Transmedia storytelling in social media: A research on travel influencers and followers

Stories that have been functional from an early age in the individual's understanding of the world have continued to exist with formal changes as a form commonly encountered in oral culture until today. In oral culture, stories listened to audiovisually have turned into a written form with written culture, and with the development of new communication technologies, they have begun to be designed to include an audio-visual interlude in digital format. This form, called digital story, has paved the way for the creation of digital stories in many areas along with the revitalization of participatory culture by social networks. The interactive space offered by social networks has also provided a suitable basis for transmedia storytelling. Transmedia storytelling can be defined as the expansion of the story universe by creating a story in a complementary structure through different media and with the support of users. In this study, transmedia storytelling has been examined in the context of social media within the framework of travel influencers. The research was carried out using the exploratory sequential pattern in two basic stages by adopting the mixed method. In the first stage, semi-structured interviews were conducted with travel influencers, and in the second stage, the transmedia storytelling follower motivation scale was developed and a field study was conducted with the followers of travel influencers. The interview data provided a roadmap for how transmedia storytelling takes place on social media and also provided a resource for understanding the follow-up behavior of transmedia followers. Field research examined the level of happiness and stories to follow with the motivation of followers transmedia with the relationship between the level of life satisfaction is explained social media in a meaningful narrative around the theme of transmedia of stories that can be used as a unifying force is concluded.