Communicating mega events on Twitter: implications for destination marketing

Guided by social network analysis, this paper examines the communication of the Commonwealth Games on Twitter and paints a picture of the roles and relations of the key contributors and formation of networks arising out of this mega event context. The findings provide important implications for event marketing and event-based destination marketing. Event organizations and host cities must understand the co-creative capacity of the key influencers and re-invent their own communication design for engagements with these key influencers at different event stages for co-creation of events to gain economic and noneconomic benefits for both the organization and the destination.