Abstract
The development of digital communication technologies and the increase in the use of digital platforms by individuals have increased the tendency towards touristic activities. Cultural tourism, which is carried out for certain purposes within the diversity of tourism, is one of the rising tourism activities of recent times. In this context, tourism management benefits from social media platforms as a tool in marketing their products and services related to cultural tourism. Social media platforms are important here for two aspects. The first of these is the use of social media by tourism management in the marketing of products and services by organizing individual and mass cultural tours and communicating with target audiences. The second is that individuals benefit from social media platforms in participating in cultural tourism and decision making. In this direction, it is important to evaluate conceptually the relationship between social media platforms, one of the most important digital communication technologies, and cultural tourism.
TopSocial media is a group of internet-based applications that build on the ideological and technological foundations of Web 2.0 and allows users to create and share content (Kaplan, & Haenlein, 2010, p. 61). Social media defines the online resources that people use to share content such as videos, photos, images, text, ideas, insights, humor, gossip, and news. These resources include blogs, vlogs, social networks, message boards, podcasts, general bookmarks, and wikis (Drury, 2008, p. 274). Social media has transformed individuals into content publishers beyond being content readers. These platforms allow people to share and interact with each other (Evans, 2008, p. 33). It is characterized as a collection of websites and applications designed to create and develop online communities for networking and information sharing. Talking and sharing things with individuals on social media is not different from the situation in real life. The only difference is that these interactions take place online (Osborne-Gowey, 2014, p. 55). Social media is a new type of media that has the characteristics of participation, openness, conversation, community, and connectedness. These concepts, which express the characteristics of social media tools, were explained by Mayfield as follows (2008, p. 5):
Key Terms in this Chapter
Culture: It is the whole of material and spiritual values specific to a society.
Social media: It is a communication technology that allows two-way and simultaneous information sharing via Web 2.0.
Tourism: It is a field that deals with the temporary travels of individuals and their purchasing activities within the scope of the holiday, entertainment, education, religion, sports, and various activities.
Social Media Marketing: Brands and businesses can use the features of social media and social networking environments and the shares of their target audiences on this platform for their purposes in the name of marketing policies.
Intercultural Communication: Intercultural communication, which is one of the popular concepts of recent times with the effect of tourism and many factors, is a field where the similar and different aspects of individuals from different cultures are examined based on communication.
Cultural Tourism: It is the visits of individuals, motivated to a certain extent, to discover and learn about the historical, artistic, scientific, cultural assets, life, and thinking styles of a society or region.