International Journal of Information Technology and Language Studies (IJITLS) Vol. 2, Issue. 3, (2018). pp. 59-70 International Journal of Information Technology and Language Studies (IJITLS). http://journals.sfu.ca/ijitls The role of social media in tourism marketing in Jordan Mahmoud Alghizzawi 1 , Said A. Salloum 2,3 , and Mohammed Habes 1,2 dr.alghzawi87@gmail.com; ssalloum@uof.ac.ae; Mohammed8838@yahoo.com 1 Universiti Sultan Zainal Abidin, Terengganu, Malaysia 2 University of Fujairah, UAE 3 The British University in Dubai, UAE Abstract. Currently, the world is witnessing a remarkable development in the modern means and electronics techniques, especially the social networking sites which became available in many sectors including the tourism sector. This increases the competition between the tourism companies to provide the best offers to the individuals about the tourists’ sites. Due to the reason that few studies investigated the effect of social media networks in encouraging tourism, this has created the need to conduct this study to reach results about the extent of social media networks in promoting tourism in Jordan. The significance of the study stems from being treating a new topic with a significant effect on the electronic market. The study also addressed the important side of improving the local income resulting from the tourism sector since this study is focusing on vital and essential topics in modern marketing. Keywords: Social media, Collaborative learning, Social networks, Interaction, Engagement. 1. Introduction Information technologies through the Internet capabilities have become a part of every sector (Al- Emran, Mezhuyev, & Kamaludin, 2018b; Al-Emran & Shaalan, 2017; Al-Maroof & Al-Emran, 2018; Malik & Al-Emran, 2018; Zaza & Al-Emran, 2015). Social media as one of the most powerful tools of networking across the Internet has merged with the social and economic aspects in the real world (Al-Emran & Salloum, 2017; Leung, Law, Van Hoof, & Buhalis, 2013; Mhamdi, 2016; S. A. Salloum, Al-Emran, Monem, & Shaalan, 2017; S. A. Salloum, Al-Emran, & Shaalan, 2016, 2017a; S. A. Salloum, AlHamad, Al-Emran, & Shaalan, 2018). There has been much discussion made on the identification of its functions (Al-Qaysi & Al- Emran, 2017). With the continuous development and change in social media, its usage on smart applications with sophisticated tools and techniques have facilitated the lives of people and the working environment for companies and institutions (Habes et al., 2018; Hudson & Ritchie, 2006; Mhamdi et al., 2018; Salloum et al., 2018; Salloum et al., 2017; Salloum et al., 2017; Salloum et al., 2017). Social media is a communication channel between individuals which enables the creation of interactive content on the Internet and cooperation and exchange by participants and the public (Al-Qaysi, Mohamad-Nordin, & Al- Emran, 2018; Weng & Huang, 2018). It is a means of significant changes and comprehensive progress between companies, organizations, communities, and individuals (Leung et al., 2013). It links the users in society by default through the use of the platforms, and thus affects the behavior of real people and their lives (Al-Emran & Salloum, 2017; Kim, Lee, Shin, & Yang, 2017; Mhamdi, 2017a, 2017c). Social media is also considered as one of the most prominent modern means used in electronic marketing, where it has a role in attracting tourists and helping them determine their destination by providing valuable information (Abd Al-Samee, 2012). The role of social media in tourism in the present time has been increasingly discussed as a new topic of research (Habes et al., 2018; Habes et al., 2018; Salloum & Shaalan, 2018; Salloum et al., 2018). Social media is increasingly playing an essential role in many aspects of tourism, especially for reservations, exchange of knowledge and experiences, and also marketing for tourism sites (Harrigan et al., 2017; Leung et al., 2013; Salloum et al., 2017). Social media networks have exceeded the limited traditional functions of regular websites in exchanging and disseminating