ABSTRACT
Social networking media, also known as Web 2.0, is a new form of word-of-mouth communication, which has a great influence on the Meeting, Incentives, Conventions and Exhibitions (MICE) industry. To date, the integration of social media into the MICE industry has been very successful as meeting planners search for innovative, low-cost ways of advertising to attendees and creating interest in events. Social networking media can add value both for meeting delegates and for spectators who are connected to those delegates. Social media are also useful in pre-event market research. Meeting planners use social media after events for different purposes. Planners can measure audience impressions of an event using web-based surveys that have been linked to social media profiles. The increasing use of social networking media by meeting planners has been motivated both by the current economic recession and by the dynamic of behavioural adjustments.
