sharifah Hayaati and Murphy, Jamie (2010), "Shared Arabian Muslim Travel
Photos," the Information and Communication Technologies in Tourism Conference
(ENTER), Lugano, February (Chapter 4)
Academic and Scientific Workshop paper
Syed-Ahmad, Sharifah Fatimah; Pengiran-Kahar, Dayangku Ida Nurul-Fitri; Medabesh,
Ali and Murphy, Jamie (2009), "Arabian Muslim Travel Photos: Up Close and
Popular," Second Arab International Conference for eTourism and Journal of
Information Technology and Tourism (JITT) Workshop, Egypt, December (Chapter 4)
xii
List of Tables
Table 1.1: Sequential Mixed Method Design .............................................................................. 20
Table 1.2: Thesis Chapters Mapped to Research Objectives and Studies ................................... 22
Table 2.1: Participant Demographics and Travel UGC ............................................................... 33
Table 2.2: Arab Flickr Search Results and Growth ..................................................................... 37
Table 2.3: Correlations between Country Demographics and Photo-Posting Behaviours
(18 June 2009 Flickr search results) ................................................................................... 39
Table 3.1: Eight Observable Muslim Images and 11 Coding Variables ..................................... 54
Table 3.2: Arab Countries‟ Flickr Photos (18 June 2009) ........................................................... 58
Table 3.3: Arab Countries‟ Muslim Images ................................................................................ 61
Table 4.1: Human Photo Distances on Flickr .............................................................................. 71
Table 4.2: Flickr Content Photos for Human Photo Distances and Audience Responses ........... 86
Table 4.3: Flickr Profile Photos and Stated Gender .................................................................... 88
Table 5.1: Destination Photo Viewing Behaviours ................................................................... 104
Table 5.2: Applying VEP and the Q Method to UG Photos ...................................................... 108
xiii
List of Figures
Figure 1.1:Theoretical Frameworks and Academic Fields in this Thesis ..................................... 2
Figure 1.2: Social Media Activities .............................................................................................. 3
Figure 1.3: Elements of User-Generated Content ......................................................................... 4
Figure 1.4: A Facebook Profile – Wall Page (31 March 2010) .................................................... 7
Figure 1.5: Theory of Planned Behavior (Ajzen, 1991).............................................................. 10
Figure 1.6: Research Objectives, UGC Elements and Research Questions ................................ 13
Figure 1.7: Thesis Structure ........................................................................................................ 21
Figure 2.1: Social Media Sharing ............................................................................................... 23
Figure 2.2: A Flickr Content Photo Page (15 May 2010) ........................................................... 30
Figure 3.1: Social Media Sharing ............................................................................................... 44
Figure 3.2: The Ka’ba on Flickr (22 July 2009) ......................................................................... 52
Figure 3.3: Flickr Search Results for Yemen, Muslim, travel (22 July 2009) ............................. 56
Figure 4.1: Social Media Sharing and Responding ..................................................................... 67
Figure 4.2: A Flickr Content Photo Page (31 May 2010) ........................................................... 70
Figure 4.3: Flickr Search Results for Yemen, Muslim, travel (22 July 2009) ............................. 75
Figure 4.4: Member Photos for the 578 Muslim Travel Content Photos .................................... 87
Figure 4.5: Flickr Search Results for Morocco, Muslim, travel (18 May 2010) ......................... 92
xiv
Abbreviations
DMO – Destination Marketing Organisation
TPB – Theory of Planned Behavior
UAE – United Arab Emirates
UG – User-Generated
UGC – User-Generated Content
VEP – Visitor-Employed Photography
WOM – Word of Mouth
xv
Glossary
Comment – a textual audience response to user-generated content on social media.
Destination Marketing Organisation (DMO) – an organisation at the national or regional
level dedicated to promoting a destination to increase tourists.
Fave – a brief audience response on the social media website Flickr to indicate
preference for user-generated photos.
Facebook – a friendship social media website, ranked second highest of all websites
globally (Alexa, 2010a).
Flickr – an interest social media website focusing on photos. The highest ranked photo-
based website at 31st place globally (Alexa, 2010a).
Friendship Communities – these visually-orientated social media websites centre on
individuals and focus on networking, including Facebook, Twitter,
MySpace, Orkut, Hi5 and Friendster. This thesis also uses the term social
networking sites for friendship communities.
Group – a platform created by social media members to collect user-generated content,
as well as discuss and network around a topic such as a destination, an event
or an artistic interpretation.
xvi
Interest Communities – visually-orientated social media websites that focus on specific
activities or interests such as photo, video and travel, on websites such as
Flickr, YouTube and TripAdvisor.
Islam – a religion with 1.57 billion followers (Muslims) in over 200 countries (Pew
Forum, 2009).
Keywords – words individuals use to identify and search for online content.
League of Arab States – a group of 22 countries, mostly located in the Middle East and
North Africa: Algeria, Bahrain, Comoros, Djibouti, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan,
Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Mauritania, Morocco, Oman, Palestine, Qatar,
Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, Tunisia, United Arab Emirates and
Yemen.
Like – a brief audience response on Facebook to indicate preference for user-generated
content or a profile.
Muslims – followers of the Islamic religion. Some countries have Muslims as a majority
or minority of the population. Countries with the highest Muslim majority
are in the Middle East and North Africa (Pew Forum, 2009).
MySpace – was the highest ranked friendship social media website prior to Facebook,
and is now ranked 21st of all websites globally (Alexa, 2010a).
Q Method – a methodology used in many fields to extract differing opinions through
preferences rather than demographics (Brown, 1996; Cross, 2005; Hurd &
Brown, 2005). In tourism, Q researchers ask participants to physically view
and rate destination photos.
xvii
Reasoned Action Approach – the recently introduced theoretical framework that
encompasses the Theories of Planned Behavior and Reasoned Action
(Fishbein & Ajzen, 2010).
Social Media – interactive websites hosting user-generated content through three
distinct website groups: 1) visually-orientated friendship and interest
communities; 2) predominantly text-based websites; and 3) virtual reality
social and game worlds.
Social Networking Sites – while social networking sites scope differs to include or
exclude interest communities (Beer, 2008; Boyd & Ellison, 2007; Kaplan &
Haenlein, 2010), social networking sites in this thesis refers to social media
websites with networking as the main activity, centring on individuals rather
than interest. This thesis also use the term friendship communities for social
networking sites.
Social Presence Theory – a theoretical framework focusing on how the communication
medium affects the perceived nearness of the communicator to the audience
(Short, Williams, & Christie, 1976).
Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) – a theoretical framework used in many fields to
explain and predict intention and behaviour (Ajzen, 1991). This thesis uses
the original and widely accepted American spelling of the name.
Ties – strength of relationships such as strong for family and close friends, weak for
distant friends and acquaintances, and latent or absent for strangers and the
public.
xviii
United Arab Emirates (UAE) – a country in the League of Arab States, consisting of
seven emirates: Abu Dhabi, Ajman, Dubai, Fujairah, Ras al-Khaimah,
Sharjah, and Umm al-Quwain.
User-Generated Content (UGC) – Internet users create, edit, share and view online text,
photos, videos and audio on social media websites.
User-Generated (UG) Photo – Internet users create, edit, share and view online photos
on social media websites.
Visitor-Employed Photography (VEP) – a technique to study destination perspectives
via captured images. Traditionally, VEP studies provide visitors with
cameras to take photographs (Cherem & Driver, 1983; Garrod, 2008).
Word of Mouth (WOM) – the informal interaction among individuals regarding
products or organisations.
1
Chapter 1 Introduction
The emergence of user-generated content (UGC) early this century has transformed
informal communication. This thesis investigates how social media, and in particular
UGC, changes communication related to tourism and photography. Social media
facilitates communication among individuals as well as organisations in many
industries, including tourism. In friendship sites such as Facebook and MySpace, where
a primary objective is socialising, members connect within friendship networks. Interest
sites such as Flickr (photos) and TripAdvisor (travel) attract and bond members with
common interests. Computer-mediated communications assist organisations by creating
product awareness and interest through direct contact and word of mouth (WOM).
Traditionally, WOM involves the spoken word, but this thesis investigates how social
media expands WOM to written text and photos.
The thesis draws on two theoretical frameworks, Planned Behavior and Social Presence,
to examine user-generated (UG) photos. Figure 1.1 illustrates the four broad academic
fields covered in this thesis – photography, tourism, communication, and social media
and UGC – which merge in a new sharing avenue and form a new field of study – user-
2
Photography
Social Media
& UGC
Tourism
Communication UG
travel photos
Profile
photo
Profile
Theoretical Frameworks:
Planned Behaviour and Social Presence
generated travel photographs. With increasing acceptance of social media and
popularity of UG photo sharing, individuals communicate about various topics
including travel (Daugherty, Eastin, & Bright, 2008; Hampton, Goulet, Rainie, &
Purcell, 2011; Tussyadiah & Fesenmaier, 2009; Universal McCann, 2009).
Figure 1.1: Theoretical Frameworks and Academic Fields in this Thesis
The chapter starts with a brief background on social media and UGC, generally, and in
relation to the other three academic fields in Figure 1.1, as well as the theoretical
frameworks in this thesis. The chapter then covers research objectives and questions,
followed by research design and thesis structure.
1.1 Thesis Background
1.1.1 Social Media and User-Generated Content
The social media trend is popular, with eight websites in the top 40 of all websites as
ranked by Alexa in May 2010 – Facebook (2), YouTube (3), Wikipedia (6), Blogger
3
(8), Twitter (11), and MySpace (21), LinkedIn (30) and Flickr (31) (Alexa, 2010a). This
trend, expected to capture over half of Internet users by 2014 (Williamson, 2010),
involves five activities – creating profiles, contacting members, posting, viewing and
responding to UGC – shown in Figure 1.2.
Figure 1.2: Social Media Activities
Upon joining a social media website, members create a profile that resembles a personal
web page. The next step depends on member preference – contacting others, posting,
viewing or responding to UGC. Members contact others by private message to build a
network of online friends (Boyd, 2006). While viewing UGC is observational, members
can respond to these UGC or create their own posts (Cox, Clough, & Marlow, 2008).
Most social media participation, however, is for posting and viewing UGC than for
responding to UGC posted by others (Daugherty, et al., 2008).
Six elements control and shape UGC, with studies examining two or three of these
elements together (Kaplan & Haenlein, 2010; Schmallegger, Carson, & Jacobsen, 2010;
Xiang & Gretzel, 2010; Zywica & Danowski, 2008). These elements fall into three
entities and three content components as illustrated in Figure 1.3. For entities, social
media websites offer communicators – individuals and organisations – the ability to
communicate with audiences and upload content through profiles (Boyd & Hargittai,
4
2010; Kasavana, Nusair, & Teodosic, 2010). The three content elements, shown in
Figure 1.3, are form, topic and object. Content can be in various forms such as text,
photo, video and audio (Cormode & Krishnamurthy, 2008; Daugherty, et al., 2008).
Content topics range from destinations to cuisine (Bronner & De Hoog, 2010; De
Valck, Van Bruggen, & Wierenga, 2009; Jansen, Zhang, Sobel, & Chowdury, 2009),
while objects include travellers, locals and buildings (Schmallegger, et al., 2010;
Tussyadiah & Fesenmaier, 2009).
Figure 1.3: Elements of User-Generated Content
This thesis focuses on all six elements. As UGC form is a key feature in social media
and this thesis, it dominates the rest of this section. Each of the three entities, and then
the other two content components shown in Figure 1.3, is discussed in relation to UGC
form, particularly photos.
Website and Form
Social media websites offer various content forms to members. These forms
differentiate three types of social media – text-based, visual-orientated and three-
Content Entities
5
dimensional virtual reality websites. Text-based websites involve blogs and
collaborative projects such as Wikipedia, visual-orientated websites such as Facebook,
Flickr and YouTube emphasise photo and video forms, while three-dimensional
websites encompass virtual social worlds such as Second Life (Kaplan & Haenlein,
2010). Websites based on these social media types are believed to differ in the nearness
or “social presence” (Short, et al., 1976) available to the audience. Text-based is
proposed to have the lowest and three-dimensional content websites the highest social
presence (Kaplan & Haenlein, 2010).
This thesis focuses on visual-orientated websites, the most popular social media sites
(Alexa, 2010a), with two distinctive categories – interest and friendship. Friendship-
based sites, also known as social networking sites, such as Facebook and MySpace
centre on communicators. While definitions of social networking sites might include or
exclude interest sites (Beer, 2008; Boyd & Ellison, 2007; Kaplan & Haenlein, 2010),
this study separates interest from friendship sites. Interest-based sites such as YouTube
(video), Flickr (photo) and TripAdvisor (travel) focus on form and topic. The photo
form has a prominent place in social media as friendship sites offer photo features and
several interest sites only focus on photos.
Communicator and Photo Form
Photo uploading is the main social media activity after messaging friends (Universal
McCann, 2009). Members in friendship and interest websites upload or post two types
of photos – profile and content as indicated in Figure 1.4. Profile photos represent
communicators while content photos range from travel to artistic images (Meyer,
Rosenbaum, & Hara, 2005; Schmallegger, et al., 2010; Sessions, 2009). In Figure 1.4,
while there are many profile photos, the biggest represents the profile owner and others
6
represent Facebook friends. Content photos usually appear on a separate page as circled
in Figure 1.4, where friends can view the profile owner‟s photos. Additionally content
photos can also appear on the profile‟s wall page, where open discussions among
friends take place, as shown in Figure 1.4.
7
Figure 1.4: A Facebook Profile – Wall Page (31 March 2010)
Content photos
Profile photos
Text content &
UGC response
8
Because members communicate thoughts and experiences through content photos, these
photos can also transmit word of mouth (WOM) – interaction concerning products and
services among individuals without any financial incentives (Anderson, 1998; Litvin,
Goldsmith, & Pan, 2008; Schmallegger, et al., 2010). Similar to verbal and textual
WOM, photo WOM should assist consumer decisions. Both content photos in Figure
1.4, posted by friends of the profile owner, represent high school experiences, but can
also become WOM – positive, neutral or negative – for the school. As communicators
and audiences interpret photos differently (Adatto, 2008; Sontag, 1979), photo WOM
can have varying results. Through the first photo for instance, the member was
reminiscing about his high school experience, possibly evoking positive emotions
among members who went to the same school. Other members among the audience,
however, just see a bus in bad condition and may associate the school with poor
facilities.
Audience and Photo Form
Audiences view photos shared by family, friends, acquaintances and strangers
(Schmallegger, et al., 2010; White, 2010). Ties with family and close friends are strong,
weak with distant friends and acquaintances, and latent or absent with the public
(Granovetter, 1973; Haythornthwaite, 2002). While WOM from strong ties carries more
weight, individuals actively seek information from weak ties (Brown & Reingen, 1987)
and possibly latent ties on social media. While the original application of the concept of
strength of ties was to discuss the nature of individuals‟ networks (Granovetter, 1973),
this study uses strength of ties to illustrate relationships on social media websites.
After viewing social media UGC such as photos, audiences can respond via comments
(White, 2010; Zywica & Danowski, 2008) and simply clicking like or fave awards,
9
respectively for Facebook and Flickr (Cox, et al., 2008; Fletcher, 2010). The Facebook
profile in Figure 1.4 illustrates a response – a comment and no likes – for text content.
For photos, responses can depend on objects; humans seem to invoke higher comments
than non-humans in travel photos (White, 2010).
Topic and Photo Form
Members communicate about travel on social media via text, photos and videos
(Tussyadiah & Fesenmaier, 2009; White, 2010; Yoo & Gretzel, 2009). Among travel
UGC forms, individuals value photos for travel search more than text and videos (Cox,
Burgess, Sellitto, & Buultjens, 2009). With travellers sharing experiences via photos
(Lo, McKercher, Lo, Cheung, & Law, 2010; Murphy, Gil, & Schegg, 2010; White,
2010), these photos can portray destinations. For example, an Australian tourism contest
managed to generate nearly 30,000 photos to use in official promotions (Saurine, 2010).
Shared photos can also present tourism images by portraying objects at destinations.
Object and Photo Form
Communicators mention or portray objects in their content uploads such as the bus and
sports team in Figure 1.4. Destination content photos include people, buildings and
nature (Schmallegger, et al., 2010; White, 2010), resembling images in tourism
brochures (Govers & Go, 2005; Hashim, Murphy, & Hashim, 2007; Henderson, 2008).
Shared images, however, might have better prospects to expose future tourists to the
sights in countries than official materials as people prefer informal rather than official
information (Cheong & Morrison, 2008). Additionally, as photo-viewing is the most
popular user-generated activity (Daugherty, et al., 2008), photo WOM can reach strong,
weak and latent ties globally.
10
This research examines posted photos and responses to photos images via two
theoretical frameworks – Theory of Planned Behavior and Social Presence Theory.
Each of these theories is introduced below. More details about the Theory of Planned
Behavior and the Social Presence Theory are in Chapters 2 and 4 respectively.
1.1.2 Theory of Planned Behavior
The Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB), a major part of the Reasoned Action Approach,
helps explain and predict individual behaviours (Ajzen, 1991; Fishbein & Ajzen, 2010).
This theoretical framework is common in tourism and hospitality, particularly
destination studies (Lam & Hsu, 2006; Sparks, 2007) and has been used to study related
behaviours such as restaurant complaints (Cheng, Lam, & Hsu, 2006). As Figure 1.5
shows, antecedents of behaviour and intentions are attitudes, perceived norms and
perceived control. These three components reflect beliefs.
Figure 1.5: Theory of Planned Behavior (Ajzen, 1991)
Three beliefs, coloured in Figure 1.5, reveal an individual‟s thoughts about a behaviour.
Behavioural beliefs are the expected outcomes of performing the behaviour. The
strength of these beliefs and evaluations of their importance form attitudes toward a
Behavioural Beliefs
Normative Beliefs
Control Beliefs
Attitude Towards the Behaviour
Perceived Behavioural
Control
Subjective
Norm
Behaviour Intention
11
behaviour. Secondly, normative beliefs are an individual‟s perceptions of others‟
expectations about their performing a behaviour (which might be derived from what
they say or their observed actions), and lead to subjective norm. Lastly, control beliefs
involve thoughts about ability to perform a behaviour, such as having the necessary
skills or ability to overcome difficulties. Control beliefs contribute to perceived
behavioural control – the perceived ability to perform a behaviour. These three factors –
behavioural, normative and control – could be used to help explain reasons to perform a
specific behaviour, such as posting UG photos about a destination.
The Theory of Planned Behavior can assist to examine motivation for posting photos,
however, to gain an understanding of the communication that takes place in UGC
sharing, it would also be helpful to study audience responses to posted photos. To gain
this additional understanding on UGC interaction, this thesis uses a well-known
communication theory, Social Presence Theory (Short, et al., 1976). As summarised
below, Social Presence Theory is applicable to this research because it explains
communication by examining the communication medium, communicators and
audience responses.
1.1.3 Social Presence Theory
Social Presence Theory argues that communication media differ in their ability to make
the communicator appear near to the recipient (Short, et al., 1976). Communicators
decide which medium to use for its social presence. For example, face-to-face has the
highest social presence compared to telephone. Developed for formal situations, this
theory also applies to informal social media. Websites such as Facebook and Flickr with
12
text, photo and video uploads, are proposed to have higher social presence than text
dominated blogs and Wikipedia (Kaplan & Haenlein, 2010).
With wide application in the last three decades, social presence definitions include
technological features of the communication medium as well as how the medium
portrays communicators (Biocca, Harms, & Burgoon, 2003). One way a medium can
portray communicators is through online photos. Technology-mediated photo sharing
can increase a communicator‟s nearness or social presence (Bentley & Metcalf, 2009;
Counts & Fellheimer, 2004).
Social presence increases viewer interest, for example, human photos increase the
response rate of questionnaires compared to questionnaires without photos (Dommeyer
& Ruggiero, 1996; Gueguen & Jacob, 2002). Similarly, websites with human images –
especially faces – have higher appeal than websites without (Cyr, Head, Larios, & Pan,
2009), enhancing website trust and enjoyment (Hassanein & Head, 2007). This interest
in online social presence also extends to UGC websites, such as human images
attracting more comments than non-human photos (White, 2010).
1.2 Research Objectives and Research Questions
The objectives of this research encompass two of the social media activities in Figure
1.2 – UGC posts and responses – relative to the six UGC elements in Figure 1.3. The
thesis therefore revolves around two research objectives as illustrated in Figure 1.6.
With the prevalence of social media participation in the tourism industry (Bronner & De
Hoog, 2010; Tussyadiah & Fesenmaier, 2009; Xiang & Gretzel, 2010) and popularity of
13
travel photo postings on social media (Lo, et al., 2010; Schmallegger, et al., 2010), there
is a need to
(1) Understand travel photography postings on social media.
(2) Understand computer-mediated communication via user-generated photos
and responses.
Figure 1.6: Research Objectives, UGC Elements and Research Questions
14
Research Objective 1: Understand Travel Photography Postings on Social Media
This research objective focuses on one social media activity – UGC postings – and
covers four elements, visual-orientated social media websites, travel, photos and
Muslim images, as shown in Figure 1.6. The first three elements help form three of the
four research questions, while the fourth question relates specifically to Muslim images,
as the understudied Muslim world is used to generate a sample for the study of UG
photos in this thesis.
Tourists share photographs on social media websites to inform, show and possibly
recommend selected destinations (Lo, et al., 2010; White, 2010). Studies of user-
generated travel photos are increasing (Choi, Lehto, & Morrison, 2007; Schmallegger,
et al., 2010; White, 2010). A social media study reveals that one in two tourists view
posted travel photos (Yoo, Lee, Gretzel, & Fesenmaier, 2009). Furthermore, as shared
online photos are important in travel planning, seeing an interesting photo could propel
users to visit a destination (Cox, et al., 2008; Cox, et al., 2009).
Schmallegger et al. (2010) observed that photos are an important form of WOM for
destinations, but little is known about photo WOM on social media. At least three
reasons explain the importance of photo WOM. Firstly, photos can become substitutes
for depicted objects (Sontag, 1979). Secondly, visuals attract human attention, for
example children learn better through pictures than words (Pressley, 1977). Lastly, the
public views photos as the truth (Adatto, 2008; Sontag, 1979).
Similar to text, photo WOM can reach a wide audience as individuals share content
across all types of social tie (Bronner & De Hoog, 2010; Schmallegger, et al., 2010;
White, 2010). Organisations benefit from interaction among members on social media.
15
Positive WOM can increase visitors, purchases and customer loyalty (Dey & Sarma,
2010; Kim, Lee, & Hiemstra, 2004; Ye, Law, & Gu, 2009). Furthermore, customers
gained through WOM give more long term profit than customers acquired through
marketing (Villanueva, Yoo, & Hanssens, 2008). Therefore,
Research Question 1: How do individuals share travel WOM, particularly
photos, using social media?
Research Question 2: How do user-generated photos represent destination
WOM?
The Theory of Planned Behavior might help explain photo-posting behaviour. While
studies employ this theoretical framework to explain travel behaviour and WOM
(Cheng, et al., 2006; Lam & Hsu, 2006; Sparks, 2007), none have used this framework
for UGC posting. Given the TPB‟s ability to explain a variety of behaviours (Ajzen,
1991; Fishbein & Ajzen, 2010), this thesis applies the basic explanation, beliefs, to study
travel photo-posting behaviour. As individuals post destination photos, beliefs might
help explain destination photo postings. As shared photos reflect destinations, tourism
organisations can benefit from understanding reasons behind posts. One advantage
includes the ability to generate or induce more photos for a destination. Thus, this study
investigates
Research Question 3: What beliefs might explain photo posts?
Researchers are starting to examine social media, photos and tourism together. The few
existing studies combining these fields focus on countries without Muslim presence
(Lo, et al., 2010; Schmallegger, et al., 2010; White, 2010). As Muslims form 23% of the
world‟s populations (Pew Forum, 2009) and tourism has a prominent place in Islam
16
(Hashim, et al., 2007; Henderson, 2009; Timothy & Iverson, 2006), this thesis uses
Islamic tourism as the context within which to study individuals‟ travel photo sharing
on this new social media avenue.
Islamic tourism usually refers to tourism activities among Muslims within Muslim
countries, but can also include non-Muslims visiting Muslim countries and Muslims
visiting countries with Muslim minorities (Al-Hamarneh & Steiner, 2004; Henderson,
2009). Countries with the highest Muslim majority are in the Middle East and North
Africa (Central Intelligence Agency, 2010; Pew Forum, 2009), with 22 countries
grouped within the League of Arab States. In 2005/2006, seven of these Arab states
received the highest tourists among the top 10 Muslim countries (World Tourism
Organization, 2008).
Early this century, several Arab countries faced political turmoil and were associated
with terrorism, leading to decreased international visits to countries such as Egypt,
Libya and Tunisia (Shaheen, 2006; Timothy & Iverson, 2006; World Travel and
Tourism Council, 2010). Visits amongst Arab and Islamic nations helped these
countries recover and thrive as Muslims visited other Islamic states (Al-Hamarneh &
Steiner, 2004; Hashim, et al., 2007; Henderson, 2009). By 2005, several Arab countries
also gained visitors from the rest of the world with more tourists from non-Muslim than
Muslim states to four of the seven most popular Arab destinations (Steiner, 2010;
World Tourism Organization, 2008).
As tourism in Arab countries occupies a larger role than previously (Belloumi, 2010;
Johnson, 2010; Neveu, 2010; Winckler, 2007) and Islamic tourism is gaining popularity
as illustrated by the special coverage by travel giant Lonely Planet in its 2008 travel
17
guide (Bain, Scutt, Zimmerman, & Sellars, 2007), informal coverage of the Arab
nations could assist tourism growth. Furthermore, with media coverage of the Arab
World often including Western news reports and official tourism brochures (AbiNader,
2006; Govers & Go, 2005; Hudson, 2006), UG photos could add portrayals for these
nations. For example, UG photos could portray similar images as displayed in Muslim
countries‟ official tourism images such as mosques, female headscarves and the holy
book Qur’an (Govers & Go, 2005; Hashim, et al., 2007; Henderson, 2008), as well as
depict Islamic activities such as visits to specific mosques at a destination.
As the non-Arab World tends to cluster the Arab countries together (Winckler, 2007),
shared images can assist Arab states in differentiating their countries from other Arab
states. With the increase in Arab Internet users and worldwide social media
phenomenon, UGC could become a tool to assist promote Arab destinations and Islamic
tourism (Internet World Stats 2009, Hampton, Goulet, Rainie & Purcell 2011,
Tussyadiah & Fesenmaier 2009). Similar to WOM increasing interest and visits, UGC
from and about these Arab states could interest and attract future tourists (Cox 2008,
Dey and Sarma 2010). With limited tourism and technology studies on Islamic
destinations (Govers & Go, 2005; Hashim, et al., 2007; Henderson, 2008) and none
focusing on UGC and shared photos of Arab states, this study examines the most
popular photo-based site, Flickr, for Muslim images. Therefore,
Research Question 4: How do user-generated photos portray topics such as
Islamic Tourism and Arab destinations?
18
Research Objective 2: Understand Computer-Mediated Communication via User-
Generated Photos and Responses
The second research objective examines two social media activities – UGC posts and
audience responses – and incorporates three elements studied for Research Objective 1
– visual-orientated websites, travel, photos. This research objective focuses on human
images shared by communicators and audience responses to those images.
Computer-mediated communication involves channels such as email, instant messaging
and social media. These channels separate the communicator and message as opposed
to face-to-face and telephone conversations, where messages are extensions of the
communicator via verbal and physical gestures. Emails for instance come from the
communicator as seen through the name and email address, and messages involve
external forms such as text and photos. Social media separates communicators and
messages more prominently than emails as communicators have profiles and can
display many messages at a time in various forms, accessible to strong, weak and latent
ties. This study focuses on UG photos as this form exemplifies the differentiation of
communicator and message, and examines photos using Social Presence Theory.
Online social presence studies focus on photos of the communicator (Cyr, et al., 2009;
Gueguen & Jacob, 2002; Hassanein & Head, 2007). Within social media, the
communicator can be depicted through profile photos and their messages via content
photos. While the communicator typically appears in profile photos, content photos can
include the communicator and others such as family, friends, locals or tourists. Findings
from a Facebook study of 10 users indicate that audiences respond more to content
photos with humans than those without (White, 2010). As social presence increases
audience response, depictions of human subjects on social media, even though they are
19
not the communicators, might increase response due to social presence. Thus, the
research investigates
Research Question 5: Do user-generated photos relay social presence?
The research questions outlined above address two knowledge gaps – shared online
photos and Islamic tourism. Firstly, as online studies focus on text WOM, generally and
in travel (Jansen, Zhang, Sobel, & Chowdury, 2009; Ye, et al., 2009; Yoo & Gretzel,
2009), this research focuses on photos with the five research questions. Secondly, with
Islamic tourism emerging and limited studies focusing on Muslim destinations (Hashim,
et al., 2007; Henderson, 2009), this thesis examines this research gap with research
question 4, focusing on Muslim dominant Arab countries. The research questions and
objectives define the research design.
1.3 Research Design
The research described in this thesis employed a sequential mixed-method design
(Teddlie & Tashakkori, 2009) involving qualitative studies – interviews and focus
groups – and a quantitative study. Table 1.1 summarises the research design details
across all studies. As individuals dominate social media participation and give travel
WOM (Allsop, Bassett, & Hoskins, 2007; Bronner & De Hoog, 2010; Yoo & Gretzel,
2009), the qualitative studies of twelve interviews and two focus groups examined
travel communication on digital channels particularly social media. As students are
heavy social media users (Ellison, Steinfield, & Lampe, 2007; Lack, Beck, & Hoover,
2009), studies 1 to 3 involved students with travel and social media experience. The
findings indicated that participants share and enjoy user-generated travel photos on
20
friendship and interest websites. Results from these studies, together with the increase
in social media photo use, helped direct the quantitative study.
Table 1.1: Sequential Mixed Method Design
Study Design Data Collection
Type Sample Website
1
Qualitative
Interviews 12 students Friendship &
Interest
Websites 2, 3 2 Focus Groups 4 + 9
students
4a
Quantitative
Keyword
Searches
22 Arab League
countries An Interest
Website:
Flickr 4b Content
Analysis
589 Muslim
travel photos of
22 Arab League
countries
The quantitative study involved two phases, keyword searches and content analysis on
an interest website Flickr. The keyword searches identified photos for the 22 Arab
states. The second phase, a content analysis of 589 Muslim travel photos, identified
portrayed objects and audience responses. The content analysis drew upon two offline
photo techniques for the study of perceptions and popular images of a destination –
Visitor-Employed Photography (VEP) and the Q method. Offline VEP studies provide
visitors with cameras to take photographs and examined the captured images (Cherem
& Driver, 1983; Garrod, 2008), while participants rank selected photos to indicate
preferences in the Q method (Dewar, Li, & Davis, 2007; Fairweather & Swaffield,
2001).
With social media pooling photos and offering response features, this thesis employed
both techniques online. An online VEP study, published after the application of online
VEP in this thesis, selected shared photographs via keyword searches and then
examined photos for objects (Schmallegger, et al., 2010). Similarly, this research
selected photos related to Islamic tourism and then content analysed portrayed objects.
21
For the online Q method, instead of asking participants to rate pre-selected photos, this
thesis searched for Islamic tourism photos and then studied image preferences by
content analysing quantified responses for those photos.
1.4 Thesis Structure
This thesis has five chapters, as illustrated in Figure 1.7. This introduction sets the
groundwork for the other chapters. Chapters 2 through 4 revolve around the studies and
results. Finally, issues arising from studies end the thesis with discussions and
implications in Chapter 5.
Figure 1.7: Thesis Structure
The three study chapters cover the research objectives and methods according to
prepared, submitted and published manuscripts, as shown in Table 1.2. Chapters 2 and 3
address the first research objective, to understand travel photography postings on social
media. Chapter 4 investigates photo images and audience responses to UG photos to
understand computer-mediated communication (the second research objective).
22
Table 1.2: Thesis Chapters Mapped to Research Objectives and Studies
Thesis Chapter Publication* Research Objective Data Collection
Type (Study)
2:
User-Generated
Destination Photos
Journal article
(under second
review)
4 conference papers
Understand
travel photography
postings
on social media
Interviews (1)
Focus Groups (2,3)
Keyword Searches
(4a) 3:
Arabian Sights
(Syed-Ahmad,
Pengiran-Kahar,
Medabesh, &
Murphy, 2010) Content
Analysis
(4b) 4:
Computer-Mediated
Social Presence
Journal article
(prepared for
submission)
1 conference paper
Understand
computer-mediated
communication
via UG photos and
responses
*Note: Chapters are in the form of prepared, submitted and published journal article or
book chapter, edited for flow and consistency within the thesis. Details of published and
submitted works are provided on pages viii-xi.
23
Chapter 2 User-Generated Photos as Destination
Word of Mouth
User-generated content (UGC) is a social media activity, as highlighted in Figure 2.1.
This chapter examines posting UGC, particularly photos. The chapter also examines
reasons why individuals share travel photos and the presence of these shared photos for
destinations. Insights gained will help researchers understand travel photography on
social media and identify how organisations can generate and manage destination
photos.
Figure 2.1: Social Media Sharing
24
2.1 Introduction
Individuals perceive and possibly visit destinations based on formal and informal
information (Govers, Go, & Kumar, 2007; Inversini, Cantoni, & Buhalis, 2009). While
formal information stems from traditional bodies such as governments, organisations
and media, informal sources include word of mouth (WOM) from friends, contacts and
strangers (Choi, et al., 2007; Dey & Sarma, 2010). Thanks to technology, informal
information sharing mushrooms; a recent study found more informal than formal
destination information sources (Inversini, et al., 2009). Informal user-generated text,
pictures and videos appear on social media websites such as Facebook, Flickr and
YouTube (Lo, et al., 2010; Schmallegger, et al., 2010).
While user-generated WOM studies predominantly focus on written words (Ye, et al.,
2009; Yoo & Gretzel, 2009), WOM can include photos (Bronner & De Hoog, 2010).
Yet few studies examine photos as WOM (Schmallegger, et al., 2010). As both WOM
and photos increase interest and influence travel decisions (Cox, et al., 2009; Dey &
Sarma, 2010; Stringam & Gerdes, 2010), WOM in the form of shared photos should
have similar effects. With user-generated content (UGC) expected to rise and photo-
sharing becoming a norm (Van Dijck, 2008; Williamson, 2010), travellers may
increasingly engage in WOM by sharing and viewing user-generated photos.
Individuals find destination information via informal photo posts as well as from formal
destination photos (Cox, et al., 2009; Hashim, et al., 2007). Furthermore, as members
usually ignore Internet advertising and prefer informal rather than official information
(Cheong & Morrison, 2008; Jepsen, 2006; Kelly, Kerr, & Drennan, 2010), user-
25
generated photos seem an important information channel. Insights into photo sharing
trends would help destination marketers manage formal and informal channels.
A theoretical framework that should help explain sharing photos online is the Theory of
Planned Behavior (Ajzen, 1991; Fishbein & Ajzen, 2010). A basic component in the
theory that explains individual behaviours is beliefs. With limited studies focusing on
reasons to post travel photos, understanding these beliefs would add knowledge about
destination photo-posting motivations.
While tourism researchers focus on Western destinations, tourism importance within
Muslim countries such as Malaysia and many Arab states is increasing (Henderson,
2009). One difficulty for Arab countries is to differentiate themselves from other Arab
states. As the non-Arab World tends to cluster the Arab countries together (Winckler,
2007), informal photos could assist potential travellers, virtual and real, differentiate
Arab countries. In addition, photo volume and growth can assist managers forecast and
induce destination photos.
The online arena is especially relevant as Arab Internet adoption bloomed this century
with over 1,000% user growth, about three times the world‟s 350% growth (Internet
World Stats, 2009a, 2009b). On Flickr for instance, the Arab country Morocco had over
half a million photos in June 2009. Furthermore, informal groups on various topics,
such as destinations, thrive on Flickr (Negoescu, Adams, Phung, Venkatesh, & Gatica-
Perez, 2009). The “Kingdom of Jordan” Flickr group for instance, had 11,470 photos
and 850 members in late 2009. Monitoring these photos can inform tourism officials of
projected images such as visited locations and tourist activities, and assist destination
marketing organisations in planning future promotions.
26
This chapter investigates user-generated photos for two reasons. Firstly, posting and
viewing photos are common UGC activities (Daugherty, et al., 2008). Few tourism
studies, however, examine photo posts. One studies photos as travel WOM and none
focus on why individuals post travel photos (Lo, et al., 2010; Schmallegger, et al., 2010;
White, 2010). Secondly, focusing on Arab States adds to the limited travel and
technology research in this region (Hashim, et al., 2007).
Therefore, this chapter addresses research gaps with four questions:
i. How do individuals share travel WOM, particularly photos, using social media?
ii. How do user-generated photos represent destination WOM?
iii. How do user-generated photos present Arab destinations?
iv. What beliefs might explain photo posts?
After a brief literature review, including the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB), this
chapter draws upon three qualitative studies to examine photos on the web as WOM and
reasons for sharing them. A quantitative study then investigates the photo-sharing
behaviour by examining Arab States‟ photos. The paper closes with discussions
regarding how industry and academia can benefit from understanding photo-posting
behaviours and beliefs.
27
2.2 Literature review
2.2.1 Social Media and Word of Mouth
Social media websites have three distinct groups related to their UGC forms. There are
text-based websites such as blogs and Wikipedia, visual-orientated websites such as
Facebook and Flickr with photos and videos, and three-dimensional virtual reality
worlds such as Second Life (Kaplan & Haenlein, 2010). Within all groups, visual-
orientated websites are the most common generally and for travel (Alexa, 2010a; Xiang
& Gretzel, 2010), and fall into interest and friendship communities.
Friendship Communities, which centre on individuals, are popular. Rankings on 5
May 2010 revealed Facebook at second place of all websites globally, followed by
Twitter (11), MySpace (21), Orkut (63), Hi5 (73) and Friendster (347) (Alexa, 2010a).
Community members share personal content with selected audiences via profiles,
biodata pages resembling a personal website (Boyd & Hargittai, 2010). Although
socialising is their main objective, members also share travel experiences on friendship
communities (White, 2010).
Interest Communities focus on specific activities. In May 2010, the top three interest
communities were YouTube (video) ranked third, Flickr (photo) ranked 31st and
TripAdvisor (travel) at 317th
of all websites (Alexa, 2010a). While TripAdvisor is one
of many dedicated travel sites, travellers also post and view travel experiences on Flickr
and YouTube. Viewing travel UGC can influence travel decisions, such as hotel
bookings and destination interest (Cox, et al., 2008; Ye, et al., 2009). This UGC about
travel resembles destination word of mouth.
28
Word of mouth, free interaction among individuals regarding a product or organisation,
can influence consumer choices (Allsop, et al., 2007; Plummer, Rappaport, Hall, &
Barocci, 2007). For example, tourists seek recommendations from family, friends and
travellers for unfamiliar destinations (Dey & Sarma, 2010). Furthermore, three of four
travellers share and receive destination WOM (Allsop, et al., 2007).
Traditional WOM involves verbal communication and studies of online WOM consider
text (Jansen, et al., 2009; Litvin, et al., 2008; Trusov, Bucklin, & Pauwels, 2009) and
include photos as part of text WOM (Bronner & De Hoog, 2010). An emerging online
WOM form is photos (Schmallegger, et al., 2010) with travellers sharing and viewing
destination photos online (Lo, et al., 2010; White, 2010). Online photos can be as
important as text for destination WOM (Schmallegger, et al., 2010) with individuals
valuing photos as destination information more than text reviews (Cox, et al., 2009).
Furthermore, similar to textual WOM, photo WOM can be positive, negative and
neutral, depending on the communicator and recipient‟s interpretation (Adatto, 2008;
Jansen, et al., 2009).
2.2.2 User-Generated Photography
Fascination with photography began in 1839 with human portraits, which were
previously only available through paintings (Freund, 1980). After five decades,
photography bloomed thanks to Kodak cameras that let photographers capture everyday
events and travel for personal consumption (Freund, 1980; Lowry, 1999; Meyer, 2008).
As travellers take and share destination photos to prove visits (Urry, 1990), the rise of
digital cameras and camera phones enhances taking and sharing photos (Van Dijck,
29
2008). Individuals today have many channels to share photos including mobile phones,
instant messaging and social media websites. Most friendship websites have photo-
sharing features and photo-based interest communities thrive. The top photo-based
websites are Flickr (31), Photobucket (56) and ImageShack.us (78) (Alexa, 2010a).
Members in friendship and interest communities can post two types of photos – profile
and content – as shown in Figure 2.2. Content photos are potential WOM as they
include travel, friends, family and artistic images (Cox, et al., 2008; White, 2010).
Profile photos define the individual who posts the content photos (Sessions, 2009). A
key difference is the number of photos posted for each type. In Figure 2.2, the member
uploaded 2,816 content photos on Flickr, and has just one profile photo.
30
Figure 2.2: A Flickr Content Photo Page (15 May 2010)
Profile
photo
Content
photo
Content
photo
total
31
Members adjust privacy settings for their posted photos, sharing with: no one, someone
or everyone (Boyd & Hargittai, 2010; Richter & Schadler, 2009; Schmallegger, et al.,
2010). Flickr members can add geographic and keyword tags to identify photo locations
(Richter & Schadler, 2009). The content photo in Figure 2.2 includes the destination
keyword tags Michigan and Ann Arbor as well as tags for objects such as stadium and
football. While some members may not tag photos, popular photos average 10 keyword
tags (Lerman & Jones, 2007).
Keyword tags assist Flickr visitors looking for photos. Searches focus on predetermined
goals depending on topics such as travel and destinations. For instance, June 2009
Flickr searches returned over nine million photos for the keyword travel, a million
photos for the keyword Egypt, and over 77,000 photos for both travel and Egypt. These
search results indicate that individuals post destination WOM through photos.
Examining reasons for travel photo posts, such as through beliefs in the Theory of
Planned Behavior, can help researchers understand destination WOM posting.
2.2.3 Theory of Planned Behavior Beliefs
One theoretical framework that might help explain photo postings is the Theory of
Planned Behavior (Ajzen, 1991; Fishbein & Ajzen, 2010). This framework, used to
explain and predict behaviours such as destination visits (Lam & Hsu, 2006; Sparks,
2007), argues that beliefs are antecedents to behaviours. Examining travel photo-posting
beliefs could explain reasons individuals share destination photos.
Three beliefs reveal thoughts about a behaviour. Behavioural beliefs are the expected
outcomes of conducting a behaviour. The strength of these beliefs and their evaluations
32
form attitudes toward a behaviour. Secondly, normative beliefs are perceptions of
others‟ expectations about a behaviour and their observed actions, and lead to perceived
norm. Lastly, control beliefs involve thoughts about ability to perform a behaviour, such
as having the necessary skills or ability to overcome difficulties. Control beliefs and
how these factors affect ability then become perceived behavioural control – the
perceived ease to perform a behaviour. These three sets of beliefs – behavioural,
normative and control – help explain reasons to perform a specific behaviour, such as
communication with others about a destination, as shown through the qualitative
studies.
2.3 Studies
2.3.1 Qualitative Studies
Three exploratory studies ran from January to July 2008. First, semi-structured
interviews explored digital and UGC travel behaviours. Two subsequent focus groups
then examined common UGC travel behaviours. Among the questions were “Which
social media sites do you use to share travel experience? Which social media sites do
you use for travel research? Why do you use these websites to post and seek travel
information?”
As students are heavy users of UGC sites (Boyd & Hargittai, 2010; Ellison, et al.,
2007), the studies involved students (demographics in Table 2.1) with travel and UGC
experience. The first two studies centred on Malaysians. A female Malaysian
postgraduate student interviewed participants and moderated the first focus group.
Matching participants‟ gender and nationality with the interviewer and moderator helps
33
participants share their experiences (Lewis, 2003). The second focus group included
another moderator and users from other nations and gender.
Table 2.1: Participant Demographics and Travel UGC
Study Interviews Focus Groups
Focus Group 1 Focus Group 2
Sampling Criteria Travel experience UGC experience
Demographics
Participants 12 4 9
Gender Female Female 5 Females, 4 Males
Age 24-37 25-37 20-25
Nationality Malaysia Malaysia Australia, Indonesia,
Israel, Malaysia,
Singapore and USA
Travel Content and Topics
Friendship sites Friendster & Facebook Facebook, Friendster & MySpace
Post Photo – destination
Text – airline, destination
Photo – destination
Text – hotel, airline
View Photo – destination Photo – destination
Travel map application
Other activity - Organise group trip
Interest sites TripAdvisor &
HolidayCity
TripAdvisor, Wikitravel, Yahoo!Travel,
YouTube & Flickr
Post Text – hotel Photo – destination
Text – hotel
View Text – hotel, destination Photo – hotel
Text – airline, hotel, prices,
destination, attractions
Video – destination
Table 2.1 shows travel activities in UGC friendship and interest communities. The
participants mostly used photo and text for travel sharing and seeking on more than one
community, with some identifying photos as their main UGC. Participants who posted
and viewed travel photos perceived them as WOM as photos relay destination
experiences. While participants shared positive destination photos, they indicated that
bad experiences can lead to negative photo posts. Participants, however, only recalled
viewing positive travel photos on social media. Participants‟ photo viewing differs as
some participants sought travel photos and others stumbled upon destination photo
posts.
34
The reasons the participants gave for posting photos aligned with the three types of
belief described in the TPB. Participants had positive behavioural beliefs relating to cost
and proof of destination visit. Secondly, control beliefs revealed that having a camera
and a social media account assisted photo postings, and lastly, normative beliefs
revolved around viewing others‟ holiday photos. Participants‟ beliefs, shown through
quotes and statements of underlying beliefs, are stated below.
Behavioural belief: “I usually just share photos of my holidays in Friendster
and when my friends view my photos, they will know where I go. So, that is one
way of telling them – This is a good place”. [Friendster is a good place to share
photos. Posting photos on Friendster is a good way to share photos with friends.
Sharing photos with friends is a good way to tell them about a destination.
Sharing destination photos informs them that I visited a destination.]
Normative belief: “My friend just went to London, and I was going through his
pictures on Facebook…. I was thinking, I‟ll be going in a few days‟ time too...
make me more interested to go there…. After my London trip, I would probably
just add photos to show some friends on Facebook” [My friend shares photos on
Facebook and would be pleased to see my photos there too. I will also be able to
please other friends if I post my photos on Facebook]
Control belief: “I use Flickr to post my own travel photos… mainly when I just
bought a camera and took lots and lots of photos… and I choose to share them
publicly” [I can post photos on Flickr after I became a member. I have a camera
that is suitable for taking photos to share online. I can post destination photos
after I used my camera to capture destinations.]
35
Participants indicated that they share photos with friends and family on friendship
communities, and with the public on interest communities. These photos become WOM
for viewers as they depict destinations such as Arab countries.
2.3.2 Quantitative Study
The quantitative study focused on an emerging field – Islamic tourism – in the League
of Arab States. The 22 states – Algeria, Bahrain, Comoros, Djibouti, Egypt, Iraq,
Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Mauritania, Morocco, Oman, Palestine, Qatar, Saudi
Arabia, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, Tunisia, United Arab Emirates (UAE), and Yemen – are
in the Middle East and North Africa. Knowing destination photo posts for these states
can assist Arab countries‟ tourism promotions and add to knowledge about photo
WOM.
To examine destination photo WOM, the study focused on destination photo-posting
behaviour via posted photos, as found through keyword searches. This study utilises
Flickr as it is the most used site for public travel photos (Alexa, 2010a; Schmallegger, et
al., 2010). Flickr is also relevant for this study because it ranked in the top 100 websites
in eleven Arab countries in June 2010 (Alexa, 2010b). These countries, in order of
Flickr popularity, were: Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Oman, Libya, Lebanon,
Iraq, Syria, Jordan and Morocco.
Examining several travel and Islam keywords and combinations led to three keyword
combinations for this study. The first search was the country name and travel as June
2009 Flickr searches returned over nine million photos for the keyword travel – higher
36
than other tourism words. The second search was the country name with Muslim as it
was a more prominent keyword than Islam on Flickr. The final search employed three
keywords – country, Muslim and travel (Muslim-travel) – to identify Islamic tourism
photo postings within the country. The searches employed the Boolean „and‟ to return
photos with all keywords.
Publicly posted photos for Arab states on Flickr were searched twice – 18 June 2009
and 7 January 2010 – using the criteria in Table 2.2. Unlike other Arab States, the
United Arab Emirates, consists of seven autonomous and diverse emirates – Abu Dhabi,
Ajman, Dubai, Fujairah, Ras al-Khaimah, Sharjah, and Umm al-Quwain (UAE
Government, 2006). Thus, 21 Arab countries and 7 UAE states were examined for
photo-posting behaviours. Table 2.2 lists the Arab countries‟ Flickr photo volume and
half-year growth for the three keyword search combinations in descending order for the
keyword travel.
37
Table 2.2: Arab Flickr Search Results and Growth
Flickr Search Results
(18 June 2009)
Half-year growth (%)
(18 June 2009 – 7 January 2010)
Keywords
Country + Country +
Total - Travel Muslim
Muslim
+
Travel
- Travel Muslim
Muslim
+
Travel
Egypt 1,143,702 77,441 8,271 2,280 19 12 11 5 18
Morocco 649,199 47,939 5,716 1,615 21 28 19 29 21
Jordan 676,124 20,973 1,688 920 22 24 23 19 22
UAE (all emirates^) 490,472 14,731 1,931 301 15 23 69 13 16
Dubai^ 428,332 12,966 1,307 171 14 16 77 16 14
Tunisia 181,764 12,479 1,030 348 14 21 35 99 15
Syria 145,696 10,337 13,854 792 23 27 7 86 22
Yemen 49,783 5,411 1,753 874 18 1 12 11 16
Lebanon 214,952 5,410 14,430 187 20 20 3 10 19
Palestine 148,159 3,657 18,181 600 16 30 6 7 15
Saudi Arabia 50,455 2,871 1,355 104 28 -3 67 9 27
Sudan 55,190 2,359 580 15 31 27 14 40 31
Oman 102,958 2,344 1,358 39 21 15 9 -8 21
Qatar 95,278 2,179 382 14 35 18 23 29 35
Iraq 276,940 2,127 2,660 85 8 26 21 27 8
Bahrain 75,751 2,017 420 133 18 -6 32 -10 17
Libya 50,075 1,715 276 10 20 28 46 30 20
Kuwait 114,565 1,593 652 26 17 18 30 -42 17
Algeria 36,063 1,483 489 18 25 33 20 28 25
Abu Dhabi^ 40,505 1,306 439 38 30 75 73 34 31
Mauritania 15,295 646 1,049 21 22 76 2 5 23
Somalia 10,046 438 188 30 22 -38 11 0 20
Sharjah^ 13,454 321 164 92 9 28 0 0 9
Djibouti 7,846 244 25 4 41 15 16 25 40
Ras al-Khaimah^ 1,729 58 3 0 44 86 33 0 45
Fujairah^ 4,472 41 14 0 9 188 0 0 10
Ajman^ 1,759 39 4 0 15 118 0 0 17
Comoros 1,483 20 5 0 18 5 20 0 18
Umm al-Quwain^ 221 0 0 0 71 N/A 0 0 90
Total 4,591,796 218,414 76,293 8,416 19 19 12 24 19
% of total country 100 4.76 1.66 .18
Note. ^ UAE = United Arab Emirates; Bold numbers represent column leaders based
on maximum value for each indicator.
Travel photos represented almost 5% of all photos shared for the Arab World, as shown
at the bottom of Table 2.2. Muslim photos represented about 2% of all photos and
Muslim-travel less than 0.2%. Egypt, Morocco and Jordan dominated the travel and
Muslim-travel searches. The top countries for Muslim photos were Palestine, Lebanon
and Syria. Half a year later, January 2010, the same countries led all three keyword
search results. Flickr photos of the Arab World grew 19% over the six-month period,
with Muslim-travel photos increasing 24%, more than other keywords. Travel and
38
Muslim photos increased the most in UAE states, while Tunisia and Syria dominated
the growth in Muslim-travel photos.
To understand how these photos reflect the countries, the study examined relationships
with four Arab country demographics: Muslim population (Central Intelligence Agency,
2010), tourist arrivals (World Travel and Tourism Council, 2010), Internet users
(Internet World Stats, 2009a, 2009b) and Internet hosts (Central Intelligence Agency,
2010). The chapter employed these demographics as Flickr photos are likely to reflect
the Muslim population in Arab countries. As tourist photos depict locals and culture
(Choi, et al., 2007; Urry, 1990; White, 2010), and perceptions about Arab destinations
include Muslims (Govers, et al., 2007); Muslims in photos exemplify visits to Arab
destinations. Furthermore, as tourists share travel photos on social media (Lo, et al.,
2010; Schmallegger, et al., 2010; White, 2010), countries with more visitors should
have more Flickr photos. Additionally, as some tourists post content during their trips
(Murphy, et al., 2010), Internet accessibility in countries should enable travellers to
upload photos during their stay. Two Internet infrastructure indicators – Internet users
and computers with a permanent Internet address (hosts) should aid photo posts by local
and international travellers.
To examine the relationships, this study employed two-tailed Spearman‟s rho
correlation due to non-normal data distributions. Table 2.3 shows the relationships
between Muslims, tourists, Internet infrastructure and 18 June 2009 Flickr search
results. Muslim populations and tourist visits related positively and significantly (p<.05)
to travel and Muslim-travel photo posts, while Internet users and hosts have positive
and significant relationships with all types of photo posts. Examining the relationships
39
with the January 2010 search results revealed similar positive results with the exception
of tourism arrivals and Muslim photos, which had a significant relationship.
Table 2.3: Correlations between Country Demographics and Photo-Posting Behaviours
(18 June 2009 Flickr search results)
Note. a (Central Intelligence Agency, 2010);
b(World Travel and Tourism Council,
2010); c (Internet World Stats, 2009a, 2009b)
2.4 Discussion and Implications
Participants used photos to relate their travel experiences, possibly due to their visual
exposure since they were small, as children learn through pictures (Pressley, 1977).
Furthermore, as written WOM has a bigger influence than traditional marketing, photo
WOM should have a similar impact (Trusov, et al., 2009). The millions of destination
photos for the Arab League countries could interest potential visitors, aiding traditional
marketing channels.
The number of shared travel photos for the League of Arab States relate to Muslims,
tourists, Internet users and hosts in the countries. The findings suggest that international
tourists and local Internet users share destination WOM in the form of photos. While
Flickr users employed the words „travel‟, „Muslim‟ or „Muslim-travel‟ to identify their
Spearman’s
Rho Significance N
Muslim populationa and travel photos + .455 .034 22
Muslim populationa and Muslim photos + .374 .086 22
Muslim populationa and Muslim-travel photos + .424 .049 22
Tourist arrivalsb and travel photos + .575 .025 15
Tourist arrivalsb and Muslim photos + .446 .095 15
Tourist arrivalsb and Muslim-travel photos + .550 .034 15
Internet usersc and travel photos + .741 < .001 22
Internet usersc and Muslim photos + .528 .012 22
Internet usersc and Muslim-travel photos + .538 .010 22
Internet hostsa and travel photos + .658 .001 21
Internet hostsa and Muslim photos + .495 .023 21
Internet hostsa and Muslim-travel photos + .527 .014 21
40
photos, Muslims in the Arab countries were not reflected with the keyword „Muslim‟,
but seem to be portrayed by the keywords „travel‟ and „Muslim-travel‟.
2.4.1 Industry Implications
Prior to UGC, online visuals from formal sources such as destination marketing
organisations (DMOs) portrayed destinations (Hashim, et al., 2007). Now DMOs can
employ user-generated photos and social media in at least three ways. Firstly, DMOs
can monitor user-generated photos by receiving the latest photos automatically. DMOs
can employ this feature by including Flickr members as contacts and joining groups.
Organisations can also arrange to receive group discussion updates.
Secondly, organisations can manage social media for positive and negative photos.
DMOs such as Tourism Western Australia with a Flickr account can award faves to
display Flickr member positive photos on their profiles. Organisations can manage
negative photos in two ways – reporting photos or adding keywords. While
organisations cannot remove negative photos, they can inform Flickr of photos
containing objects unsuitable for public viewing by flagging these photos. Flickr could
then change the content safety level to limit public access. Another approach is to
employ similar keyword tags such as used in the negative photos to increase positive
results for viewers specifying those keywords. Aside from adding keywords to its own
photos, DMOs can add these tags for member photos as members can allow others to
add keywords to their photos.
Lastly, these Flickr results and relationships can assist the promotion of destinations,
especially for states with low Flickr presence. For example, DMOs can create photo
41
campaigns on social media involving tourists. Aside from increasing destination photos,
these photos can become WOM to the tourists‟ social media friends. Furthermore,
organisations can maintain these social media relationships with tourists to encourage
future visits.
Destinations can also use social media to connect informally with local Internet users.
Arab tourism boards can emulate tourism campaigns such as by Spain to induce photo
WOM via Facebook and Twitter (Hayhurst, 2010). This endeavour seems within the
grasp of at least one Arab country, UAE, as it already employs social media to target
locals. Together with its official website, UAE uses Facebook for its tourism logo
Nation Brand Contest (Government Communications Office, 2010). Another Arab
country, Tunisia, could not elicit destination photos from locals due to the government‟s
April 2010 ban on Flickr use (Gharbia, 2010). This may have changed however, with
the Arab spring revolution and new government.
DMOs should be cautious in implementing social media profiles, as some social media
participation may be problematic (Syed-Ahmad & Murphy, 2010) especially for
countries with limited resources. DMOs interested in social media, however, might
possess limited knowledge of this new technology and should train staff to avoid pitfalls
and to benefit from this trend (Lee & Wicks, 2010; Syed-Ahmad & Murphy, 2010)
2.4.2 Academic Contributions
At least two academic contributions emerge from this study. Firstly, addressing two
limitations leads to future research streams in UGC and photography. The first
limitation involves search engine functions in retrieving applicable photos
42
(Schmallegger, et al., 2010). For relevant photos, future studies can explore Flickr
photos via country groups and geotags. The other limitation arises from the small
sample. Future studies can examine larger samples such as the 57 Islamic nations under
the Organisation of the Islamic Conference.
Secondly, this study examines an understudied and emerging research field – shared
online photos. Although scholars study travel photographs (Fairweather & Swaffield,
2001; Garrod, 2008) and UGC text reviews (Ye, et al., 2009; Yoo & Gretzel, 2009),
limited studies examine photograph sharing and suggest online photos as travel WOM
(Schmallegger, et al., 2010). Furthermore, with both user-generated travel photos and
Islamic tourism gaining popularity (Henderson, 2009; Lo, et al., 2010), this study also
adds to the dearth of knowledge in tourism and technology for Arab and Muslim
countries. Additionally, this study revealed the beliefs involved in posting travel photos.
Future studies can examine these photo-posting reasons quantitatively using
questionnaires according to the Theory of Planned Behavior (Fishbein & Ajzen, 2010).
Research streams also arise from examining the images in these shared online photos.
With over four million Flickr content photos for Arab countries, social media is a rich
avenue to study captured and preferred destination images via two photo elicitation
techniques – visitor-employed photography and the Q method (Cherem & Driver, 1983;
Fairweather & Swaffield, 2001; Garrod, 2008). User-generated photos can extend these
offline research techniques without restrictions such as physical participation. Among
images researchers could examine to study Islamic tourism include Muslim and human
images across Arab and non-Arab destinations.
43
With millions of photos identified for Arab countries in this chapter and Islamic tourism
emerging in the Arab States, the next chapter examines user-generated photos for this
region. To study photo WOM, the subsequent chapter applies the visitor-employed
photography technique to photos posted online. The chapter identifies Muslim images
associated with Islamic tourism in these shared photos.
44
Chapter 3 Arabian Sights: Muslim States’
Shared Photos
This chapter‟s objective is to understand travel photography on social media by
examining user-generated photo posts, as coloured in Figure 3.1, across destinations. To
understand how UG photos portray topics and objects, the study described in this
chapter examines photos on Islamic tourism and Arab countries. With official portrayal
of Islamic tourism including objects such as mosques and headscarves, this study shows
how informally shared photos portray Islamic tourism. Content analyses were
conducted for nearly 600 Muslim-travel Flickr photos.
Figure 3.1: Social Media Sharing
45
3.1 Introduction
The Internet changes distribution, pricing, and customer interactions in the tourism
industry (O'Connor & Murphy, 2004). In addition to traditional sources, tourists today
rely on information from the Web (Lee, Soutar, & Daly, 2007; Tjostheim, Tussyadiah,
& Hoem, 2007). Top sources for destination information include tourism websites and
tourists (Lee, et al., 2007), with the Web becoming the main source for potential tourists
(Morosan & Jeong, 2008). Furthermore, word of mouth (WOM), offline interaction
among individuals regarding a product such as destinations, is thriving online (Litvin, et
al., 2008; Puczko, Ratz, & Smith, 2007).
Tourism Internet studies often focus on the roles and impact of email and websites for
promotion and information (Choi, et al., 2007; Gretzel & Yoo, 2008; Litvin, et al.,
2008). Some online and offline studies converge by focusing on how tourism
organisations project destination images through brochures and websites (Hashim, et al.,
2007; Hunter, 2008). Until late last century, the media and destinations managed travel
images. However, new technology applications such as user-generated content (UGC)
wrest some control of destination image away from traditional media.
With UGC, individuals create and share destination photos, text, video, and audio
(Choi, et al., 2007; Daugherty, et al., 2008). As Alexa rankings indicate, tourism UGC
websites such as TripAdvisor (389), Virtual Tourist (2,737), and TravelPod (3,890)
thrive (Alexa, 2009). Non-tourism UGC websites are even more popular, with eight
ranked in Alexa‟s (2009) top 40 of all websites – Facebook (2), YouTube (4),
46
Wikipedia (6), Blogger.com (7), MySpace (11), Twitter (14), Flickr (33), and LinkedIn
(38).
The most viewed UGC is photos (Daugherty, et al., 2008). The top photo website,
Flickr.com, enables users to view and share destination photos, as well as artistic,
family and friend photos (Alexa, 2009; Cox, et al., 2008). As part of their gaze on
destinations, tourists take and share photographs (Urry, 1990) − offline and online − to
inform, show, and possibly recommend selected destinations such as the Arab World.
For instance, Flickr photos can show cultural and religious norms such as praying in
public and women wearing headscarves. What locals, as well as regional and worldwide
tourists, portray via Flickr photos could shape viewers‟ destination gaze and promote
that destination to both Muslims and non-Muslims
As the West dominates mainstream tourism studies, including technology research
(Hashim, et al., 2007), this study helps close gaps regarding tourism and technology in
Muslim countries. Furthermore, the study extends the WOM concept to include UG
photos. A quantitative content analysis focuses on a new trend in sharing tourism
photography in an understudied sector − the League of Arab States − and addresses two
research questions. They are: how Arab countries vary in their presence of travel and
Muslim photos posted on Flickr and how Flickr users depict Muslim images across
Arab countries. The results can assist tourism organisations, particularly in Arab and
other Muslim countries, understand the destination photo-sharing trend, and incorporate
shared photos in destination image promotions.
47
3.2 Literature Review
Tourism organisations and photographers shape destination images through photos
(Hunter, 2008; Stalker, 1988). The photo portrayals include destinations‟ customs and
tourism activities (Hunter, 2008). They can create lasting impressions as adults
remember destination photos well (Smith & MacKay, 2001). Tourism photography
studies examine destination-marketing organisations‟ brochures and websites, focusing
on the official portrayal of a city, region or country. These producer-generated photos
highlight the best of destinations such as nature (Hashim, et al., 2007) and heritage
(Choi, et al., 2007; Hunter, 2008) or project images such as wealth, power, and
patriotism (Huang & Lee, 2009).
Yet there can be contradictory messages. In Dubai the government promotes heritage
and culture, while hospitality operators focus on amenities in their promotions (Govers
& Go, 2005). Furthermore, as destination image interpretations differ between
marketers and individuals (Choi, et al., 2007; MacKay & Fesenmaier, 1997), viewers
face inconsistent images. If so, individuals might refer to tourists to understand
destinations.
Tourists photograph unique landscapes, locals, family members, and mundane images
(Haldrup & Larsen, 2003; Urry, 1990). While studies focus on tourists‟ photos, few, if
any, examine sharing photos – offline and online. Sites such as Flickr, Facebook, and
TripAdvisor facilitate the sharing with personal contacts and the public (Cox, et al.,
2008; Syed-Ahmad, Hashim, Horrigan, & Murphy, 2009).
48
User-generated photos represent a broad range of destination perspectives, similar to
asking individuals to capture destinations, as in visitor-employed photographs (VEP)
(Cherem & Driver, 1983; Garrod, 2009; MacKay & Couldwell, 2004). While VEP
researchers provide cameras and instruct participants to take photos, a new version of
VEP emerges as users willingly take and share photos on UGC websites. Aside from
Flickr, photo channels emerge via ranked sites – Photobucket (47), ImageShack.us (69),
Panoramio (908), and Photo.net (2,132) – with increasing importance as consumers
prefer to gather information from others rather than from official sources (Alexa, 2009;
Cheong & Morrison, 2008).
3.2.1 Photos as Destination Recommendations
UGC can resemble WOM for destinations and tourism services. WOM is interaction
among individuals without any financial incentives regarding a product or organisation
(Litvin, et al., 2008). These recommendations play an important role in tourists‟
destination choices (Puczko, et al., 2007). When the Internet mediates this informal
interaction, such as TripAdvisor text reviews, WOM reaches beyond family and friends
(Litvin, et al., 2008). For example, reviews help tourists discover new hotels
(Vermeulen & Seegers, 2009); and positive hotel reviews lead to increased bookings
(Ye, et al., 2009).
The impact of this online WOM is a popular UGC research stream. Yet few studies
examine the UGC impact on tourism from non-tourism and photo-based UGC websites
(Cantoni, Tardini, Inversini, & Marchiori, 2009; Gretzel & Yoo, 2008; Vermeulen &
Seegers, 2009; Ye, et al., 2009). Shared online photographs help create destination
interest, excitement, and plans (Syed-Ahmad, et al., 2009), and might relay more
49
information than official channels. For example, users share more photos of historic
buildings, scenic views, and local cuisine than tourism organisations do (Choi, et al.,
2007). Furthermore, photos have more media richness − and thus more possible
persuasiveness − than simple text (Daft & Lengel, 1984). User-generated photographs,
such as those on Flickr, could represent destinations and persuade tourists.
Established in 2004, Flickr features photo-sharing with the ability to network and
socialise (Boyd & Ellison, 2007). Flickr users post self-expressive photos as well as
people in activities such as tourism (Cox, et al., 2008). Users set privacy levels for
sharing photos with four groups – family, friends, contacts, and the public (Cox, et al.,
2008). Flickr generates possible recommendations with millions of destination photos in
December 2009 – United States (7 million), United Kingdom (5 million), and Australia
(5 million). Muslim countries also have Flickr presence, such as Turkey (1.8 million),
Malaysia (1.4 million), and Egypt (1.3 million).
3.2.2 Tourism, Muslims and Muslim Images
Tourism is a growing industry in Muslim countries (Al-Hamarneh & Steiner, 2004). In
1985, Malaysia, Turkey, and Morocco were the top three Muslim destinations (Din,
1989). A couple decades later, Turkey and Malaysia still lead Muslim tourism with over
17 million tourists each (World Tourism Organization, 2008). Five other popular
Muslim destinations, with over six million tourists in 2005/2006, are from the Arab
League: Egypt, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Morocco and Tunisia (World
Tourism Organization, 2008). Established in 1945, the 22 League of Arab States
member countries, mostly in the Middle East and North Africa, share a common
language, identity, and culture (Otterman, 2009). They are Algeria, Bahrain, Comoros,
50
Djibouti, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Mauritania, Morocco, Oman,
Palestine, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, Tunisia, United Arab Emirates
(UAE), and Yemen.
The World Travel and Tourism Council forecasts annual tourism growth until the year
2019 of 4.3% and 5.1%, respectively for the Middle East and North Africa, higher than
the global average of 4.0% (2009a, 2009b). The top three Arab destinations − Egypt,
Saudi Arabia, and UAE − account for two-third of tourists in the region (World Tourism
Organization, 2007). Local and international tourists view Egypt as a leisure destination
(World Tourism Organization, 2007). Aside from tourists who make their Hajj, a once-
in-a-lifetime mandatory pilgrimage to Makkah and Madinah in Saudi Arabia
(Organisation of the Islamic Conference, 2005), Saudi Arabia expands its religious
tourism by attracting off-season and long-term tourists (Hazbun, 2006). UAE, a
federation of seven emirates, benefits from Dubai‟s standing as a popular destination
(Govers & Go, 2005). UAE‟s capital, Abu Dhabi, receives business tourists (Sharpley,
2002; Wells, 2007).
Arab countries have high Muslim populations, ranging from 60% for Lebanon to 100%
for four countries (Central Intelligence Agency, 2009). The encounters between tourists
and Muslim locals have three dimensions: both groups‟ personalities, the interaction,
and how both parties deal with the encounter (Din, 1989). In most Arab countries, locals
are uncomfortable with displays of overly affectionate relationships and scantily-clad
female tourists. They see these behaviours as disrespectful to the Islamic religion and
local culture (Dluzewska, 2008).
51
Muslim culture comes from the holy book Qur’an, the revelations from God to
Muhammad, and Hadith, a compilation of Muhammad‟s actions and sayings (Nigosian,
1987). Muslims‟ basic tenet embraces five obligatory actions: Shahadah, prayer,
almsgiving, fasting, and pilgrimage (Nigosian, 1987). Muslims believe and voice the
Shahadah, a sentence declaring that Allah is the only God and Muhammad is God‟s
messenger (Mawdudi, 1985). Secondly, Muslims pray five times a day to worship God,
privately or in public settings such as mosques (Nigosian, 1987). As Figure 4.2 shows,
Muslims pray towards but do not worship the Ka’ba, a black holy shrine in Makkah
(Tabbarah, 1993). Thirdly, Muslims give alms according to their wealth. Fourthly, from
sunrise to sunset in the month of Ramadan, Muslims abstain from activities that would
nullify their fast (Mawdudi, 1985). Lastly, able Muslims perform the Hajj pilgrimage
centring around the Ka’ba (Nigosian, 1987).
52
Figure 3.2: The Ka’ba on Flickr (22 July 2009)
53
Only some of these Islamic practices, such as praying as opposed to fasting, are
observable and photographable. Studies of images in Muslim states – Dubai and
Malaysia – identified three observable Muslim images: mosques, women in
headscarves, and the Qur’an (Govers & Go, 2005; Hashim, et al., 2007). Table 3.1 lists
eight observable Muslim images based around Muslim association and conduct,
mosques and the female headscarf, also known as the hijab. As Flickr photos range
from the mundane to destinations (Cox, et al., 2008), its members post travel photos as
well as Muslim images. The number of photos with travel and Muslim keywords
suggests a country‟s tourism and Muslim presence. Furthermore, exploring photos for
Muslim images can reflect a destination‟s Islamic culture. To examine these photos and
images, this study focused on the League of Arab States due to their high Muslim
population and tourism growth.
54
Table 3.1: Eight Observable Muslim Images and 11 Coding Variables
Muslim
images Description Operationalisation
Muslim association (six coding variables)
1. Qur’an
2. Allah or
Muhammad
3. Ka’ba image
4. Prayer Hall
(mosque)
5. Mihrab
(mosque)
6. Minaret
(mosque)
A holy book in Arabic calligraphy of God‟s
revelations to Muhammad (Nigosian, 1987)
Allah means God; Muhammad is God‟s
Messenger
A holy shrine in Makkah, Saudi Arabia that
Muslims pray towards (Nigosian, 1987).
Muslims congregate for prayers here
A decorated niche in prayer hall‟s front wall,
showing the direction of Ka’ba (Insoll, 1999).
A tower for prayer calls (Polk, 2004).
A book with Arabic calligraphy. Read in
mosques or in private
The word Allah or Muhammad in
Arabic or Latin writing
The black holy shrine in Makkah, Saudi
Arabia
Clear prayer row markings parallel to
the mihrab wall
A decorated niche in prayer hall‟s front
wall
A tower attached to a mosque.
7. Muslim conduct (one coding variable)
Praying
Wudu
Du’a
Dhikir
Reading the
Qur’an
Listening to
sermon
Muslims pray five times a day by praising God,
performing a set of movements and reciting verses
from the Qur’an. Prayers can be alone or with a
leader
Before praying, Muslims cleanse their faces, hands,
and feet by performing wudu
An appeal for special needs or solace (Nigosian,
1987)
Praising God through repeating God‟s name usually
with rosary beads (Nigosian, 1987)
Muslims can read or recite the Qur’an placed on a
rihal (wooden Qur’an holder) in front of them
Muslims need to seek and increase Islamic
knowledge, an act of piety to God. Listening to
sermons traditionally occurred in mosques, however
in recent times, Muslims listen to sermons through
cassettes (Hirschkind, 2001), CDs and the Internet.
The subject stands, sits, bends halfway
down or to the ground during prayer
The subject is washing the face, hand, or
feet
The subject has palms facing upwards
and at shoulder level
The subject is in sitting position with
fingers handling a set of rosary beads to
count the repetitions
The subject‟s eyes are cast down
towards the opened Qur’an in front
Physical presence for sermons with
preacher at the front and facing subjects.
8. Female headscarf (four coding variables)
Muslim women cover themselves, except faces and
hands during prayers and in public (Tabbarah, 1993)
A female using any of four headscarf
variations
3.3 The Study and its Findings
This study compares how Flickr destination photos and Muslim images vary for the 22
League of Arab States. It employed content analysis, which is prevalent in tourism and
photography research (Choi, et al., 2007; Hashim, et al., 2007; Huang & Lee, 2009;
55
Hunter, 2008) and UGC studies (Jones, Millermaier, Goya-Martinez, & Schuler, 2008;
Meyer, et al., 2005). Critical steps in content analysis include sampling, operationalising
the variables, and reliability test of the coding (Neuendorf, 2002).
Prior to sampling, researchers tested Flickr keyword results. Viewers search Flickr
photos using keywords, with the returned results listed on one of three listing criteria:
relevance, recency, and interesting. They observe the returned photos (Figure 3.3) and
can click for a close-up (Figure 3.2). In addition, viewers can access accompanying
information such as the photograph title, poster‟s name, taken and posted dates, and
location. Figure 3.3 illustrates a Flickr results page for all three keywords Yemen,
Muslim, travel.
56
Figure 3.3: Flickr Search Results for Yemen, Muslim, travel (22 July 2009)
57
Similar to studies using keyword searches in Google and YouTube (Inversini, et al.,
2009; Tussyadiah & Fesenmaier, 2009; Xiang & Gretzel, 2010), the study identified the
best keywords to select the sample. To choose suitable keywords, Flickr searches in
June 2009 returned nearly 192,000 photos for the keyword Muslim and over 154,000
photos for Islam, making Muslim a better keyword for Muslim image searches. A search
for travel returned over nine million photos, the highest among other tourism words
such as vacation, holiday, tour, tourist, and tourism. Thus, to extract photos on Islamic
Tourism in Arab countries, the keywords in this study, using the Boolean „and‟, were
the Arab country, Muslim and travel. Furthermore, the searches according to the
relevance criteria ensured that the results related to the chosen keywords.
Table 3.2 shows the number of Flickr photos by various keyword searches on 18 June
2009, as well as percentages from each destination‟s photos. For the United Arab
Emirates, the sampling was for all seven emirates − Abu Dhabi, Ajman, Dubai,
Fujairah, Sharjah, Ras al-Khaimah, and Umm al-Quwain − as they are autonomous and
diverse (UAE Government, 2006). Table 3.2 lists the Arab countries in descending
order according to the results for the three keywords. The last column indicates quota
sampling to analyse up to the first 30 returned photos, or 589 photos, across 21
countries and seven emirates.
58
Table 3.2: Arab Countries’ Flickr Photos (18 June 2009)
Flickr
keywords Country
Country
+
Travel
%
travel
photos
Country
+
Muslim
%
Muslim
photos
Country
+
Muslim
+
Travel
%
Muslim
travel
photos
Country
+
Muslim
+
Travel
[studied]
Egypt 1,143,702 77,441 6.8 8,271 0.7 2,280 0.20 30
Morocco 649,199 47,939 7.4 5,716 0.9 1,615 0.25 30
Jordan 676,124 20,973 3.1 1,688 0.2 920 0.14 30
Yemen 49,783 5,411 10.9 1,753 3.5 874 1.76 30
Syria 145,696 10,337 7.1 13,854 9.5 792 0.54 30
Palestine 148,159 3,657 2.5 18,181 12.3 600 0.40 30
Tunisia 181,764 12,479 6.9 1,030 0.6 348 0.19 30
Lebanon 214,952 5,410 2.5 14,430 6.7 187 0.09 30
Dubai (UAE) 428,332 12,966 3.0 1,307 0.3 171 0.04 30
Bahrain 75,751 2,017 2.7 420 0.6 133 0.18 30
Saudi Arabia 50,455 2,871 5.7 1,355 2.7 104 0.21 30
Sharjah (UAE) 13,454 321 2.4 164 1.2 92 0.68 30
Iraq 276,940 2,127 0.8 2,660 1.0 85 0.03 30
Oman 102,958 2,344 2.3 1,358 1.3 39 0.04 30
Abu Dhabi (UAE) 40,505 1,306 3.2 439 1.1 38 0.09 30
Somalia 10,046 438 4.4 188 1.9 30 0.30 30
Kuwait 114,565 1,593 1.4 652 0.6 26 0.02 26
Mauritania 15,295 646 4.2 1,049 6.9 21 0.14 21
Algeria 36,063 1,483 4.1 489 1.4 18 0.05 17
Sudan 55,190 2,359 4.3 580 1.1 15 0.03 15
Qatar 95,278 2,179 2.3 382 0.4 14 0.01 14
Libya 50,075 1,715 3.4 276 0.6 10 0.02 12
Djibouti 7,846 244 3.1 25 0.3 4 0.05 4
Comoros 1,483 20 1.3 5 0.3 0 0 0
Fujairah (UAE) 4,472 41 0.9 14 0.3 0 0 0
Ajman (UAE) 1,759 39 2.2 4 0.2 0 0 0
Ras al-Khaimah(UAE) 1,729 58 3.4 3 0.2 0 0 0
Umm al-Quwain (UAE) 221 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Total 4,591,796 218,414 4.8 76,293 1.7 8,416 0.18 589
Note. UAE = United Arab Emirates; Bold numbers represent column leaders based
on maximum value for each indicator.
Flickr users displayed over four million photos for the League of Arab States; Egypt led
with over one million photos. Photos with travel as the keyword made up 4.8% of the
overall; and those with Muslim as the keyword had 1.7% presence. Egypt had the
highest number of travel photos and over half the Arab countries over 2,000 travel
photos. Yemen, however, led the travel photo presence at 10.9%, with three Arab
countries having less than 1% travel photos. Palestine led Muslim photos at 12.3%,
while 15 states had less than 1%. There were more photos in each country for the
keyword travel than Muslim, except five countries − Palestine, Lebanon, Syria, Iraq and
Mauritania. For photos with both keywords Muslim and travel (Muslim-travel), 23
59
states had four to over 2,000 photos and five states had no photos. The percentage of
Muslim-travel photos was less than 1% for all countries except Yemen.
To examine Islamic tourism in Arab countries, the study focused on Muslim images.
Non-Arab Muslim countries aided the operationalisation of variables to investigate
photo content in addition to photo keywords. Examining Flickr results for Malaysia and
Turkey helped define 11 coding variables in Table 3.1. The variables were coded
separately as a photo can contain several Muslim images, such as Figure 3.2, which
includes the Ka’ba, minaret, and women‟s headscarf. The unit of analysis was the photo
from the results page, noting the presence of variables without interpreting meanings
(Ball & Smith, 1992).
Two Muslim postgraduate students at an Australian university refined and managed the
coding process from April to June 2009. Pre-tests with Iran, Pakistan, and Turkey
familiarised coders with the variables, helped revise them, and tested coding reliability.
The pre-test on Turkey had a Scott‟s pi intercoder reliability coefficient of 0.86 for the
most disagreed variable and 100% agreement on 4 of the 11 variables (Neuendorf,
2002). Coders disagreed on 7, or 4%, of the total 165 (15 photos x 11 variables) coding
entries for Turkey.
From 15 May to 2 June 2009, the coders studied the 589 Flickr photos tagged with one
of the League of Arab States' countries/emirates, Muslim, and travel (see Table 3.2), and
posted before 12 May 2009 for a standard timeframe. The coders used Internet Explorer
7.0 Web browsers through the same Internet connection. Reliability increased during
the study. Independent coding for Egypt showed Scott‟s pi of 0.88 to 1.0, with 100%
60
agreement on five variables. Both coders agreed on 321 coding entries, or 97% of the
330 Egyptian entries (30 photos x 11 variables).
Table 3.3 shows that of the 589 photos studied, 235 Muslim images appeared in 215
photos (36.5%). Across all Muslim images, the female headscarf had the highest
visibility with 118 photos (20%), followed by minarets (13%). Three Muslim images
that made up the mosque – prayer hall, mihrab, and minaret – appeared in 16% of the
photos. Other Muslim images had low visibility with no more than 2% of all photos.
Female headscarves and minarets were evident, respectively, in 20 and 21
countries/emirates, with other images present in up to seven of the studied Arab
countries and emirates. Saudi Arabia had the highest number of Muslim images (83%)
of total photos, while 15 countries/emirates had less than 50% of Muslim images.
61
Table 3.3: Arab Countries’ Muslim Images
Muslim
images
Muslim Association Muslim
conduct
Female
head
scarf
Total
Muslim
images
Total
photos
studied
%
Muslim
images
Quran Allah or Muhammad
Ka’ba
image
Prayer
hall
Mihrab Minaret
Saudi
Arabia 0 0 7 2 1 10 1 4 25 30 83
Algeria 0 0 0 0 0 6 0 5 11 17 65
Qatar 0 0 0 0 0 4 2 3 9 14 64
Somalia 0 0 0 0 0 3 0 16 19 30 63
Yemen 0 0 2 3 1 7 0 6 19 30 63
Egypt 0 0 0 0 0 8 0 10 18 30 60
Libya 0 0 0 0 0 2 1 4 7 12 58
Oman 0 0 0 1 0 4 1 10 16 30 53
Bahrain 0 0 0 2 0 4 1 5 12 30 40
Lebanon 0 0 0 0 0 5 0 7 12 30 40
Syria 0 0 0 1 0 4 0 7 12 30 40
Morocco 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 10 11 30 37
Dubai
(UAE) 0 2 0 0 0 4 1 3 10 30 33
Iraq 1 0 0 0 1 3 0 5 10 30 33
Tunisia 0 1 0 0 1 3 0 5 10 30 33
Jordan 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 7 8 30 26
Djibouti 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 4 25
Mauritania 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 4 5 21 24
Abu Dhabi
(UAE) 0 0 0 0 3 2 0 1 6 30 20
Kuwait 1 0 0 0 0 2 0 2 5 26 19
Palestine 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 4 5 30 17
Sudan 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 2 15 13
Sharjah
(UAE) 0 0 0 1 0 1 0 0 2 30 7
Total 2 3 9 11 7 77 8 118 235 589
% of all
photos 0.3 0.5 1.5 1.9 1.2 13.1 1.4 20 39.9 100
Note. UAE = United Arab Emirates; Bold numbers represent column leaders.
The Arab states with the most Muslim images were Somalia (headscarf), Saudi Arabia
(minaret and Ka’ba), Abu Dhabi (mihrab), Yemen (prayer hall), Dubai (Allah or
Muhammad), and Qatar (Muslim conduct). Across the eight Muslim images, Saudi
Arabia and Yemen photos depicted six and five images, respectively. Five Arab
countries and emirates had half the images present, and 16 other countries/emirates had
three or less.
The top five Arab countries – Egypt, Morocco, Jordan, UAE and Tunisia – with over 10
thousand travel photos listed in Table 3.2, were among the top tourist destinations in the
region (World Tourism Organization, 2008). In addition, Flickr‟s top three Arab states
62
for destination and travel photos – Egypt, Jordan and Morocco – were among the
region‟s most affordable destinations (Gursoy, Baloglu, & Chi, 2009).
While tourists cluster the Arab World together (Winckler, 2007), Flickr photos did not
portray the Arab World as a single entity. Flickr users‟ postings differentiated Egypt,
Saudi Arabia, and UAE. Consistent with its position as the top Arab destination, Egypt
dominated Flickr results for the keyword results in Table 3.2. In addition, the Muslim
images results in Table 3.3 reflected Saudi Arabia‟s role as the capital of Islamic
tourism. Amongst the UAE, Dubai had nearly 13,000 travel photos, surpassing
countries such as Tunisia, Syria, and Saudi Arabia. The emirates received differing
Flickr coverage, possibly reflecting emirate-level tourism activities (Sharpley, 2002),
with three of seven emirates – Dubai, Abu Dhabi, and Sharjah – having the most travel
and Muslim presence.
The Flickr photo results reflect the low tourism activities in some Arab states, such as
Iraq with 0.8% travel photos. In addition, possibly due to unstable situations in Palestine
and Iraq (Gregory, 2004; Sirriyeh, 2007), four neighbouring countries – Palestine,
Lebanon, Syria, and Iraq – had more Muslim than travel photos, suggesting lower
tourism than Muslim associations. Palestine had the highest Muslim photo percentage
(12.3%), possibly as users associate Palestine with Muslims in the country.
The female headscarf had the highest Muslim image for Arab countries. Aside from
informing the Muslim identity, the veil can correspond to social class, political symbol,
maturity, and privacy, as well as facilitate women‟s movements in public (El Guindi,
1999; Insoll, 1999). Perhaps Flickr users associate female headscarves as the prominent
Muslim norm or encountered more Muslim women with headscarves than other Muslim
63
images. Another possibility is taking headscarf shots makes photographers feel they
understand the destination‟s culture (Urry, 1990).
After headscarves, mosques had prominence with minarets as the most common image.
This outdoor mosque feature is more accessible for photos compared to the indoor
prayer hall and mihrab. Some mosque interiors are only accessible to Muslims, who
would usually focus on worshipping God rather than taking photos inside mosques. The
same reasons might contribute to the low presence of Muslim conducts that typically
appear inside mosques, such as praying and listening to sermons. Possible reasons for
the exceptional number of mosque photos in the study are the number of mosques in a
country, posters‟ fascination with mosque architecture, and Islamic norms‟
understanding.
Depicted Muslim images could inform and possibly attract tourists. Muslim tourists‟
impressions could pertain to assurances of their abilities to practice and conduct their
religious responsibilities while travelling. In addition, certain images such as the holy
Ka’ba could remind and motivate Muslims to visit Saudi Arabia or conduct their
obligatory Hajj. Non-Muslims could perceive the Muslim images as unique due to low
exposure to Islam (Urry, 1990), possibly creating interest. For example, users with
intentions to visit Egypt could encounter Muslim images, such as minaret and headscarf
images. These images provide a first step to make them aware about Islam. This
exposure could also make users curious to find out more about the religion. The next
step would be to gain more knowledge about what they saw.
This study supports Flickr as an avenue for destination word of mouth. Compared to
text, pictures are better at getting tourism information across, especially amongst
64
inexperienced Internet users (Frias, Rodriguez, & Castaneda, 2008). As benefits,
customisation, and security ensure website satisfaction and repeat visits (Morosan &
Jeong, 2008), Flickr flourishes as it fulfils all three criteria. Firstly, users benefit through
the search function and may ask posters about a destination or join discussion groups.
Secondly, members can customise photo searches and collect photos on their Flickr
profile by labelling their favourites, thus creating readily available images for future
reference. Lastly, after visiting a destination, Flickr members might want to share
photos with just friends or family. Privacy features can limit photo viewing.
3.4 Conclusion
Egypt dominated destination, travel, and Muslim-travel photos, while Palestine had the
highest percentage of Muslim photos. All League of Arab States and emirates, except
five, had more travel than Muslim photos. Within Arab Muslim-travel photos, Flickr
members depicted 36.5% Muslim images, mostly female headscarves followed by
mosques. Other Muslim images were less prominent than the headscarf and mosque,
with only up to 2% visibility and each image in less than seven countries. The countries
vary in Muslim images depicted. Saudi Arabia had the highest percentage of Muslim
images while most Arab countries and emirates had fewer than 50% such images.
Tourism organisations can use these images for education and promotion. Future tourist
to Arab countries unfamiliar with Muslim norms might turn to official websites for
information. To educate viewers about the countries‟ Muslim norms, tourism
representatives can link to specific Flickr images. Organisations can also employ these
shared photos in brochures, minimising time and possibly cost to produce photographs.
65
Furthermore, photos on Flickr and other UGC websites resemble WOM rather than
official recommendations.
Each destination‟s photos revealed various Muslim images. With Saudi Arabia, for
example, aside from the photos of Ka’ba and Hajj, users shared mosque images such as
the Floating Mosque in Jeddah and Al-Najedi in the Farasan Islands. These photos
could interest and lead tourists to include these attractions in their Saudi Arabian
itinerary. In Oman, two studied photos featured Prophet Ayoub‟s mausoleum, which
could interest Muslim tourists. Destination officials can use these photos to understand
what attractions posters share, or ignore, to assist promotion of these attractions.
Additionally, historical and religious tourism could develop through users having visual
access to shared places. The previous example could draw tourists to prophet‟s lands
and tombs.
The study described in this chapter contributes to the limited body of academic
knowledge of how individuals view and then share destinations via VEP (Cherem &
Driver, 1983; Garrod, 2009). While Flickr VEP is a small part of the emerging UGC
trend, its role in the Internet, photo and tourism studies could grow together with global
users, which increased by 350% in the last decade (Internet World Stats, 2009c). The
findings indicate that UGC such as Flickr can be another destination gaze (Urry, 1990)
in addition to various online and offline destination visuals. They illustrate that users
share destination photographs with religious images. The study sets a benchmark of
Muslim images and opens future research avenues for studying photos as destination
recommendations.
66
Limitations of the study illustrate abundant future research opportunities. Firstly, this
study only examined a single keyword combination – Arab country, Muslim and travel.
Future studies can explore keywords that capture specific tourist activities, attractions or
festivals. Secondly, the portrayed objects might not reflect specified keywords. For
example, some Muslim-travel photos did not have obvious Islamic elements in them
such as a tourist district in Sharjah and a flower petal in Kuwait. Thirdly, this study
focused on Flickr photos. Researchers could consider other popular UGC sites such as
Facebook and YouTube for Muslim destination recommendations via texts, photos, or
videos. Fourthly, the focus was Arab countries; future studies could seek other
emerging tourism destinations such as ASEAN countries. Finally, the chapter only
considered Muslim images.
While the objects of the photos in this chapter are Muslim images in general, the next
chapter examines human portrayals in photos. On social media, shared human images
represent the communicators via profile photos and their messages in content photos.
This next chapter studies both types of photo using the VEP technique. The chapter also
applies another photo technique, the Q method, to examine responses to content photos.
67
Chapter 4 Computer-Mediated Social Presence:
Investigating Arab States’ Shared Human Photos
This chapter examines user-generated posts and responses on Flickr, as highlighted in
Figure 4.1, to understand computer-mediated communication. The chapter proposes that
the communicator and message – exemplified by the social media profile photo and
content photo respectively – have social presence. As social presence increases
response, the study also uses audience responses to content photos to identify computer-
mediated social presence.
Figure 4.1: Social Media Sharing and Responding
68
4.1 Introduction
Social Presence Theory states that the communication medium influences the
audience‟s sense of nearness to communicators (Short, et al., 1976). For example, face-
to-face communication has high social presence as recipients feel nearer to the
communicators than through a low social presence medium such as the telephone
(Short, et al., 1976). For the past four decades, researchers have examined how
technology influences social presence, yet few studies examine human factors relaying
social presence (Biocca, et al., 2003).
Biocca et al. (2003) propose a robust social presence theoretical framework
encompassing technology and human factors. Technology could influence sensory and
mutual awareness, while humans project intimacy. Sensory awareness is of another
person or others and mutual awareness is both parties‟ awareness of each other. For
example, website display settings help the audience sense or have awareness of others,
while website response features assist mutual awareness between the communicator and
audience. For humans, projected intimacy is the intensity of the portrayed relations, and
high levels should affect social presence. This chapter discusses computer mediation
and three elements of social presence – sensory awareness, mutual awareness, and
intimacy.
Computer-mediated communication on social media websites such as Facebook and
Flickr can assist sensory awareness (Chiu, Cheung, & Lee, 2008; Nov, Naaman, & Ye,
2008). These social media host user-generated content (UGC) forms such as text,
photos and three-dimensional images (Cormode & Krishnamurthy, 2008; Kaplan &
Haenlein, 2010). While online social presence studies focus on the medium and
69
communicators (Chiu, et al., 2008; Kaplan & Haenlein, 2010; Nov, et al., 2008), the rise
of UGC forms underlines the separation between audience perceptions of the
communicator and the message. Compared to traditional communication, where a
message originates from the communicator via voice and physical gestures, computer-
mediated communication conveys sensory awareness in two different ways, via the
communicator and the message.
Within the photo form on social media, two photo types – profile and content –
respectively represent the communicator and the message. Figure 4.2 shows a page from
the social media website, Flickr, focusing on a message in the form of a content photo.
Content photos feature humans and destinations (Cox, et al., 2008; Schmallegger, et al.,
2010; Sessions, 2009), with the Flickr member in Figure 4.2 having shared 197 content
photos. Social media members typically depict themselves in a single communicator
profile photo, with the member in Figure 4.2 using a red rose.
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Figure 4.2: A Flickr Content Photo Page (31 May 2010)
Content
photo
total
Audience &
response
Message/
Content photo
Communicator/
Profile photo
71
Secondly, social media facilitate mutual awareness between the communicator and
audience via posts and responses. The ability to comment on social media empowers
audiences to respond to images, such as in Figure 4.2. While the audience is aware of
the communicator through viewing posts, the audience response makes the
communicator aware of the audience, creating mutual awareness.
Lastly, while researchers focus on physical computer elements such as monitor distance
and size (Lombard, 1995), intangible elements such as humans in photos should also
project intimacy. As photos reflect distances that photographers capture, viewers relate
to photo subjects according to these distances (Kress & van Leeuwen, 2006). Audiences
could perceive humans at the close, medium and far distances in Table 4.1, respectively
as friends, acquaintances and strangers. This study focuses on four human photo
distances in Table 4.1 within computer-mediation. It is proposed that these projections
can create intimacy or close connections with audiences, and possibly create destination
interest.
Table 4.1: Human Photo Distances on Flickr
HUMAN PHOTO DISTANCES
CLOSE
Close range,
main subject‟s
head and shoulders or less
School girl portrait
by LindsayStark
MEDIUM
Medium range,
main subject‟s
half to full body
Young girls?
by Flacrem
FAR
Long shot, main subject‟s
about half the height of
frame or less
Petra
by worldwidewandering
NONE
No human presence
Muslim prayer
by Bu_Saif
Photo distances could create social presence levels – close, medium and far – for locals
and tourists at destinations. Shared photos of Arab destinations can complement formal
portrayals from tourism materials and balance stereotypical images from news media.
72
As tourism is increasingly important in the Muslim and Arab World (Al-Hamarneh &
Steiner, 2004; Henderson, 2009), social presence from shared photos could spark or
squash interest in these destinations. This chapter focuses on these destinations as few
papers study technology and tourism in Muslim countries (Govers & Go, 2005; Hashim,
et al., 2007; Henderson, 2008) and none focus on social media.
To examine destination photos and audience responses, this study employs two offline
photo techniques – Visitor-Employed Photography (VEP) and the Q method (Cherem &
Driver, 1983; Fairweather & Swaffield, 2001; Garrod, 2008). In VEP, researchers
instruct participants to take photos and then the researchers study these images for
destination perceptions (Cherem & Driver, 1983; Garrod, 2008). For the Q method,
researchers provide destination photos for participants to rank according to preference
and then examine audience responses towards these images (Dewar, et al., 2007;
Fairweather & Swaffield, 2001). Through social media websites, both techniques can
proceed without the requisite time to recruit participants and cost of photographic
equipment. This study adds to an online VEP study (Schmallegger, et al., 2010) and is
the first to extend the Q method to the online environment.
This study addresses two research questions related to computer-mediated social
presence:
i. How do shared online photos for Arab countries portray humans?
ii. Do shared online photos relay social presence?
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4.2 Computer-Mediated Social Presence
Presence research has four related concepts – telepresence, para-social interaction,
social presence and copresence (Lombard & Ditton, 1997). Telepresence „transports‟
viewers to feel part of a projected location (Draper, Kaber, & Usher, 1998; Minsky,
1980) such as the virtual reality world Second Life. Para-social interaction involves
one-to-many performances such as television actors to home audiences, usually without
direct communication between them (Horton & Wohl, 1956). Social presence argues
that the communication medium helps the communicator appear near the recipient
(Short, et al., 1976). Finally, copresence is individuals reciprocally sensing each other‟s
presence (Goffman, 1963). Research this century merged the final two concepts, social
presence and copresence, to explain social presence in mediated situations (Biocca, et
al., 2003), which seems relevant for this computer-mediated communication study.
User-generated content (UGC) is a type of computer-mediated communication that
should permit social presence to be conveyed, depending on the UGC forms such as
text, photo and video (Kaplan & Haenlein, 2010). For example, photo and video
uploads should give websites such as Facebook and Flickr higher social presence than
text dominated blogs and Wikipedia (Kaplan & Haenlein, 2010). These visually
orientated social media include two distinct categories – friendship-led Facebook and
MySpace, and interest-led Flickr and YouTube.
4.2.1 User-Generated Photos Creating Sensory, Mutual and Multiple
Awareness
Photos assist viewers‟ sensory awareness of others. Traditionally, the communicator‟s
image assists awareness (Gueguen & Jacob, 2002; Short, et al., 1976). What the
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communicator experiences and shares online can do the same (Bentley & Metcalf,
2009; Counts & Fellheimer, 2004; Gueguen & Jacob, 2002). For example, viewers
might be able to sense communicator presence by viewing what communicators capture
and share through photos (Bentley & Metcalf, 2009). In social media, the communicator
and the message respectively appear through the profile and content photos, as indicated
in Figures 4.2 and 4.3. Communicators can post multiple content photos, with Flickr
averaging 87 photos per member, but may post only one profile photo (Prieur, Cardon,
Beuscart, Pissard, & Pons, 2007). Figure 4.3 shows two content photos accompanied by
profile photos.
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Figure 4.3: Flickr Search Results for Yemen, Muslim, travel (22 July 2009)
Profile
photos
Content
photos
Tags
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Profile photos represent the communicators through images (Jones, et al., 2008;
Sessions, 2009). Flickr members in Figures 4.2 and 4.3 employ non-human and human
images to present themselves. Over 80% and 61% of Facebook and MySpace members
respectively include their image in profiles (Ellison, et al., 2007; Jones, et al., 2008).
These self-representations can include close-up shots with various poses and angles, and
influence how others view members and their friends (Sessions, 2009; Walther, Van
Der Heide, Kim, Westerman, & Tong, 2008).
Members also post content with mundane, artistic, destination and human images (Cox,
et al., 2008; Schmallegger, et al., 2010; White, 2010). Destination photos for instance
include images of members, friends, locals and tourists (Garrod, 2009; Schmallegger, et
al., 2010; White, 2010). Popular social media websites such as Facebook and MySpace
feature content photos along with other content forms. Several websites feature content
photos such as Flickr, ImageShack, Panoramio, Photobucket and Picasa, with Flickr the
top photo-based social medium (Alexa, 2010a; Schmallegger, et al., 2010).
When uploading content photos to social media websites, members can add titles,
descriptions and tags to their photos. As members share tags to assist finding photos,
members can assign tags that may accentuate the sensory awareness such as individuals‟
names and countries. The use of tags differs across websites. For example, person-
centred Facebook tags identify humans in photos, while photo-based Flickr tags include
keywords to identify photos by topic such as country name, travel and Muslim as in
Figure 4.3. Flickr photos can have up to 70 keyword tags (Lerman & Jones, 2007).
Audiences can respond to Flickr content photos via comments and faves, quantified on
the results page as boxed in Figure 4.3. Flickr members write text comments, and rate
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content photos as a favorite, known as a fave (Cox, et al., 2008). Both audience
responses, comments and faves, can reflect sensory awareness of the communicator or
humans in the photo. As comments address the communicator and often discuss the
photo subject, comments suggest sensory awareness of the communicator, subject or
both (Cox, et al., 2008; Zywica & Danowski, 2008). Awarding faves, however, can
indicate audience preferences for content photos as the audience can „keep‟ and display
fave photos on their Flickr pages. Furthermore, faves for human photos can indicate
audience connection with the subjects. Therefore, photo subject social presence
indicators are faves and comments, while comments might also exemplify the
communicator‟s social presence.
These audience responses, faves and comments, have the capacity to create mutual and
multiple awareness. In Figure 4.2, the member may feel the presence of the audience
who commented – creating mutual awareness between the audience and communicator.
Multiple awareness occurs when audiences view results page as in Figure 4.3. Social
presence might be developed as the audience may sense communicator presence via the
profile photo, subject presence via content photos, and responder presence through
response numbers.
To know more about the communicator, content photo and responders, the audience can
follow the links to relevant pages. For example, Figure 4.2 features an enlarged content
photo, the responder profile photo and comment. Aside from sensing others‟ presence
on the websites, the audience could sense computer-mediated social presence via human
presence and distances in photos.
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4.2.2 Photo Distance Projecting Intimacy
Human images can project intimacy. While the monitor size can affect audiences with
higher enjoyment for big than small screens, responses depend on images shown on the
screen (Lombard, 1995). Studies agree that humans generate more responses than non-
human images (Gueguen & Jacob, 2002; Hassanein & Head, 2007; Lombard, 1995).
For example, human images increase responses to questionnaires and interest in
products (Gueguen & Jacob, 2002; Hassanein & Head, 2007). Human distances also
affect responses (Albert & Dabbs, 1970).
Research suggests two human distances – psychological (Akerlof, 1997; Triandis,
Davis, & Takezawa, 1965; Trope, Liberman, & Wakslak, 2007) and physical (Hall,
1966) – with the former affecting the latter. Social class, occupation, race, religion and
nationality can relate to psychological distance, such as relationships within the same
group. Consequently, these relations affect the physical distance as individuals feel
uncomfortable when others overstep an imaginary boundary, such as strangers coming
within touching proximity (Hall, 1966).
As photographs reflect physical distances with subjects, these photos can portray
psychological distances. The three photo distances in Table 4.1 – close, medium and far
– imply photographer/subject relationships, respectively as friends, acquaintances, and
strangers (Kress & van Leeuwen, 2006, p. 126). Without human images, the
photographer projects no relationship, but depicts an object such as the mosque in Table
4.1. This chapter proposes that all four – close, medium, far and no – human photo
distances also reflect intimacy levels in computer-mediated social presence.
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The mass media use human photo distances to project relationships with viewers. For
instance in a murder story, the newspaper displayed the victim‟s friends with close shots
and the killer through a long shot, respectively conveying close and distant relationships
with viewers (Kress & van Leeuwen, 2006). As with real relationships, near distances in
online photos should connect with viewers more than far distances (Reeves & Nass,
1996). The closer the subject in the photo, the stronger the real or projected relationship
with the viewer should be. These relationships should portray relationships with humans
at destinations.
Another example of psychological distance is gender. As individuals of the same gender
could have psychological closer distance than the other gender, photographers might
take and project photos of the same gender. Furthermore, gender influences responses,
with female images increasing responses to questionnaires (Gueguen & Jacob, 2002),
social media photos could have the same result. Studying gender portrayal and audience
responses within destinations, such as under-studied Islamic countries, can inform about
projected destination images through human portrayals.
4.2.3 Islamic Tourism, the Arab League and User-Generated Photos
The non-Muslim world often has limited information about Muslims and Islamic
countries (AbiNader, 2006; Din, 1989; Hudson, 2006). Furthermore, the media often
stereotype Muslims as terrorists, particularly after September 11, 2001, leading to
declining tourism in Islamic states (Shaheen, 2006; Timothy & Iverson, 2006). For
example, international visits to Egypt, Libya and Tunisia decreased in 2001/2002 and
Egypt‟s tourists dropped by nearly a million (World Travel and Tourism Council,
2010). Similarly, 2001 tourist growth rates decreased by 4.5% in the Middle East and
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11% in North Africa (World Travel and Tourism Council, 2010). By 2004, both regions
rebounded with respective tourist growth of 54% and 32% compared to the 2000
arrivals. One reason for this growth was Muslims visiting other Islamic nations –
Islamic tourism (Al-Hamarneh & Steiner, 2004; Henderson, 2009).
In 2009, eight of the top ten Muslim destinations – Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Morocco,
United Arab Emirates, Syria, Bahrain, Tunisia and Jordan – with over seven million
international tourists each were in the Middle East and North Africa (World Travel and
Tourism Council, 2010). Tourism in these countries should continue to prosper with
respective annual Middle East and North Africa growth forecasts of 4.3% and 5.1%
until 2019, above the global average of 4.0% (World Travel and Tourism Council,
2009a, 2009b). Most countries in these regions are part of the 22 member League of
Arab States – Algeria, Bahrain, Comoros, Djibouti, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait,
Lebanon, Libya, Mauritania, Morocco, Oman, Palestine, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Somalia,
Sudan, Syria, Tunisia, United Arab Emirates, and Yemen. Thus, studying this emerging
region should offer insights to assist promotion of these destinations.
4.3 Conceptual Development
This chapter covers user-generated photos and audience responses to them. Content and
profile photos show human portrayals via photo distances and gender. Audience
responses to content photos should reflect intimacy in computer-mediated social
presence.
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4.3.1 Social Presence
Human images usually increase social presence and viewer interest. Humans on
television screens affect audience emotional responses compared to non-human images
(Lombard, 1995). Furthermore, websites with human images have higher appeal than
websites without, enhancing website trust and enjoyment (Cyr, et al., 2009; Hassanein
& Head, 2007). Similarly, in a study of 10 Facebook members‟ destination photographs,
human subjects gathered more comments than non-human images (White, 2010). If UG
photos convey social presence, it is expected that,
H1: UG content photos with human images have higher (a) comments and (b)
faves than photos without human images
Viewers should feel the nearness of the human subject, the social presence, according to
the photo distance. Human photos, especially with close distances, have high social
presence and lead to interest (Cyr, et al., 2009). A close view of a face can reveal
identity and feelings (Donath, 2001) implying a close relationship with viewers. In
addition, where individuals feel social presence at close and far physical distances, only
the close distance affects decisions (Argo, Dahl, & Manchanda, 2005). UG photos with
closer human distances should therefore invoke more viewer comments and fave awards
than farther distances due to greater perceived social presence, therefore,
H2: UG content photos with closer human distances have higher (a) comments
and (b) faves than photos with farther distances
4.3.2 Gender
Brochures warn tourists not to “photograph or point and stare at Muslim women”
(Webb, 2007, p. 176) and to request permission before photographing Muslim women
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(Dunston & Monaghan, 2008), possibly limiting female subjects in content photos.
Furthermore, a study indicates that Flickr members are more male (70%) than female
(30%) (Meyer, et al., 2005). If members appear in their content and profile photos, more
photos should have male than female images, thus,
H3: (a) UG content photos and (b) UG profile photos have fewer female than
male images
Audience responses should differ for male and female subjects as females in
photographs elicit higher responses than males (Gueguen & Jacob, 2002).
Advertisements also use women to spark interest in products such as cosmetics and
destinations (Johnston, 1997; Ramamurthy, 2009). Flickr photos with women subjects
might gather more interest and audience responses than non-female photos, possibly
indicating a gender difference in social presence. If so,
H4: UG content photos with just female images have higher (a) comments and
(b) faves than photos with just male images
Gender portrayals could differ according to communicator gender. Psychological
distance can be smaller for same gender than the opposite gender, possibly making
members post more photos for their gender. Additionally, with Islamic practices
discouraging contact with individuals of the opposite gender (Nigosian, 1987),
communicators might only capture and post photos of the same gender within these
Arab countries. Thus,
H5: Communicator gender differs for UG content photos of (a) male (b) female
subjects, with each gender communicating more photos of their own gender
compared to photos without the presence of their gender
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4.4 Study Methods
Researchers can employ photo searches, such as on Flickr, to study destinations through
two traditional methods to study photos, VEP and the Q method. Traditionally, VEP
researchers supply cameras and instruct participants to take destination photos, and then
study perceptions from these photos (Cherem & Driver, 1983; Garrod, 2008; MacKay
& Couldwell, 2004). To date, only one online VEP study explored a destination‟s
posted photos by specifying destination keywords (Schmallegger, et al., 2010). This
Flickr study also specifies keywords and then examines images for human photo
distances and gender.
The second photo technique, the Q method, has participants view and evaluate
destination-related photos (Dewar, et al., 2007; Fairweather & Swaffield, 2001). This
technique – used in psychology, journalism and medicine – assists the identification of
differing opinions through preferences rather than demographics (Brown, 1996; Cross,
2005; Hurd & Brown, 2005). In tourism, Q researchers ask participants to rate
destination photos. This technique can take a simple method for viewer preferences via
UGC responses. Rather than selecting participants to rate prepared photos, this study
selects photos via destination keywords, and then examines quantified audience
responses – comments and faves.
This study was a content analysis (McMillan, 2000; Neuendorf, 2002) of Arab
countries‟ Flickr photos. The study employs Flickr, the top photo-based social medium
(Alexa, 2010a; Richter & Schadler, 2009; Schmallegger, et al., 2010) as it facilitates
keyword searches and offers response features. As a first step, the researchers identified
possible keywords when searching content photos. A June 2009 search on the country
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name as the keyword showed most Arab States had Flickr photos including Egypt (1.1
million), Jordan (0.7 million) and Morocco (0.6 million). Other Flickr searches returned
38 thousand more photos for the keyword Muslim than Islam, and two million more
travel photos than for other tourism terms – vacation, holiday, tour, tourist and tourism.
Thus the three keywords in this study, using the Boolean „and‟, were the Arab country,
Muslim, and travel. The results page in Figure 4.3 gives 876 available photos with the
three specified keywords of Yemen, Muslim and travel. In addition, while Flickr features
three settings – relevance, recency and interesting – to sort results, this study used the
relevance setting to gather the most applicable photos.
The sample, similar to chapters 2 and 3, comprises all Arab countries with the United
Arab Emirates represented through its seven autonomous and diverse emirates (UAE
Government, 2006), totalling 28 countries/emirates. Using the country/emirate as the
keyword, along with travel and Muslim, 23 countries/emirates had from four to over
2,000 photos. Five countries/emirates had no Flickr photos with all three keywords. For
detailed information, please refer to the Appendix. This study's quota sampling, up to
the first 30 returned photos for each country, yielded 589 content photos. The unit of
analysis was the content photo and photo-related information on the results page.
Two postgraduate students at an Australian university refined and managed the coding
process from April to June 2009. Pre-testing with two non-Arab Muslim countries,
Malaysia and Turkey, operationalised the variables. The variables were human image,
gender, comments, faves and photo distance. Camera angle of close, medium and long
shot (Kress & van Leeuwen, 2006) helped operationalise photo distance of close,
medium and far photo distances for the main subject in photos (Table 4.1). Coding for
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human and gender in photos was binomial, only recording images that were clearly
visible. Comment and fave coding was the number of audience responses for content
photos.
A second pre-test with Iran, Pakistan and Turkey helped revise and clarify variables. To
test coding reliability, researchers calculated Scott‟s pi intercoder reliability coefficient
(Neuendorf, 2002, p. 150) for a country from the second pre-test, Turkey, and main
study, Egypt. Scott‟s pi for Turkey ranged from 0.71 to 1.0. The main study showed
similar reliability on results for Egypt, with Scott‟s pi ranging from 0.72 to 1.0.
4.5 User-Generated Photo Portrayals and Audience Responses
From the selected 589 content photos, 11 photos had extreme numbers of comments or
faves such as 156 comments and 328 faves, shown in the Appendix. Deleting these
cases with standardised scores above 3.29 left 578 photos (Tabachnick & Fidell, 2007,
p. 73). Within the remaining content photos, over one in two had audience responses –
54% with comments and 52% with fave awards. Comments and faves correlated
significantly with each other (r=.665, p<.001, n=578).
4.5.1 Content Photos and Social Presence
As Table 4.2 below shows, 61% of the 578 content photos included humans. Audience
responses differed significantly across images. Compared to non-human images,
independent-samples t-tests showed significantly more faves for human images,
supporting H1b. Although there were more comments for human images as
hypothesized, the result was non-significant and failed to support H1a.
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For photo distance, a Chi-square test revealed that distances varied significantly with
close distance (15% of photos) the least portrayed compared to medium (43%) and far
(42%) distances in Table 4.2. One-tailed Spearman‟s rho correlations showed
significant relationships between photo distance and both types of audience response.
Shorter distances had more audience responses than further distances, supporting H2.
Table 4.2: Flickr Content Photos for Human Photo Distances and Audience Responses
Content Photos Audience Responses
Photos
(N) %
Comments Faves
Mean Maximum Mean Maximum
Human Presence
Human 351 61 3.64 58 3.34 59
No human 227 39 3.43 60 2.17 36
Total 578 100 3.56 60 2.88 59
Chi-square
goodness of fit test 2 = 26.6
p < .001
T- test
t = .301
p = .764
T- test
t = 2.372
p = .018
H1a: Not Supported H1b: Supported
Photo distance
Close 52 15 6.21 51 5.06 40
Medium 151 43 3.48 58 2.77 36
Far 148 42 2.91 44 3.31 59
Total 351 100 3.64 58 3.34 59
Chi-square
goodness of fit test 2 = 54.21
p < .001
Spearman‟s Rho
r = .132
p = .007
Spearman‟s Rho
r = .118
p = .014
H2a: Supported H2b: Supported
Gender
Male only 159 69 3.17 58 2.74 36
Female only 71 31 6.34 51 6.34 59
Total 230 100 4.15 58 3.85 59
Chi-square
goodness of fit test 2 = 33.67
p < .001
T- test
t = 2.115
p = .037
T- test
t = 2.667
p = .009
H3a: Supported H4a: Supported H4b: Supported
Across the 351 human photos, gender was clearly visible in 304 photos. To study the
role of gender, removing photos with images of both genders (74 photos) left the 230
photos in the Gender section of Table 4.2. Gender portrayals differed significantly with
fewer females (31%) than males (69%), supporting H3a. More audience responses
occurred for female photos than male photos. Independent-samples t-tests showed
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significant relationships for gender in both types of audience responses, with female
images scoring higher than male photos, supporting H4. For gender and human
presence, as well as audience responses by Arab country, please refer to the Appendix.
4.5.2 Member Portrayals
For all 578 content photos, there were 182 members with an average of three photos per
member. Nearly one in two members (49%) posted only one content photo, while others
ranged from two to 29 photos, as in Figure 4.4.
Figure 4.4: Member Photos for the 578 Muslim Travel Content Photos
The 182 member profiles included more photos with human images (60%) than without,
as Table 4.3 shows. Most members represented themselves via close distance photos
(82%), and few with far distances (2%). To investigate members‟ gender, aside from
examining images in profile photos, this study also analysed stated gender. One in two
members showed their gender via their profile photos (52%), and more stated their
gender (80%). Gender portrayals differed significantly: almost three of four members
were male (73%) in profile photos, supporting H3b. There were similar results for self-
stated gender.
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Table 4.3: Flickr Profile Photos and Stated Gender
Categories Profile Photos % Results
Human Presence
Human 109 60 2 = 7.121
p = .008 No human 73 40
Total 182 100
Photo Distance
Close 89 82 2 = 118.037
p < .001
Medium 18 17
Far 2 2
Total 109 101
Gender in Profile Photo
Male 70 38 Male/female:
(N = 96) 2 = 20.167
p < .001
H3b: Supported
Female 26 14
Both genders 2 1
Cannot determine 11 6
No human 73 40
Total 182 99
Gender Stated in Profile
Male 107 59 Male/female:
(N = 146) 2 = 31.671
p < .001
Female 39 21
Not given 36 20
Total 182 100
Note. Percentages do not tally to 100% due to rounding.
Members‟ gender also played a role in content photo subjects. Of the 578 content
photos, 479 were from self-stated male and female members. From this self-stated
gender group, nearly two-thirds (62%) or 294 content photos contained human images.
Due to the binomial coding for content photo gender, analysis was according to
presence and absence of each gender. Comparing members‟ gender and the gender
presence in content photos showed that each gender posted more photos of their own
gender than the photos without the presence of their gender, supporting H5. More
males (68%) than females (54%) portrayed male subjects when compared to photos
without male subjects (2 = 4.605, p = .02, n = 294). Similarly, more females (53%)
than males (36%) posted female photos compared to photos without female subjects (2
= 6.188, p = .01, n = 294).
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4.6 Discussion
4.6.1 Gender Presence and Projected Intimacy Levels
Flickr members in this study presented their identity differently. A fifth of the members
did not state their gender and nearly half the profile photos showed no identifiable
gender, reflecting anonymity in UGC posting (Cox, et al., 2008; Lange, 2008). Among
members who indicated gender, 73% were male, aligning with a Flickr study with more
males (70%) than females (30%) (Meyer, et al., 2005). Additionally, Flickr gender
varied in content photos with members sharing a higher number of photos with males
than females. The low number of female photos might stem from both genders
following tourism warnings not to photograph Arab women and the male-dominated
Flickr members portraying more photos for their gender.
Members, via profile and content photos, projected four levels of intimacy to viewers –
no, far, medium and close human distances – portraying from no to close relationships.
As Flickr profile photos displayed 60% human images versus 61% and 80% on
MySpace and Facebook (Ellison, et al., 2007; Jones, et al., 2008), interest-led Flickr
seems to have slightly lower self-presentation than on friendship websites (Kaplan &
Haenlein, 2010). Among Flickr members who revealed their images, 82% of these
images projected close distance. This projected distance may suggest that some
members equate Flickr as an avenue for conveying social presence and networking.
Human subjects appeared in 61% of Flickr content photos, resembling tourist captured
photos of 54% to 70% human images (Garrod, 2009; Haldrup & Larsen, 2003) and
portraying more than official brochures at 40% to 48% (Hunter, 2008, 2010a).
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Furthermore, close distance as the least posted content photos at 15%, resembles the
results of a study that found close distance the lowest (10%) of tourist photos (Garrod,
2009). The low numbers imply that destination subjects are unknown to photographers
or members, as most occupy far distances.
4.6.2 Projected Computer-Mediated Social Presence
Audience responses via comments suggest mixed social presence as the number of
Flickr content photos with and without humans showed no significant differences.
Audience comments may be a result of the communicator in addition to a subject‟s
social presence. That is, the UG comments may also be due to photo-taking skills and
networking (Cox, et al., 2008; Zywica & Danowski, 2008). While comments could
indicate social presence of the communicator or photo subject, the other audience
response, faves, only relate to content photos.
The results showed significantly more faves for human than non-human photos,
supporting that UG photos convey social presence. Furthermore, Flickr viewers gave
significantly more faves for close than other distances, suggesting higher interest and
social presence for close relationship portrayals. While both social presence and social
media studies focus on communication among individuals (Gueguen & Jacob, 2002;
Kaplan & Haenlein, 2010; Short, et al., 1976), this study suggests that photo subjects
also have social presence and „speak‟ to viewers. Photo subjects become a new
component in the social presence equation.
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Subjects such as the nameless girls in Table 4.1 and Figure 4.5 could gain attention
similar to photojournalist subjects – often unknown individuals such as the „Migrant
Mother‟ by Dorothea Lange and „Afghan Girl‟ by Steve McCurry (Adatto, 2008; Price
& Wells, 2009). Viewers felt their presence and plight, but both women were mostly
unaware of their attention and their lives unchanged. Unlike photographers or models,
they received no credit or financial reward, nor know how their photos were displayed.
Similarly, in UG photos, attribution goes to members and unknown subjects receive
social presence and possibly little else.
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Figure 4.5: Flickr Search Results for Morocco, Muslim, travel (18 May 2010)
Sorting
setting
Viewing
setting
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Alongside photo subjects, three parties ever present in the social presence equation
control the projection of computer-mediated social presence: the member, audience and
website/medium. Firstly, the members decide images and intimacy levels to capture and
share. Secondly, the audience selects images to access and respond to, as well as how to
view photos using tools such as the Flickr photo sorting and viewing settings shown in
Figure 4.5. Lastly, Flickr controls display settings and audience search results.
Members can post whatever they desire, but the ultimate power lies with the UGC host
website. The content-led Flickr website seems to downplay members through photo
presence. For example, Flickr hosted a big content photo and a small profile picture in
Figure 4.3. Furthermore, compared to this 2009 study, Flickr‟s setting in 2010 shifted
focus and reduces member presence. As Figure 4.5 above shows, the new layout has no
profile photo and stated gender.
For human images, the new Flickr layout highlights content photo subjects more than
communicators – replacing the traditional communicator social presence with the photo
subjects. While viewers could get communicator information by clicking on their
names, this entails extra effort. This new design might stem from viewers preferring big
over small images (Lombard, 1995; Reeves & Nass, 1996) and profile photos with
humans distracting from content photo viewing (Riegelsberger, Sasse, & McCarthy,
2002).
4.6.3 Academic Contributions
This chapter contributes to the limited user-generated photo studies in at least three
ways. Firstly, this study adds to the Social Presence Theory. As social presence and
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social media usually focus on communicators, the first contribution extends social
presence in that content photo subjects seem to reach audiences through responses. With
the emergence of social media, where members can create, edit and post content of
others, the attention that usually centres on communicators as in face-to-face situations
also focuses on posted content. In addition, to the authors‟ knowledge, this is the first
study to explore the seemingly obvious link between photo distances and social
presence. The significant audience response differences for human photo distances,
supports that social presence differs according to photo distances. While this study
focused on the Arab World‟s Muslim-travel images, the social presence of photo subject
aligns with studies showing close distance influences social presence (Argo, et al.,
2005; Cyr, et al., 2009).
Secondly, Flickr photos provide new approaches to study perceptions and popular
destination images via VEP and the Q method. The observable nature of social media
creates an ideal avenue to assist researchers study destinations. For the online arena,
both techniques employed keywords to search for destination photos. The employment
of Q method online, however, is simpler than the offline sorting methods (Fairweather
& Swaffield, 2001; Hunter, 2010b). With results differentiating online images, however,
social media provide an avenue to employ the Q method and study audience responses
to images.
Lastly, this study examined the communicator and human subject portrayals, addressing
knowledge gaps for UGC in general and within the Arab World. Examining content and
profile photos provided insights regarding the relationship between both portrayals.
Furthermore, Flickr and other UGC sites offer opportunities to study tourism in general
and in understudied Arab destinations. This study offers a glimpse of Arab World
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tourist portrayals and images that induce interest. Possibly, similar interest can arise for
images in other destinations.
4.6.4 Industry Implications
Destinations can gain from social presence, similar to websites achieving high social
presence through human photos (Cyr, et al., 2009; Hassanein & Head, 2007). As human
images help portray destination activities and experiences (Haldrup & Larsen, 2003;
Schmallegger, et al., 2010), the subjects of shared photos represent destinations –
depicting a tourist experience or local Arab resident. These images could portray Arab
countries differently than typical media stereotypes of the Arab World or official
destination photos, attracting future tourists. Furthermore, with photos the top
destination UGC, greater than text reviews and videos (Cox, et al., 2009), more
potential tourists can view destinations via photos than via other UGC forms.
Tourism organisations should study the posted images to understand how social media
members view destinations, as these images represent destinations for potential
consumers. Arab tourism organisations should seek and promote images that align with
their marketing goals. In addition, Arab and Muslim organisations should increase the
numbers of human images especially close distance photographs in their publications,
as viewers seem to enjoy this implied personal relationship. Consequently, viewers may
feel close to the subjects and possibly the destinations.
Arab tourism organisations can use these study results to change tourist decisions and
behaviours in the Arab World. Female photos could attract tourists as shown through
the higher audience responses compared to male photos. Furthermore, countries with
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female dominated photos, in the Appendix, can align Flickr photos with their country‟s
promotion to target female tourists and family tourists. Females and families may visit
these countries after viewing female dominated photos, possibly creating a welcoming
impression compared to countries with a male dominated Flickr presence.
4.6.5 Limitations and Future Research
This study has at least two limitations. Firstly, this study treated the number of audience
responses for content photos as social presence. Further examination of individual
comments can indicate if comments related to photo subject, communicator or both.
This investigation could indicate if communicators or subjects had more social
presence. Another study can examine the impact of shared photos and social presence
on viewers – whether these photos translate to future visits.
Secondly, this study examined just Flickr photos. Researchers can examine Arab World
content and social presence across other UGC sites such as Facebook for photos,
YouTube for videos and TripAdvisor for text reviews. As Facebook ranks 2nd
, YouTube
3rd
and TripAdvisor 317th
of all websites (Alexa, 2010a), these UGC websites have
global reach and could influence tourist decisions (Gretzel & Yoo, 2008; Tussyadiah &
Fesenmaier, 2009; White, 2010). Results from these studies can assist tourism
organisations plan and execute promotions relating to shared content.
Researchers can explore how user-generated photos affect two other presence concepts
– telepresence and para-social interaction. Future studies can explore telepresence and
transporting viewers to destinations via these photos, as destination visuals create the
sense of being at the destination (Tussyadiah & Fesenmaier, 2009). Consequently,
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human images might affect telepresence and interest for destinations. Furthermore,
while previously performers or actors in formal channels affect para-social interaction,
UGC showcases informal performers such as communicators (Pearson, 2009) and
unconscious photo subjects. Studies can investigate how viewers feel and react to these
conscious and unconscious performances, from known and unknown performers, as
well as other effects these performances have on viewers.
Future studies can focus on communicators. A follow-up study can identify whether
communicators appear in content photos by comparing communicators profile image
with content photos. The study should be able to indicate whether communicator
presence in content photos made a difference in audience responses, and consequently
social presence. Furthermore, researchers can also examine the images posted by
Muslim and non-Muslim members. For example, Arab Muslim residents and non-
Muslim tourists might display different types of images. Muslim members might not
share human images due to the Islamic aversion about creating and displaying human
images in paintings and photographs (Arnold, 2004).
In conclusion, computer-mediated social presence involves dual focus of communicator
and message. While traditionally the communicator has social presence, this study of
social media shows that human presence in messages or content photos can influence
audience responses and social presence. The study identified photo distances can also
induce audience responses that reflect social presence – especially close distances.
Furthermore, the study also identified three parties controlling computer-mediated
social presence – the communicator, audience and website.
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This computer-mediated social presence study ends the examination of social media and
user-generated content. The next chapter draws together results from the three chapters,
and concludes with managerial and academic contributions including a discussion of
limitations and future studies.
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Chapter 5 Discussion
The three preceding chapters helped address the research objectives and questions
outlined in Chapter 1. This chapter starts with a summary of findings according to the
research objectives and questions. The chapter then discusses implications and future
research arising from this thesis.
5.1 Summary of Findings
5.1.1 Understanding Travel Photography Postings on Social Media
Research Question 1: How do individuals share travel WOM, particularly
photos, using social media?
Individuals share travel content through photos, text and videos on both interest and
friendship websites. In the studies described in Chapter 2, individuals used several
social media websites jointly to share travel UGC. Among friendship sites frequented
were Facebook, Friendster and MySpace, while interest sites included Flickr,
TripAdvisor and YouTube. Travel WOM given via photos related to destinations, while
text WOM included destination, accommodation and airline. Individuals identified
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photos as the main content form to share travel with different ties, such as strong and
weak ties on friendship communities and latent ties on interest sites. Therefore, photos
are an important form in destination communication among individuals.
Research Question 2: How do user-generated photos represent destination
WOM?
Members perceive photos as destination WOM. With millions of photos available on
various destinations, photo WOM depicts destinations according to communicator
experiences. The results suggest that, while usually people attribute travel WOM to
tourists, locals could also give WOM as shown through the correlation of photo posts
with tourist arrivals and Internet infrastructure. Furthermore, the findings in Chapter 2
indicate that locals in a country become photo subjects as the number of Muslims in an
Arab country correlated with the number of destination photo posts. Since the early
days of tourism and photography, locals have been the subject of tourists‟ photos
(Levine & Jensen, 2007; Urry, 1990), however the sharing are usually accompanied by
verbal WOM. With social media, travellers can share photos of destinations including
locals, with or without textual WOM, making photos an emerging WOM for
destinations.
Research Question 3: What beliefs might explain photo posts?
Photo-posting behaviours stemmed from beliefs – behavioural, normative and control.
A behavioural belief was that posting destination photos gives proof that members
visited a destination. Normative beliefs involved the knowledge that friends post travel
photos, and control beliefs focused on technology such as having digital cameras and
social media accounts. While these beliefs reflected the online photo form, similarities
exist with offline photo sharing, such as viewing friends‟ physical photos and having a
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camera. The online/offline distinctions were due to members‟ social media use and
ability to display photos. Social media elevates the role of photos from physically
shared for a limited audience to becoming destination WOM for strong, weak and latent
ties. For example, participants share photos with family (strong) and friends
(strong/weak) on Facebook, and the public (latent) on Flickr.
Research Question 4: How do user-generated photos present Arab
destinations and Islamic Tourism?
Shared photos can differentiate among these commonly clustered Arab nations via
photo volume and images. Saudi Arabia had the highest number of Muslim images,
reflecting its role as the Islamic capital of the world, and helping validate Flickr as an
avenue to represent destinations.
Furthermore, the positive relationship between tourist arrivals and posted photos shows
that the number of photos can identify popular destinations people visit, especially in
destinations with limited visitor statistics to differentiate regions. For example, the UAE
had different volumes of photo postings, with Dubai the highest for all studied
keywords, followed by Sharjah and Abu Dhabi. These findings suggest the emirates that
are popular among tourists, i.e. that Dubai enjoys more UAE tourists than Abu Dhabi
and Sharjah. Photo posts also increased in some UAE states, up to 188% in half a year,
possibly reflecting increases in tourism within emirates.
While there were positive relationships between Arab countries‟ photo posts and tourist
arrivals, as well as Internet infrastructure, there were exceptions that highlight countries
such as Jordan. Among Arab countries, Jordan ranked eighth in tourist arrivals, ninth
for Internet users and sixth for Internet hosts (Central Intelligence Agency, 2010;
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Internet World Stats, 2009a, 2009b; World Travel and Tourism Council, 2010).
However, the country had the second highest number of country photos and third
highest for travel and Muslim-travel photos. This discrepancy could imply that tourists
and locals post a higher number of photos for Jordan compared to tourists and locals
from other Arab countries. Therefore, the results indicate that it is possible for countries
with low numbers of tourists and Internet users to gather a high UGC presence. This
situation could occur during the 2011 political unrest in the Arab League with relatively
low travel due to fears of disturbances, but with many UGC posts due to high
international interest.
Portrayed Muslim images featured more headscarves than mosque images, contrasting
with official tourism representations in Muslim countries where mosques appear more
often than headscarves (Hashim, et al., 2007; Henderson, 2008). Furthermore, as found
in offline tourist photo research, Flickr photos featured more humans than official
destination portrayals (Garrod, 2009; Hunter, 2008, 2010a). As human portrayals
created more interest via faves than non-human photos, human portrayals could increase
interest for these Arab countries.
5.1.2 Understanding Computer-Mediated Communication via User-Generated
Photos and Responses
Research Question 5: Do user-generated photos relay Social Presence?
With the traditional concept of social presence revolving around a medium‟s ability to
assist interaction between communicator and audience, computer-mediation makes the
message prominent in this social presence equation as human subjects in UG photos
also influence social presence. Consequently, the study identified that photo distance
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influences computer-mediated social presence – with audiences responding more to the
close distance than other UG photo distances.
Audiences viewing images of unknown persons in profile and content photos have
latent ties with them. The audience becomes more familiar with the communicators, and
if the audience responds to communicators (by adding a comment), this relationship
shifts from latent to weak. While ties are usually between audience and communicator,
humans in content photos are also latent ties to the audience. After viewing destination
photos, audiences become familiar with portrayed locals and tourists. This sense of
familiarity might transfer to the portrayed destinations and create awareness for
countries such as the Muslim countries studied in this thesis.
5.2 Managerial Implications
Insights from this thesis can assist organisations in at least three ways. The first two
implications relate to social media activities – posting and viewing UGC, while the final
managerial contribution relates to using images for marketing.
5.2.1 Generating Posts
Findings from Chapter 2 indicated that both locals and tourists post photos. Destination
Marketing Organisations (DMOs) can assimilate practices by destinations such as
Australia, Spain and Wales which turned to locals to generate photos portraying
attractions and activities (Hayhurst, 2010; Munro & Richards, 2010; Saurine, 2010).
DMOs, especially those with excellent Internet infrastructure, could encourage locals to
contribute UGC, for example, by encouraging local tourists to post their holiday photos
via worldwide competitions.
104
5.2.2 Viewing to Monitor and Manage UGC
Chapter 2 showed that destinations amassed millions of UG photos. DMOs should
therefore view UGC to monitor destination photos via hedonic and utilitarian searches.
Viewing resembles members‟ hedonic consumption, which includes relaxing and
engaging gazes of appealing content (Khalid & Dix, 2006). Organisations need to
follow a similar aimless viewing approach as profiles contain interesting information
that organisations can use. For example, destinations might find relevant destination
photos on member profiles. Table 5.1 illustrates how organisations can monitor
destination photos via the interest site, Flickr and a friendship site, Facebook.
Table 5.1: Destination Photo Viewing Behaviours
Interest site – Flickr Friendship site – Facebook
Hedonic
consumption
- Browse contacts‟ photos
- Explore “Interesting” and “Most
recent” uploads
- Browse friends‟ photos
Utilitarian
search - Specify the destination as a keyword
- Seek a destination‟s group
- Prior knowledge of friends‟ visit to the
destination
- Seek a destination‟s group
Organisations can also conduct utilitarian searches, as suggested in Table 5.1, focusing
on predetermined goals (Schmallegger, et al., 2010). Organisations can browse through
country groups on both interest and friendship websites. Furthermore, compared to
Facebook, Flickr can aid utilitarian searches as Flickr members can specify destination
keywords, such as employed in Chapters 2 to 4. Frequency and time spent for views
depend on the reasons for photo searches. For example, searches to identify portrayed
destination images would differ in length than searches for a specific image to employ
in brochures.
Organisations can also automate views to get the latest photos according to members
and groups. On Flickr for instance, organisations can add members as contacts and join
105
relevant informal groups. Consequently, organisations‟ profiles would automatically
receive the latest photos from these contacts and groups. In addition to photos,
organisations can arrange to receive group discussions automatically.
These hedonic, utilitarian and automated views would assist photo management in two
ways. Firstly, organisations can manage positive and negative destination photos. For
positive photos, DMOs should award faves to display the photos on their profiles.
DMOs can counter negative images by posting positive images and employing similar
tags on these uploads. Visitors specifying those keywords would find these photos
together and destination judgement would not be limited to the negative photos.
Secondly, organisations can collaborate with members by adding keywords for the
photos. As users might omit photo details, tourism organisations can tag these photos.
For example, additional keywords regarding the depicted attractions, activities and
festivities should assist photo searches and add to country knowledge.
5.2.3 Employing Images for Promotions
As shown in Chapter 4, audience responses suggest image popularity. Organisations can
use highly responded photos on their Flickr profiles via faves and on official
publications. The findings revealed significantly high faves for human images,
suggesting preference for such images. With official destination portrayals containing
fewer human portrayals than tourist holiday photos (Garrod, 2009; Haldrup & Larsen,
2003; Hunter, 2008, 2010a), organisations should increase human portrayals on
promotional materials. Furthermore, these photos can incorporate the close distances
and female images to capture attention, as both images receive a high number of
audience responses.
106
Organisations also portray Muslim images. With 1.57 billion Muslims worldwide,
marketers can use Muslim images such as the headscarf or mosque to attract Muslims
(Pew Forum, 2009). While Muslim images portray Islamic destinations, non-religious
products such as higher education also employ these images (Hashim, et al., 2007;
Henderson, 2008). For example, a university in Australia employed Muslim images by
incorporating the headscarf image in its prospectus (University of Western Australia,
2010), possibly to attract Muslim students. With the increase in Islamic products such as
Sharia-compliant hotels and Islamic banks (Dusuki & Abdullah, 2007; Henderson,
2010), marketers should employ Muslim images to align their advertisements with
services. Marketers can turn to pooled photos in Flickr to portray Islamic products. In
addition to these managerial implications, this thesis offers several academic
contributions.
5.3 Academic Contributions
This thesis contributes to the academic field in at least three ways. Firstly, this thesis
extends the Social Presence Theory within computer-mediated communication.
Secondly, it shows how to apply offline photo analysis techniques in the online arena.
Finally, it identifies rich future research streams.
5.3.1 Apply Social Presence Theory for Computer-Mediated Communication
This thesis shows that messages, in the form of content photos, can influence social
presence in computer-mediated communication. This adds a new element to social
presence theory. Human subjects in content photos can convey social presence. Chapter
4 identified that photo distance relates to social presence, with close distance attracting
107
most response from viewers. While traditionally, social presence theory and research
has focused on the medium‟s ability to control social presence, this thesis identified the
website/medium and two other parties controlling online social presence –
communicator and audience. Future studies can explore other social media websites
such as Facebook and Second Life to further understand computer-mediated
communication and social presence.
While this thesis identified the existence of mutual and multiple awareness on social
media, the scope of this thesis did not permit investigation of both types of awareness.
Future studies could examine multiple awareness among audiences to understand
responders‟ social presence. For instance, would reading others‟ comments induce the
audience to comment or make a photo a fave? Additionally, researchers should study if
audience responses work similarly to network effects – the more comments and faves
for a photo, the more responses the photo will get.
5.3.2 Use of Two Offline Photo Techniques for Analysis of Online Content
Chapters 3 and 4 of this thesis employed utilitarian photo searches to study destinations
through two traditional photo methods, visitor-employed photographs (VEP) and the Q
method. To the author‟s knowledge, only one online VEP study has explored a
destination‟s posted photos (Schmallegger, et al., 2010) and none employs the Q
method online. The first step to use both techniques online is to select photos for
examination via keyword searches. For VEP, the next step is to examine the portrayed
objects within the selected photos.
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For the online Q method, the second step after selecting photos is to measure viewer
preferences for objects through comments, faves and likes. With photo sharing
becoming a norm (Lo, et al., 2010; Van Dijck, 2008), user-generated travel photos
should increase and provide ample travel photos for VEP and Q method researchers. As
websites differ in display settings and response features, there are benefits and
challenges in studying photos on social media communities. Table 5.2 summarises how
both techniques could be used in research on the top photo-based and friendship
websites, Flickr and Facebook.
Table 5.2: Applying VEP and the Q Method to UG Photos
Interest site – Flickr Friendship site – Facebook
Visitor-Employed Photography
Pros - Most popular photo-based site (Alexa,
2010a)
- Provides photos quantity for a keyword
search
- Study photos through
Keyword tag
Human tag
Location taken (geotag)
Dates taken & posted
Camera type
- Most popular UGC site (Alexa, 2010a)
- Members can post unlimited number of
photos for free (200 photos per album,
unlimited albums)
- Variables to study
Human tag
Date posted
Cons - Keywords might not represent photos
- Members can only post 200 free photos
- Photo search via a profile or friend uploads
- Photos usually limited to friends
- Photo tagging only for humans, not
keywords
Q Method
Pros - Photo responses via comments and faves
- Provides quantified responses with „detail‟
viewing setting
- Photo responses via comments and likes
Cons - Comments can pertain to photo-taking
skills and not destinations
- Must access individual photos to view
responses
- No quantified responses for photos
- Comments can pertain to members and not
destinations
5.3.3 Future Research Streams
This thesis examined a new field of study, UG travel photos, primarily via descriptive
means to establish the status of the field. The studies in this thesis provide a foundation
on which research opportunities arise. In addition to the limitations discussed at the end
109
of Chapters 2 to 4, three more general limitations create avenues for future studies.
Additionally, this section includes suggestions for future studies according to UGC
elements – website, communicator, audience, form, topic and object – not covered in
this thesis.
The first limitation is the social media website – Flickr – examined in this thesis. Future
studies should consider friendship sites and focus on Facebook, the main friendship
website, and perhaps emerging interest sites such as Foursquare. Furthermore,
researchers can study and compare photo-based websites, including ImageShack,
Panoramio, Photobucket and Picasa, to identify features that might assist organisations
and researchers. For example, Panoramio offers three response features – comment,
favourites and like – which can assist examination and understanding of how the
audience responds to posted photos.
The second limitation is the use of keyword combinations, relating to Islam and
tourism. This study only examined Muslim and travel keywords, and not other possible
Islamic tourism keywords such as Islam and vacation. For example, photos tagged
Islam might differ in portrayed objects from those tagged Muslim, such as featuring
fewer human images, as the word Islam represents the religion and Muslim identifies
the followers. Future studies could examine both Islam and tourism keywords to
determine the similarities and differences in portrayed objects and compare them with
the results presented in this thesis. Such studies should assist researchers and
organisations choose the most applicable keywords for examining Islamic tourism on
social media websites.
110
The final limitation is the use of English words in searching for photos. This study only
examined photos identified and accessed in the English language. With social media
websites available in many languages, photos with non-English keywords were missing
from the results. Future studies could examine travel keywords in languages such as
Chinese, French, Indonesian and Spanish, and select photos identified in those
languages. Other future streams also arise according to the six UGC elements
introduced at the beginning of the thesis in Figure 1.3.
Examining Communicators and Websites
Qualitative studies in Chapter 2 identified that individuals participate in multiple sites.
Studies can examine this practice and reasons for using many sites. Furthermore, with
social media featuring specialised websites such as for photo sharing, research can
probe why members choose one website and not another. Additionally, as social media
preferences differ by country (Gretzel, Kang, & Lee, 2008), studies should explore the
most popular websites according to countries and reasons for popularity. Such studies
would help organisations decide which social media websites best suit their target
audience in various countries.
This research employed the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) to examine belief-based
reasons for destination photo posts. Researchers can also study photo-posting reasons
via TPB‟s three direct predictors of behavioural intention – attitudes, perceived norms
and perceived control – using questionnaires. Furthermore, as the TPB is encompassed
within the Reasoned Action Approach (Fishbein & Ajzen, 2010), researchers could
examine how background factors such as gender and religion relate to photo posts. For
example, compared to non-Muslims, Muslims might favour non-human images due to
the Islamic aversion about creating and displaying human images in paintings and
111
photographs (Arnold, 2004). These factors might also relate to the types of photos that
audiences view and respond to.
Investigating Audiences
Chapter 4 only examined audience responses to photos. Future research could identify
how social media responses – comment, fave or like – relate to responders‟ intentions to
post travel photos or visit the destination. Studies could examine the comments from
each photo to uncover these intentions. Furthermore, examining comments should
indicate the social presence felt – whether audience responses were due to the inclusion
of a human subject in the image, communicator‟s abilities in capturing the image or
both.
With the prevalence of brief audience responses such as faves and likes, studies could
investigate reasons behind these responses. Unlike comments that illustrate messages,
fave and like awards might pertain to UGC preferences, communicator endorsement or
both. In photos for instance, these brief responses should pertain to the displayed UGC.
With Facebook featuring the like response for UGC and selected profiles, however, this
brief audience response might indicate various reasons. For example, of the 216
members who like the UAE Nation Brand Contest (Government Communications
Office, 2010), audience responses might signify support for the country, contest or even
UAE Facebook participation. Studies could also examine how having a high number of
likes for profiles and content influence perceptions towards organisations.
Analysing Content Forms
This thesis only considered user-generated photos. Aside from photos, another popular
visual content is video. With YouTube‟s popularity at 3rd
place of all websites (Alexa,
112
2010a), few studies focus on video‟s use and impact on travel (Tussyadiah &
Fesenmaier, 2009). Similar to photos and text, videos might be WOM for travel.
Furthermore, studies could examine the short and long-term impact of both forms on
viewers for a destination. As travellers value photos more than videos for destination
information (Cox, et al., 2009), photos might have a bigger influence than videos for
destination image and visits.
While Chapter 4 used Social Presence Theory to study posted photos, this framework
can also help study other UGC forms. Studies could compare the social presence felt
from photos and videos. Within videos, portrayed subject intimacy levels might arise
through audio featuring voice or music, and visuals through human and non-human
images.
Exploring Topics
The research in this thesis only observed audience responses according to humans in
content photos. Researchers could explore whether social presence of photo subjects
influences how the audience views destinations. For example, would seeing locals and
tourists at a destination make the audience feel near to the destination? If the audience
feels near to a destination, studies could explore whether this connection translates to a
change in destination image, visiting intentions and actual visits.
Aside from the limited tourism keywords examined in this thesis, researchers could use
various keywords to search for cities, regions, attractions or hotels, and study
photographs using VEP and Q method techniques. Furthermore, due to the observable
nature of social media, researchers can conduct longitudinal studies for keywords as in
Chapter 2. Aside from identifying the photo growth for specific keywords to assist
113
future projections, this understanding of keyword use could support organisations‟
decisions when purchasing keywords on search engines to increase visitors to their
websites.
As this research only focuses on Arab countries, researchers should study how social
media members present and portray other Islamic nations, especially the top two for
travel – Malaysia and Turkey (World Travel and Tourism Council, 2010). Furthermore,
with big Muslim populations in non-dominant Muslim countries such as China and
Russia, studies could examine Islamic tourism photo WOM for these nations (Pew
Forum, 2009). For example, Muslim travellers visit China to explore its deep Islamic
heritage (Gladney, 2003; Wang, Ding, Scott, & Fan, 2010).
While Chapters 2 and 3 examine photo WOM within the tourism industry, future
studies could explore photo WOM for other industries such as automotive, sporting
goods and universities. For example, product photos thrive on Flickr with half a million
photos each for BMW and Ferrari in early May 2010. Furthermore, sports companies
Nike and Adidas each have over 133 thousand user-generated photos on Flickr.
Similarly, universities appear on Flickr with over 12 thousand photos each for “Harvard
University”, “Oxford University” and “University of Michigan”.
Navigating across Objects Online and Offline
Members associate Muslim images with Arab destinations. Future studies could employ
the online VEP and Q method to study objects in other destinations and non-tourism
industries to identify portrayed and well-liked objects. In universities for instance,
objects could involve students, university buildings and destination attractions. Studies
could examine whether these shared images resemble what officials represent for their
114
universities. For example, an Australian university featured five photos with the
headscarf image in the first 20 pages of its printed 2010/2011 international postgraduate
prospectus (University of Western Australia, 2010). With few studies about Muslim
objects shared by individuals and organisations, online and offline, researchers should
examine the usage and impact of these images.
In closing, this thesis identified a micro portion of social media practices and hints at
the influences this new avenue could have on future communications, generally and for
travel. Just as the Internet became an important communication avenue within a couple
of decades, social media may become indispensable to individuals, companies and
destinations. There will, of course, be other technological advancements but these
technologies will not prosper without human participation. Just as technology has
become part of life, scientific theories such as Social Presence Theory and the Theory of
Planned Behavior are important elements in explaining human and technology. These
theories can withstand technology advancements for now, and should be applicable in
the future.
115
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Appendix
Arab Countries‟ Flickr Content Photos, Human Presence and Responses (12 May 2009)
Country/
Emirate
Country
Muslim
travel
photos
Studied
Muslim
travel
photos
Human Presence Responses
% of Studied Photos Comments Faves
Human Male Female Mean Max Total Mean Max Total
Egypt 2,278 30 53 33 33 1.1 9 34 1.5 16 46
Morocco 1,615 30 90 57 37 3.0 44 89 4.8 97 144
Jordan 920 30 73 57 30 1.5 11 46 1.5 11 45
Yemen 874 30 67 33 27 6.1 44 182 7.5 59 225
Syria 790 30 63 50 27 1.6 11 48 1.3 8 39
Palestine 601 30 63 33 23 5.1 29 154 6.2 36 186
Tunisia 452 30 57 37 20 1.6 7 47 1.4 6 42
Lebanon 186 30 63 43 33 8.3 141 250 14.7 328 442
Dubai
(UAE) 170 30 33 20 13 8.0 114 240 4.7 67 140
Bahrain 133 30 43 20 27 5.2 60 156 1.9 20 56
Saudi
Arabia 110 30 60 27 13 16.3 156 489 12.0 126 360
Sharjah
(UAE) 92 30 20 10 0 1.3 18 40 0.1 1 3
Iraq 85 30 87 80 30 4.7 60 140 5.1 102 154
Oman 39 30 67 30 37 10.0 58 300 7.6 75 227
Abu Dhabi
(UAE) 38 30 40 40 10 0.8 9 24 0.6 3 17
Somalia 31 30 83 53 63 12.2 129 365 10.2 119 305
Kuwait 26 26 69 50 8 10.0 110 260 6.4 74 165
Mauritania 21 21 71 52 19 3.9 26 82 6.3 25 133
Algeria 17 17 65 35 29 3.6 38 61 1.8 7 31
Sudan 15 15 67 60 7 2.3 28 35 2.5 23 38
Qatar 14 14 43 29 21 7.7 29 108 7.3 32 102
Libya 12 12 58 50 50 2.0 8 24 1.1 3 13
Djibouti 4 4 25 25 0 7.0 28 28 6.3 23 25
Overall
Total 8,523 589 357 237 148 5.4 156 3202 5.0 328 2938
% of studied photos and
results 100 61 40 25
Note. UAE = United Arab Emirates; Bold numbers represent column leaders based
on maximum value for each indicator.