Instagram, Flickr, or Twitter: Assessing the usability of social media data for visitor monitoring in protected areas
This 2014 study compares data from Instagram, Twitter, and Flickr to assess how official visitation statistics and social media predictions of visitation compare in 56 national parks in Finland and South Africa. Social-media-based visitor estimates match relatively well with the official visitor counts, although Instagram outperformed Twitter and Flickr. After the results were modeled, national park managers were interviewed to identify the differences in social media estimates and visitor statistics.
Citation
Tenkanen, H., Di Minin, E., Heikinheimo, V., et al. 2017. Instagram, Flickr, or Twitter: Assessing the usability of social media data for visitor monitoring in protected areas. Scientific Reports 7, 17615.