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It has been well established that organizations often need to restructure themselves to meet new technological challenges. We review the organizational impact of a recent technological development, sometimes referred to as Web 2.0 that enables users to leverage the Internet and generate “user-generated content” by acting as a supplier, co-producer, or even innovator of products and services. We draw on the social studies of technology, including actor-network theory to develop a conceptual understanding of how this phenomenon is challenging deeply entrenched mental models among managers and management theorists as well as problematizing the way organizational boundaries are conventionally drawn.

There is no doubt that social media have had a powerful impact on the way people experience the world around them. People love sharing new experiences and telling social networks about upcoming travel plans and reminiscing about them after they have returned. People prefer to buy products and services from brands they trust. Social media allow people to share written testaments to the brand's most amazing qualities, and share pictures and videos of their experiences. Social media make it easy to approach the enterprises and interact with them.

Connecting reputation management and social media is the process of monitoring and handling user-generated social media content such as reviews to impact the way a company is recognized. Tangible aspects of services and products are evaluated by customers of tourism and hospitality enterprises in an individual manner, and relevant opinions are shared on various social media platforms. The cost of a negative experience is rather high – the “eWOM” (electronic word-of-mouth) through social media essentially could destroy a business. For many businesses, a bad review or comment on one social networking site could spread to other social media tools.

The pattern of use of social media by customers of tourism and hospitality organizations can be divided into three stages: pretrip, during the trip, and posttrip use of social media. Customer experiences during each of these stages can be reflected on different social media networks. The manner of the use of social media by customers at all three stages could influence on performances of tourism and hospitality organizations as advantages and challenges. In this article authors are discussing both positive and negative impacts depending on consumer experiences and a range of other factors. Social media implementing blogs, social networking sites, photo and video stories, chats, forums, and other forms of communication need to be used by management of tourism and hospitality enterprises in an integrated manner. Great opportunities offered by viral marketing are fully appreciated and acted upon by managers of hospitality organizations.

It is important for the enterprise to develop an engaged audience by creating and sharing relevant content on social platforms. In addition to relevant content it is important to pay attention to interacting with the audience. Focus must be on products and services, but without interacting and engaging with the audience the enterprise might lose them. Social media are an option for tourism and hospitality to get the opportunity to control and present their contents including their products and services, and using it positively, solve their core values and draw and retain back their customers. Using social media channels can help enterprises to generate more profit. Setting special procedures or documents on how to respond to negative and positive comments guarantees correct and consistent execution. In this chapter the reader could find some real examples from tourism and hospitality enterprises.

The emergence of the platform economy is reorganizing work, employment, and value creation. The authors argue that the digital platforms are fracturing work itself as the places and types of work are being reorganized into a myriad of platform organized work arrangements with workplaces being potentially anywhere with Internet connectivity. The authors differ from most traditional narratives that focus solely upon either work displacement, a single type of platform-organized value-creating activity, or David Weil’s concentration solely upon the workplace. The authors recognize that even as some work is replaced, other work is being transformed; new work and old work in new arrangements is being created and recreated. The taxonomy begins with the workers employed directly by the platform and its contractors. The authors then introduce the category, platform-mediated work, which we divide into three groups: marketplaces such as Amazon; in-person service provision such as Uber and Airbnb; and remote service provision such as Upwork. The next category, “platform-mediated content creation,” is complex. The authors identify three groups of activities: consignment content creators that include services such as the app stores, YouTube, and Amazon Self-Publishing; non-platform organization content producers, which refers to the enormous number of workers occupied with creating and maintaining websites; and user-generated content which is the non-compensated value creation that ranges from content uploaded to Facebook, Instagram, etc. to reviews on sites such as Yelp. It is only when work and value creation is considered in all of these platform-based manifestations that we can understand the ultimate dimensions of the platform economy and comprehensively understand its implications for work.

This chapter is about online hate speech propagated via platforms operated by social media companies (SMCs). It examines the options open to states in forcing SMCs to take responsibility for the hateful content that appears on their sites. It examines the technological and legal context for imposing legal obligations on SMCs, and analyses initiatives in Germany, the United Kingdom, the European Union and elsewhere. It argues that while SMCs can play a role in controlling online hate speech, there are limitations to what they can achieve.

Since its launch in 2005, YouTube has provided a unique platform for users worldwide to share and engage with content, leading to a rise in user-generated content (UGC), especially among youth. One of the most prevalent, yet under-explored, subgenres of UGC is the user-generated music video, where users integrate music and images with an element of performance or narrative; the current research deploys longitudinal analysis to describe the trends in youth-created music videos and how these trends have evolved in the early years of YouTube. Using a sample of 100 youth-created user-generated music videos uploaded to YouTube in 2007 and 2013, the authors investigate trends in production strategies, narrative content, and demographics. Compared to videos posted in 2007, youth-created music videos posted in 2013 featured more complicated editing techniques, less linear narratives, younger actors, more women, and were more likely to celebrate the self, mimicking the recent emergence of “selfie culture.” These findings are discussed with respect to YouTube’s role in reducing barriers to entry and providing a virtual space for youth-oriented content communities that thrive on engagement and social networking as strategies of identity development.

This research is to identify how user-generated contents (UGC) affect a pre-trip decision on the booking of a guesthouse among international travelers. Online surveys are conducted among social network users who have booked an ecolodge in the past year. A snowball sampling is used, which posts a questionnaire link in social networks including Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram in addition to travel blogs. This study indicates a positive relationship between UGC and lodging selection. UGC is considered as a significant predictor of booking an environmentally friendly guesthouse. Among the UGCs, travelers' review is the most important one influencing guesthouse selection. Future studies may focus on other IT potentials such as “Gamification” or other types of content such as “Podcasts” or “live videos” to engage independent travelers.