Social media analysis from a communication perspective: the case of the argumentative analysis of online travel reviews
Informazioni aggiuntive
Autori
Tipo
Contributo in libro
Anno
2018
Lingua
Inglese
Abstract
The chapter proposes a method to analyze social media content, which goes beyond the usual categorization of content according to topics covered and sentiment expressed, to account for the many other elements constituting a communicative event and thus influencing the meaning and interpretation of such content. The proposed method derives from a communication perspective on media content, which is based on the linguistic notion of speech act. Starting from the idea that “to speak is to do”, it is posited that mediated communication artifacts shall be analyzed considering the intentions of the producers – what s/he wants to do with his/her speech act –, the characteristics of the medium and the context where it is produced. This allows to distinguish media content into different unique textual genres, and thus to design appropriate analytical methodologies. The case of destination Online Travel Reviews (OTR) is taken, to show how a speech-act driven content analysis can be designed and to discuss its implications at the practical level. OTR are an emergent textual genre, characterized by an argumentative structure that means they are recommendations relying upon opinions that are justified with arguments. To analytically account for their content, it needs first to consider the speech act of ‘arguing’.
Libro
Advances in Social Media for Travel, Tourism and Hospitality
Editore
Routledge
Collana
New Directions in Tourism Analysis
Pagina inizio
262
Pagina fine
276
ISBN
9781472469205
Curatore
Marianna Sigala & Ulrike Gretzel
Parole chiave
Online Travel Review, speech act, tourism, textual genre, social media
