Communication in Virtual Community at TripAdvisor: A Case on Heritage Destination of Palembang-Indonesia

The aim of this Research is to construct the communication behaviour of virtual travelers on TripAdvisor. TripAdvisor is a tourist advisor site, that operates in 48 countries around the world and also the largest tourism community in the world. Theory used in this study is social interaction theory that consist of three things: (1) the existence of morality. It is a kind of a dealing with the mutual agreement; (2) the orientation of specified feelings and emotions and (3) orientation that regulated the culture. The social interaction theory combined by the theory of Computer-Mediated Communication (CMC) which study about how human behaviour is shaped and modified through the exchange of information with the use of computer. The Paradigm for this research is interpretive. The Research methods are with participatory approach and Netnography method which analyse text on TripAdvisor site. This method use to inform the patterns of communication, used by traveller communities. Source of Data obtained from online observation.

The result shows that these studies reveal the differences between communication patterns in the real world and the virtual world. In This research, the findings of this study reveal that Palembang as the oldest city in Indonesia having so many historical destinations which are interesting to visit. The change of communications Behaviour in the community in the real world and the virtual community are using a low context. It means, that information is transparent, opened and honest. Communication pattern of member communities should follow the rules and to use language understood in global technology internet users. The result of this research could be a contribution for Government tourism of Palembang City to help updating their website.