Facebook Data as Part of Cultural Heritage Investments Toolbox: Pilot Analysis of Users Interests and Preferences Concerning Adaptive Reuse
The growing popularity of social media data brings questions about its accuracy and usefulness for a wide array of cultural heritage projects, often lacking data sources crucial for better planning and implementation. In this paper, we are studying the opportunities offered by the freely available Facebook Ads Manager data on target group sizes in different locations. We conducted a small experiment and a pilot survey to verify if Facebook data concerning its users’ interests is accurate and could be used to facilitate the implementation of projects in the field of adaptive reuse. Despite all discovered limitations of this approach, we point out how Facebook data, along with other social media outlets, can be used to extract some strategic information and add to the socio-cultural assessment toolbox. As such, this type of data could be of use to local leaders planning activities and investments around cultural heritage sites. We also posit that such data can facilitate benefit transfer between cities through better understanding of local preferences and values-orientations.