Memories of Local Residents from the Fanpage of Salvador-BA City Hall

reflection on the management of tourist communication

Abstract

This article presents discussions developed in the doctorate and it proposes that the current culture of convergences and significant participation requires new forms of production and understanding of tourist communication from the municipal managements of tourist centers. The purpose of this paper is to reflect on the tourist communication used on the Fanpage of the City Hall of Salvador, capital of Bahia, analyzing its relationship with local residents' perceptions about the tourist culture in the city. This is a qualitative research that follows the critical-dialectical method (Martins, 1994), using as methodological procedures a semi-structured interview with the former Municipal Secretary of Culture and Tourism, monitoring of the post 'Salvador Meu Carnaval' on the fanpage of the City Hall and reviews on followers' demonstrations, in addition to participatory observation at events in the government tourism calendar. There is a cyclical relationship between digital memory and collective memory, in which the first, constituted by institutional information and local residents' perceptions made available on the digital network, represents a path for understanding the second, where it’s possible to find popular experiences and arguments about the tourist culture. The study considers the need for a specific methodology for analyzing collective memory from the fanpage, which establishes relationships between users' perceptions, social experiences and cognitive formulations. It is suggested that, through this memory, the administration may take ownership of contemporary signs of culture, continuously updating the management of tourist communication.