Journal - Week 2

Well I was warned that this course would challenge me, which has come to be true even at this early stage. I am now accepting that I have to rewrite my project proposal for the 3rd time! The first internship fell through due to the economic downturn, the second proposal clashed with another student, and so now I am in the midst of trying to get my head around a million new acronyms relating to online social media, a term I had to Google first to understand! I think I'll have to compile an appendix of acronyms for this project so readers know the difference between SEO, SEP, SMO and SMM.

So I have decided to research online social media and its role as a destination marketing tool. I think it will take time for me to completely grasp what it is I am researching. I think my project will change and grow as I read more and learn more about this constantly evolving form of media. I am very excited about the prospect of interviewing industry experts in regards to my research area as this is something I have never undertaken before. I will be posting all my questions and replies on this blog, and so in turn will be creating or taking part in social media as I research it. I was also thinking of doing a survey with international students from uni, as they are huge contributors to our local economy. I could investigate their use of social media and also whether their parents come to visit and how do they find out about their destination.

The first step will be developing some way of categorising all the different forms of social media, as they have both overlapping and individual characteristics which differentiate each one from the other. Once categorised, I will then examine the key players for each. I find it easy to get lost on the internet, I end up going on tangents and finding wonderful information that is completely irrelevant to my original question. For this reason I will have to always be clear as to what information is useful, ensuring the source is reliable and objective. Knowing whether a source is good or not will definitely be a challenge. How do you know if someone knows what they're talking about or not? I will use journal articles and peer reviewed literature to support any arguments.