Sentiment Analysis of Social Media Posts for Destinations

Öz

In the global world, participation in the tourism industry is increasing day by day. One of the most important phenomena in the industry is destinations. The destination's becoming a brand or how good the destination image is can show parallelism with its share from tourism. In this context, tourists who participate in tourism come into play and their thoughts about destinations can shape the future of destinations. It is important to value the opinions of tourists who share their experiences and feelings so that the future of destinations can be positively shaped. Tourists generally find it appropriate to share their thoughts on social media as they feel more comfortable. In this study, sentiment analysis was used to examine these shares of tourists. The fact that the number of shared tweets is high and the data are difficult to analyze manually is one of the most important reasons for choosing sentiment analysis. Because sentiment analysis is one of the most important techniques preferred for automatic analysis of data. For this reason, the aim of this study is to determine how time and emotions play a role in tweets shared by tourists. In this respect, the study fills an important gap in the literature. In addition, the study is thought to be important for the destination stakeholders, as it offers suggestions for converting negative emotions into positive ones or developing positive emotions further.

Anahtar Kelimeler

• Destination
• Sentiment Analysis
• Social Media
• Twitter

Destinasyonlara Yönelik Sosyal Medya Paylaşımlarının Duygu Analizi

Öz

Küresel dünyada turizm endüstrisine katılım gün geçtikçe artış göstermektedir. Endüstri içerisindeki en önemli olgulardan biri ise destinasyonlardır. Destinasyonun bir marka haline gelmesi veya destinasyon imajının ne kadar iyi olduğu turizmden pay alması ile paralellik gösterebilmektedir. Bu kapsamda devreye turizme katılan turistler girmekte ve turistlerin destinasyonlar hakkındaki düşünceleri destinasyonların geleceğini şekillendirebilmektedir. Destinasyonların geleceğinin olumlu açıdan şekillenebilmesi için deneyimlerini ve duygularını paylaşan turistlerin düşüncelerine değer vermek önemlidir. Turistler, kendilerini daha rahat hissettikleri için bu düşüncelerini genellikle sosyal medya üzerinden paylaşmayı uygun görmektedir. Bu çalışmada turistlerin bu paylaşımlarının incelebilmesi için duygu analizinden faydalanılmıştır. Paylaşılan tweet sayısının çok, verilerin manuel analiz edilmesinin ise zor olması duygu analizinin tercih edilmesinin en önemli nedenlerindendir. Zira duygu analizi verilerin otomatik analiz edilebilmesinde tercih edilen en önemli tekniklerden biridir. Bu sebeple bu çalışmanın amacı turistler tarafından paylaşılan tweetlerde zaman ve duyguların nasıl bir rol oynadığının belirlenmesidir. Çalışma bu yönüyle literatürdeki önemli bir boşluğu doldurmaktadır. Ayrıca çalışma, negatif duyguların, pozitife çevrilmesi veya pozitif duyguların daha da geliştirilmesi için öneriler sunduğundan dolayı destinasyon paydaşları için önemli olduğu düşünülmektedir.

Anahtar Kelimeler

• Destinasyon
• Duygu Analizi
• Sosyal Medya
• Twitter

Kaynakça

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