In recent years a new trend has emerged for the search for information, thanks to the multiplication of social media and their social contents, well represented by the various forms of user generated content, or those contents generated and shared by users through blogs, virtual communities, wikis, social networks, collaborative tagging and sharing tools.
This social phenomenon can also be seen in the tourism sector, where the purchase of a trip is perceived as a high risk, so the suggestions, even emotional/personal ones, of online groups can take on an important aspect in the choice of a trip.
The use of such an interpersonal influence, which finds its maximum expression in communities, social networks and forums, can become a competitive advantage if managed correctly.
To understand the origin of the phenomenon of social media, or those social phenomena, community, social networks, two French men Michel Maffesoli and Bernars Cova, among the leading exponents of tribal marketing, have tried to define them as “a tribe”.
A postmodern tribe (neotribes) is a group of individuals not necessarily homogeneous but interrelated by a single particularity, an effective drive or a common ethos.
These individuals can carry out intensive actions, although short-lived. (Cova B, Cova V).
These neotribes theorized by Cova play this role of social aggregation. The possibilities of interaction offered by Web 2.0 means that many of these tribes are born on the internet, giving rise to the birth of social networks, forums, blogs and platforms combined.
The network offers each individual the opportunity to interact with a huge number of users and to share with these common interests, developing a real sense of belonging.
These communities and virtual tribes have the possibility to give life, through their actions, to a participatory culture or to a collective intelligence, bringing out the figure of what has been called prosumer.
Le comunità e le tribù virtuali hanno la possibilità di dare vita, attraverso la loro azione, ad una cultura partecipativa o ad un’intelligenza collettiva, facendo emergere la figura di quello che è stato definito prosumer.
