Customer-owned touch points have emerged as a central context for customers to interact with one another on social media (Lemon and Verhoef 2016). Empirical research on firms’ presence and behaviour in these forums is limited, especially as regards how this presence affects customer experiences. This study is an attempt to address this this gap, analysing customer experiences from such forums using self-determination theory as a lens. The results show that companies’ efforts to control the discussions in such forums have a negative impact on customers' cognitive experiences. However, firms’ intervention is welcomed when the intention is to add value to customers in these forums, and allow customers to retain the feeling self-efficacy, and social affiliation and autonomy (Ryan and Deci 2002).

The tourism sector globally is reaping dividends from an upswing in outbound leisure traffic from emerging economies as their growth rates continue to outpace their developed counterparts. Simultaneously, digital leapfrogging and innovation in these markets is providing further impetus to economic growth and increasing numbers of outbound tourists from BRIC nations.