THE ROLE OF SOCIAL NETWORKS IN CREATING GUESTS’ EXPERIENCE IN RESTAURANTS

Sa？etak Social networks have become an important information source before making a decision on choosing a restaurant. The purpose of this paper is to determine whether there is an influence of usergenerated content published on social networks on the guests’ experience in the restaurants. Empirical research was conducted by the survey method, on an appropriate sample from the territory of the Republic of Croatia. Research has found that a majority of respondents shared content on Instagram and Facebook, and as the most common motive of sharing content on social networks represents the sharing of experience. The research showed that the most common criteria for selection of the restaurant is the quality of food and the friends’ recommendation. The respondents have positive attitudes toward social networks and their infl uence on the restaurant expectations and experience, where the restaurants which publish their own content on social networks and that respond to the reviews, have more positive image. Although all the respondents are active users of social networks, they haven’t developed habits of peer review on social networks. Since the respondents are active on social networks, it is necessary to devote greater attention to marketing activities on social networks, but also to user-generated content that is proved to have a major impact on potential guests and on their restaurant experience