The ‘Dark Power’ of Instagram: Prospects and Threats for Tourism Organisations

The key to understand and analyse the dynamic relationship between territories, organisations and tourists is currently undergoing significant changes. Due to both their endogenous and exogenous factors, territories should be read as complex adaptive systems (CAS), i.e. systems structurally composed of different sub-systems which interact with each other and help to improve the central systems thanks to the interconnections established among themselves. Thus, in this scenario, territories evolve into potential tourism destinations if these changes make them particularly attractive and capable of setting a profitable dialogue with new emerging tourists profiles. As a matter of fact, contexts and in which these actors communicate between each other nowadays are unconventional and ‘bottom-up oriented’: social media represent the main source for territories and organisation of tourist experience to receive feedback. Nevertheless, the established relationship is not always qualitatively relevant nor reliable. Therefore, by utilising both a data and content analysis approach, the authors will analyse users’ reactions to Instagram posts by destinations to evaluate their engagement process and their emerging profile.