Paper short abstract:

The names of regions are often used as hashtags in online social networks. This research applies a content analysis of User Generated Content on Instagram to capture the contexts in which the names of historical regions of North of Portugal are being used in the informal online narratives.

Paper long abstract:

A name is a relevant element of a specific identity of a territory, and it is also an important symbol for representing a space as a unit. In the case of the North of Portugal region(NPR), the names of its sub-regional units have changed in the last decades due to the evolution of the administrative map of Portugal. In the NPR there are three main historical regions -Minho, Douro Litoral and Trás-os-Montes e Alto Douro- corresponding to the former provinces of Portugal, which, nowadays, do not have any administrative function. The NPR is currently divided in eight administrative sub-regions, corresponding to intermunicipal communities, with names derived from the nearby rivers. However, the names of these three old provinces are still used in different formal contexts, such as planning documents, names of institutions and by touristic authorities to promote sub-regional destination brands.

This exploratory research aims to understand the contexts in which the three historical regions' names of the NPR are being reproduced, and what are their new meanings in the informal online narratives. For this purpose, the User Generated Content(UGC) on Instragram - one of the most important UGC platforms - is analysed. To do so, a sample of publications is collected in which these names are used as "hashtags" (words starting with a "#" symbol), and a content analysis of the associated post titles is done. A classification is applied to understand in which geographical and social contexts these names are being used, and to what characteristics they are associated.