Social networks and territorial identities. A comparison between regions

Abstract

This article, part of a wider research dedicated to the promotion of the Abruzzo region in the national and European context, compares the communication strategies of four Italian regions (Abruzzo, Liguria, Apulia, Sicily) by analyzing (i) on the one hand, their official identities, as they emerge from corporate websites to promote tourism; (ii) on the other, their web reputation, as it grows up from the comments of users on social networks. This study provides a survey of the users opinions on social networks, aimed at detecting the perceptions and representations of the involved territories. It focuses on a subject that has received limited attention globally and locally, especially in relation to the tourism sector. Indeed, semiotics has traditionally focused its attention on the study of “closed” texts, confined by easily identifiable boundaries. The comparison with the changeability of the web text poses methodological issues in order to identify the correct method of investigation.