Employing' social Network Analysis' to Influence Tourism Events Decision-Making: A Pilot Study

A major feature of the emergence of Web 2.0 is the proliferation of ‘consumer-generated content’ (CGC) websites, often established as alternatives to corporate or ‘official’ sites. Nowhere has this had as great an impact as in the travel and tourism industry. In this paper, we report on a preliminary study designed to demonstrate how techniques drawn from ‘Social Network Analysis’ (SNA) might be employed to develop an understanding of the influence relationships and hierarchies within these websites. Armed with this knowledge, tourism companies and authorities may be able to develop strategies as to how they might best co-exist and deal with relevant sites. The focus of this initial study is on tourism events; specifically, the Australian Football League Grand Final.