The dark side of social media: critical reflection and future research

Purpose Drawing on recent insights from the business, information systems and psychology literature, this critical reflection paper aims to discuss the negative impacts of social media on hospitality and tourism businesses and their stakeholders and propose directions for future research. Design/methodology/approach A review of recent social media literature across disciplines was conducted to explore the important facets of social media’s negative roles and present critical discussions for hospitality and tourism research. Findings Four contemporary issues on the dark side of social media are identified from recent business, information systems, marketing and psychology studies: negative customer engagement behaviors in social media; social media addiction, fatigue and withdrawal; social media well-being and distrust in the artificial intelligence (AI) era; and extremism and hostility in social media. With a focus on these unexplored research areas, this research proposes research directions and develops specific research questions for future hospitality and tourism research. Research limitations/implications This study offers unique insights into hospitality and tourism research by emphasizing the negative impacts of social media. Drawing from business, marketing and psychology, the authors call for new research directions that explore and address social media’s negative effects. Future research should expand existing frameworks to include dysfunctional behaviors, digital well-being and corporate digital responsibility. Additionally, understanding social media’s role in the rise of AI is crucial to mitigating extremism and hostility in the hospitality and tourism industry. Practical implications Recognizing the dark side of social media, the authors advocate for more sustainable and responsible practices in hospitality and tourism marketing and management. The authors urge practitioners to proactively monitor and respond to negative engagement and to invest in employee training on digital professionalism and responsibility. To promote digital well-being, organizations should offer tools such as digital detox programs and embed social media strategies within broader environmental, social and governance and corporate digital responsibility frameworks. Hospitality and tourism organizations can support this by establishing standards and conducting audits to mitigate negative behaviors such as hostility, extremism and social media overuse. Originality/value Despite the numerous studies on the positive impacts of social media for the past two decades, potential risks and negative outcomes of social media have never been discussed in the hospitality and tourism discipline. By filling up this research gap, this critical reflection paper introduces and emphasizes the negative roles of social media and offers future research directions with specific questions for hospitality and tourism researchers.