![[Creative Commons photos by Dean Shareski]](http://ecolocalizer.com/files/2009/01/twitter.jpg "Twitter on computer screen")
Creative Commons photos by Dean Shareski
Over the last month, I have participated in a couple of different social media projects that have related to the travel and leisure industry.
One of the projects related to the live tweeting of the Omega China Golf Tour and the tournament in Nanjing, China.
The other was the adhoc social media coverage for the Travel Daily Travel Innovation Summit in Beijing, China.
Out of my experiences, I am writing an article on the “how to’s” and art of traveling while obtaining twitter gigs. The goal is to find out from companies/tourism promoters some tips and ideas plus I am throwing it out there to other readers/writers to see if we can’t collectively piece something together on the topic that would be useful for future tweet travelers.
Thank you for your input :)
#1 by Des Walsh - June 12th, 2009 at 13:23
One of the best types of travelling experience is to know someone in a place you are visiting, who takes you to where the locals eat, drink etc, especially if it’s not in the brochures other travellers get from their hotels. By tweeting that you are visiting a new place and would like some local recommendations, you can get the local experience even if you did not previously know anyone there.
#2 by Honor - June 12th, 2009 at 13:31
Don’t know if this is what you’re looking for but I think if you are going to use Twitter effectively to help you plan your travels, you need to be very clear about your questions. With only 140 characters general questions are impossible to answer and then the process of clarifying can become confusing. Start with a specific question and you’ll get a much faster and more targeted response.
Hope it helps : )
#3 by Sheila Scarborough - June 13th, 2009 at 01:01
Hi David,
Do you mean, how to get a job live-tweeting events? I would say that it’s similar to writing a regular article – contact the editor of the publication/head of the event, and propose your live coverage of the event. Tell them why you’re the best candidate to do it, how it would benefit them, and why you’d have more reach/impact than another person.
Number of Twitter followers shouldn’t be the only metric, either. Some people may have tons of followers but neither they, nor their followers, are into golf, for example, so they’d be the wrong ones to live-tweet a golfing event.
The pay scale would probably be pretty low (your entrance to the event might be the only “pay”) but many organizations might see it as a way to get the attention of people who might otherwise not even know the event was happening.
Some sort of disclosure that you’re tweeting on behalf of the host would seem appropriate. Having gone through that minefield myself recently, I can attest that more disclosure is better than less.
I live-tweeted the Reader’s Choice Awards event for “Condé Nast Traveler” in fall 2008 – my travel expenses were paid but I didn’t get a salary. The magazine and I both saw it as a unique opportunity to highlight what they do each year with an extensive reader input survey.
Another issue is annoying your Twitter stream. I kinda spew a lot anyway, but if I’m live-tweeting I “never shut up.” I’m sure I’ve lost tweeps that way, tho I try to warn them & suggest they temporarily unfollow.
#4 by peter - June 13th, 2009 at 10:25
Thanks to Des Walsh, another writer named “Honour” and the ever so knowledgable travel writer extrodinaire – Shelia Scarborough for your thoughts and comments.
I’ll be collecting a few more insights and then it will be to the writing room
Peter
#5 by Craig - June 15th, 2009 at 13:53
As someone who’s fallen into the new media publishing arena, Twitter’s an essential tool for me, Linda and Indie Travel Podcast in general.
We’ve built our audience, but — more importantly — it gives us a chance to meet all sorts of great people who have been travelling longer than us. We’ve picked up great opportunities too: the chance to go bungy jumping in NZ, get various products for review and collaborate with other writers and travel bloggers.
While we haven’t been given any “live-tweeting” gigs, people know that a Twitter-stream is part of what we publish and that’s important.
#6 by Christy - June 17th, 2009 at 11:21
I’ve been to a few conferences where people just start tweeting and hashtagging away. The best aspect of this is the 360 degree view you get when a whole room full of people are contributing to perspective and understanding. It’s not so interesting to me if there’s just one ‘official’ tweeter.
At this point in time, I think that travellers need to create their own events to Tweet. A la the Twitchiker (http://twitter.com/twitchhiker)
If you’re useful, interesting, succinct and compelling then you’ll draw more followers and be in a better position to … well, do some more tweeting. Or writing, or podcasting, vodcasting or whatever it is that comes next. IMO, the technology (i.e. Twitter) is the channel, not the end-game. There is no point becoming the Greatest Travel Tweeter for hire… no doubt, the next Big Thing will sweep you under the social media rug.