The Digital Visibility Paradox: A Netnographic Investigation of Hyperreal Nature, Travel Desire, and Environmental Fragility Across Digital Platforms.
NETNOCON 2026- Global Netnography Conference, İzmir, Türkiye, 17 - 19 Haziran 2026, ss.96-97, (Özet Bildiri)
- Yayın Türü: Bildiri / Özet Bildiri
- Basıldığı Şehir: İzmir
- Basıldığı Ülke: Türkiye
- Sayfa Sayıları: ss.96-97
- Trakya Üniversitesi Adresli: Evet
Özet
This study introduces the Digital Visibility Paradox, referring to the way digital platforms can
simultaneously generate travel desire and enable critical reflection on the environmental
consequences of that desire. Digital platforms increasingly mediate how fragile environments
— destinations facing accelerating threats from climate change — are seen, valued, and
imagined. Through continuous digital circulation, these sites are transformed into objects of
desire via visual representations that produce hyperreal nature — images more vivid and
emotionally intensified than the environments they depict. Follower comments frequently
express astonishment, emotional engagement, and strong travel desire.
This study adopts a netnographic approach to examine these behavioral and discursive
patterns. The research unfolds across three phases, moving from visual platform analysis to
discursive spaces, and toward a synthesizing conceptual framework. Phase I analyzes the
content and follower comments of five Instagram travel influencer accounts, selected from an
initial pool of twelve based on follower count, content originality, and comment density criteria,
focusing on Greenland and Iceland between 2022 and 2025 — destinations where climate
change pressures are visible and digital representations actively intensify tourism desire
(Smith, 2021).
Supported by immersion journal notes (Kozinets, 2020), Phase I examines how content creators
aestheticize environmentally vulnerable destinations while stimulating interest in on-site
visitation. Preliminary findings indicate recurring expressions of astonishment (e.g.,
“unbelievable,” “too incredible to be true,” “extraterrestrial”) and aspiration (e.g., “this is on my
bucket list,” “I have to go ASAP”). These expressions can be interpreted through Baudrillardian
ideas of simulacrum, as users respond to digitally mediated representations rather than to
destinations as complex geographical realities. Instagram comments suggest that travel desire
96is driven primarily by aesthetic captivation and mediated perception rather than by explicit
urgency or last-chance motivation (Eijgelaar et al., 2010). Importantly, the two destinations
produce distinct hyperreality modes: Iceland more frequently activates travel desire, while
Greenland generates stronger aesthetic admiration with comparatively weaker expressions of
intended visitation.
Phase II examines how these digitally intensified representations are discussed and
problematized in discursive spaces. Rather than seeking direct convergence between
platforms, this phase maps the structural tensions that emerge when the same destinations
circulate as objects of desire on one platform and as sites of critique on another. The analysis
extends to Reddit communities, particularly r/Iceland and r/Greenland, where Reddit’s
deliberative and anonymous architecture contrasts with Instagram’s visually performative
logic. While Instagram foregrounds aesthetic spectacle, Reddit allows users to discuss
concerns around environmental pressure, overtourism, responsibility, and changing
relationships to place.
By bringing these layers together, the study develops a conceptual framework around three
structural tension points that constitute the Digital Visibility Paradox: (1) desire versus critique
— the same destination can function both as a bucket-list object and as a site of ethical
contestation; (2) visibility versus protection — digital visibility can raise awareness of
environmental fragility while also increasing the tourism pressure that may intensify it; and (3)
individual aspiration versus collective consequence — users may express personal travel
desire, while online communities negotiate broader questions of responsibility, sustainability,
and place-based impact.
Keywords: Hyperreality, Climate Change, Travel Desire, Netnography, Digital Visibility Paradox