DISQUS

tamairah · 4 months ago

Great post. A key step for protecting your brand and listening to what's being said about you in all channels is to make sure you have a monitoring tool. Biz360's Community Insights will help point you to the things you may need to respond to. Here's more information on how to do this - http://snurl.com/smtravel

Mary Jo · 4 months ago

Well put, Todd. And some good takeaways from the brouhaha.

johntpeters · 4 months ago

I really enjoyed this post.

Donna Hull · 4 months ago

Excellent points, Todd. This has been a learning experience for those involved as well as for those reading or participating in the Twitter conversation.

Marc · 4 months ago

totally agree - especially with #7. I can't understand at all why the cruise lines don't see the marketing opportunity of making the internet service on board free. Of course, it would also be great if it wasn't so slow...

Phil Caines · 4 months ago

I see #7 as a large marketing opportunity lost. Many cruise lines are teaching computer classes to their passengers, can any one say "How to make a travel blog: 101"? They could create a basic platform for guests to post pictures and share experiences while cruising. This would generate tons of content that would be shared with friends and family alike, and giving additional brand exposure.

@Todd Lucier · 4 months ago

Imagine a social media session that is part of every cruise.
"Hey folks, I'm your social media director Todd, today we're going to talk about how to get photos from your phone to family and friends. OK, how many people here have an iPhone - you go over there and Jamie will help you get it together. Mac Laptops - go see Sarah, PC - Jonah, other handheld media, you'll stay here with me."
40 Minutes later, they'll have a swat team of media sharing ninjas helping create and share the content they need to build their brand.

soultravelers3 · 4 months ago

Great points Todd! Too bad you missed Madador Networks post on this topic, "Should travel writers care about their environmental impact?"

I think it was the most honest of ALL the posts on this topic and looks at the deeper issues of integrity, comped travel for writers, social media, and environmental issues.

THAT ..."Should travel writers care about their environmental impact?" is THE most important question and surprisingly few are willing to answer it.

Should travel writers who say they care about the environment do freebie press trips tweeting fluffy travel porn that help Billion dollar corporations promote the least sustainable method of travel on the planet?

As Julie wisely asks:

*Is a 5.5 hour tour of the cruise ship led by people who clearly have a stake in presenting the ship in the best light really going to produce compelling evidence about the “REAL environmental impact” of cruising?

It's great that Princess cruises does not have the worst record of Mega-cruise companies and works hard at their "greenwash" spin, but even if it was the greenest Mega-cruise company around (which it is not), that does not change the FACT that Mega-cruise ships do great harm to the environment and are the least sustainable travel method.

We have seen the damage first hand and even my child at six could see this obvious fact. When will travel writers start educating the public in honest ways? I can understand your average 50 something Mega-cruise lover raving about their cruise and being blind to the facts, just as I understand many cigarette smokers who love to smoke and think any thing written against smoking is nonsense. To each his own.

Just as writers have tried to educate the public about the harm of smoking, don't travel writers have an obligation to educate the public about what are the least sustainable travel methods that are destroying many fabulous travel destinations?

@Todd Lucier · 4 months ago

Hi Jeanne, thanks for stopping by. I did catch the blog post you mentioned, didn't feel it added anything to the story I wrote.

infomum · 4 months ago

This interesting post brought me from twitter. I missed all the brouhaha, but its opened my eyes to the benefits (and downfalls) of social media

Marc · 4 months ago

totally agree - especially with #7. I can't understand at all why the cruise lines don't see the marketing opportunity of making the internet service on board free. Of course, it would also be great if it wasn't so slow...

@Todd Lucier · 4 months ago

Imagine a social media session that is part of every cruise.
"Hey folks, I'm your social media director Todd, today we're going to talk about how to get photos from your phone to family and friends. OK, how many people here have an iPhone - you go over there and Jamie will help you get it together. Mac Laptops - go see Sarah, PC - Jonah, other handheld media, you'll stay here with me."
40 Minutes later, they'll have a swat team of media sharing ninjas helping create and share the content they need to build their brand.

NancydBrown · 4 months ago

Just completed a "This Week in Travel" podcast w/ some of my fellow #FollowMeAtSea travel bloggers in case you'd like to hear the inside scoop.

Our segment will be available via iTunes on Wednesday, November 18
http://thisweekintravel.com/

Stephen Joyce · 4 months ago

As always Todd, you are right on the money with this post. I think your deadly sin #1 Thinking you can control Social Media, goes hand in hand with the expectation that a company can control its brand in the social web. The sooner organizations understand that they are the subject but only part of the action, the sooner organizations will appreciate the benefits that they miss by trying to avoid or control the conversations that are happening about and around them.