Promoting a World Heritage Site through Social Media: Suwon City's Facebook Promotion Strategy on Hwaseong Fortress (in South Korea)

Abstract

This paper examines how Hwaseong Fortress, a UNESCO-designated World Heritage Site in South Korea, has been promoted by the city of Suwon by social media. Suwon is the capital of Gyeonggi-do, South Korea's most populous province, which surrounds Seoul and embraces abundant historical heritages, such as the Hwaseong Fortress. To celebrating the creation of the fortress and its historical values, the city has hosted various cultural events every year, including the year 2016, when the city celebrated '2016 Visit Year Suwon Hwaseong.' As for promotion, the city actively utilises social media platforms, such as Facebook, to raise public attention to the event. This paper attempts to examine how effectively and actively the city promoted the events through social media from 2015 to 2017. Facebook was a particular focus because of its popularity among the Korean public. By comparatively exploring network features, subordinate features and semantic features captured by Node XL for the targeted years, the authors examine any specific changes over time in the city's promotion patterns. Furthermore, based on the key findings, some suggestions are provided for further development of the promotion strategy.