Many participants referenced using Facebook while travelling with a practical purpose in mind; namely, to inform loved ones of their safe arrival at a destination, and to update family and friends of their whereabouts throughout their journey. This was made evident through status updates and captions explicitly announcing arrivals at destinations or at the start of a new leg of a trip. In this sense, Facebook was commonly utilized as a platform for informational communication and strategic connectivity. Its popularity with different demographics and widespread reach amongst family and friends allows a Facebook user to be able access much of their social network on a single platform.
Facebook, as a central meeting place, is therefore a valuable tool for disseminating personal news in that news is far-reaching and instantly delivered, irrespective of time, place or distance, rendering it an ideal platform to use while travelling. Participants were aware of the appropriateness of using Facebook in this context, as is revealed below.
Several participants spoke of connecting primarily with their parents through Facebook while travelling. Natalie claimed her motivation for sharing the first photos of her trip was mainly to reassure her family of her safety. She said, “With the first few pictures […] I was just like ok this is where I am, mom. I’m ok […] I think one of the main reasons why I posted pictures to begin with is just to keep my family and my friends back home up to date with what was going on.” Amy similarly prioritized
communication for informational purposes with her family: “I’m not on this trip with my parents so that’s why I would share photos back and be like hey, I’m not dead.” She elaborated, “This one was the first one that I took and it was just showing that we’d made it to our hostel safely, we didn’t die on the plane.” Michael concurred, describing the context around the first photo he posted after arriving in Chicago: “I decided to post that picture because after driving for 8 hours I wanted to show people that I had made it.”
Natalie, Amy and Michael all emphasized the symbolic significance of the first photo shared as communicating proof of a reassuring message: that of having arrived safely.
Additionally, perhaps the photos and status updates served to conveniently call attention to the beginning of their adventures and flag to friends that further posts are forthcoming.
The visual nature of Facebook is well suited to generating travel-related content that in fact serves a double message of communicating practical information (i.e. ‘proof’, through photos, updates, and geo-tags or location markers), that a traveller arrived safely, while simultaneously presenting experiences that serve as subtext to one’s travel
personality, identity, values, social groups, and more. Amanda’s approach to updating and informing her Facebook network was to let the photo speak for itself. She said, “I don’t write statuses saying, hey guys, I’m safe, on to the next location. But this is kind of
my way of saying we’re having fun, we’re doing alright.” In this respect, the photo serves as a visual language or visual status update, as a standalone symbol, without the need for textual explanation. Conversely, however, because of occasional connectivity or
uploading issues with photos, Adam found it preferable to share textual status updates while in Australia “…just to let people know where I am.” Natalie also chose to write an arrival status update after her lengthy journey to Australia. She wrote, “We made it! After a very, very, long flight, we've arrived at our apartment in Australia! Still getting settled in, but with a view of the pool, it's not to (sic) shabby! Let the adventure begin!”
Natalie’s update not only provides matter-of-fact information of her arrival, but also serves to personalize her initial perspective of the experience through the use of multiple exclamation marks, denoting excitement, a reference to the close proximity of an amenity she will presumably get to enjoy, and a forward-looking statement that reflects positivity and optimism. Thus, in this single status update, Natalie has exemplified several themes or sub-themes previously discussed: placing herself in a social context (though the use of the pluralized “we” in “We made it!” and abbreviated pluralized “we’ve” in “we’ve arrived”; presenting a novel experience (the launching point of her adventure in Australia, after enduring a very long flight); and emphasizing the ‘cool factor’ thus far (her view of the pool, and on a larger scale, her own apartment in a new country). Alison similarly captioned a photo of her first day in Dublin: “So I woke up in Dublin today. And my it’s beautiful!” The caption serves two purposes: one, as the first photo posted, it shares the practical purpose of locating Alison and announcing her whereabouts, and two, it succinctly highlights her positive first impression of the city. Alison’s inclusion of the
hashtag “eurotrip” also suggests that this is the start of a longer journey with more European destinations to come.
Additionally, Natalie emphasized her dependence on and almost exclusive use of Facebook to stay in touch with family and friends. She commented, “Facebook was for sure the only real way that I was keeping up to date with people other than, you know, Skyping my parents or my friends or things like that.” Natalie’s comment suggests a reliance on Facebook, and social media more generally, for sharing information, experiences and stories while travelling with a wider network. Although half of all participants had used Instagram as the initial platform on which they posted photos (4 out of 8 participants), it is interesting to note that all initial Instagram users had additionally used the app’s cross-posting function to simultaneously post their travel photos to Facebook. Consequently, while Instagram may be gaining ground as a newer, more popular social media platform (see section 3.1.3), which is especially well-suited to sharing travel photos because of its dedicated emphasis on photos, participants have not lost confidence in the long-standing Facebook network, perhaps because of its deep penetration amongst both family and friend groups, justifying its relevancy in this study.
In this sub-theme, participants have demonstrated their deliberate and mindful engagement with Facebook as a central meeting place for checking in and updating family and friends throughout their travels. Arguably some subtext can be read into this otherwise fairly utilitarian purpose of Facebook, such as initiating a narrative of the trip and building anticipation for their Facebook audience. However, almost all participants regarded Facebook as a useful and convenient tool with a large outreach amongst family
and friends. The next sub-theme will explore how participants negotiated the tension between amusing versus irritating their Facebook audiences.