Post, Ergo Sum - Social Media and Brand Competitiveness in Tourism – The Case of Molisn't

Social media launched a “tongue-in-cheek” trend taking a comic approach to state that Molise— an Italian region—doesn't exist; several reactions appeared online, since this discourse may affect the attractiveness and image of a territory. Therefore, this chapter aims to analyse the online actions and counteractions to describe the role of the actors and the modalities by which they reacted. Literature showed a growing interest in the ties among destination marketing, destination image and competitiveness, and social media. A multi-level approach has been chosen in identifying the actions and reactions of actors. Due to the research context, the authors performed a netnography and identified six categories of actors. On a theoretical side, the levels of analysis – macro, meso, and micro – are mutually influencing, as actions and reactions take place at various levels. On a practical side, the awareness of actors in understanding the need to support the territory represents a suggestion for policymakers, as they should engage in actions to combat the negative image of the region

Understanding MOOC Learners

Massive Open Online Courses (MOOC) are the latest online teaching and learning medium through website and are seen as a key factor in future lesson delivery. One well-established and popular MOOC is Coursera which is provided by Stanford University. Online participation and interactions are complex phenomena and the answers to the questions in regard to Courserians' participation gave considerable insights into knowledge construction in discussion forums. The successful construction of knowledge requires active participation. This article is aimed to observe a Coursera community in its natural setting and to investigate the participants' experiences in Coursera discussion forum. The data was derived from over 60 online interview forums with Coursera learners. Field note data was extracted from 160 days of interaction with the participants. Analysis of the qualitative data revealed some insights about learners' feelings, challenges, ideas and recommendations