CONSUMER-TO-CONSUMER ONLINE VALUE CO-CREATION IN TOURISM: A STUDY ON FACEBOOK COMMUNITIES

Abstract

Internet became an environment where tourists and residents have taken an active role in creating value through social media. Therefore, this empirical, descriptive and exploratory study with a qualitative approach aims to identify consumer-toconsumer co-creation practices in tourism from user-generated content. Netnography was used as a method with the purpose of identifying co-creation processes from interactions among the users participating in three online communities in the social network Facebook: “Argentinos en Brasil”, “Argentinos en Maceio” and “Argentinos en Arraial”. For that purpose, observational techniques and interpretive analysis were applied. The results identified the existence of seven types of practices: conversing; advising; helping; relating; trading; conforming and acknowledging in the social level of the “communitas”, creating value outcomes from a public domain framed in autotelic and instrumental relationships.