Extending a Festival’s Social Atmosphere Online: The Case of Fotografia Europea

Abstract

This chapter explores the potential of social media in the context of festivals and shows how web platforms can better inform event managers’ understanding of how a festival’s social atmosphere (i.e. the socialscape) can be extended online and beyond the actual periods of the staging of a festival. This is possible as social media can help to build an online environment that favours social identification and user engagement. To illustrate such a mechanism, the chapter presents a multi-method analysis of Fotografia Europea, a photography festival held in Reggio Emilia, Italy. Results show the potential of a coordinated web and social media strategy for enhancing the festival’s atmosphere in terms of social identification and engagement.

Citation

Mizzau, L., Montanari, F. and Massi, M. (2019), "Extending a Festival’s Social Atmosphere Online: The Case of Fotografia Europea", Volgger, M. and Pfister, D. (Ed.) Atmospheric Turn in Culture and Tourism: Place, Design and Process Impacts on Customer Behaviour, Marketing and Branding (Advances in Culture, Tourism and Hospitality Research, Vol. 16), Emerald Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 277-289. https://doi.org/10.1108/S1871-317320190000016025