Comments

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  David Paul Appell June 30, 2010 at 7:28pm

  A teen aspiring to be a travel writer has a couple of very good questions on Ask a Travel Expert... click here to reply.
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  David Paul Appell June 30, 2010 at 5:26pm

  A Tripatini member has an interesting question about a first-of-its-kind hotel... please check it out on Ask a Travel Expert. Thanks!
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  Emma Kate Henderson June 29, 2010 at 6:27pm

  http://visitnorwayyourway.com/uk/YourWay/View/d43aff6a962b490eadef8...
  
  PLEASE FOLLOW THE LINK AND "LIKE" My Competition Entry
  
  Many Thanks,
  
  Emma
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  Colin J. Holden June 24, 2010 at 2:39am

  I am developing a series of articles on travel for the disabled - business and leisure travel; land, sea and air; individuals and groups with and without care-givers. If anyone has any input, suggestions, leads - I would appreciate hearing from you.
  
  Regards,
  
  Colin
  colin@odysseymediagroup.com
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  Susan Frost June 15, 2010 at 7:17pm

  This is an excellent discussion. I am wondering if anyone is receiving replies to queries via Tweets from editors at NYT? I'm not receiving any response by email to my queries about my July 1-10 trip to New England (CT, RI, ME).
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  Maralyn D Hill June 15, 2010 at 6:23pm

  I agree that a mix is necessary in any marketing plan. The Internet has brought so many of us together from all over. I know at IFWTWA we are getting more and more members from Australia and we're excited about the growing number. Happy to meet you here.
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  Jennifer Merigan June 15, 2010 at 4:10pm

  This is so interesting to read everyone's perspective on social media - i tend to use facebook and have connected that to tweeter so whatever i update facebook with automatically updates the twitter account - but at the end of the day the core product i work for is a newspaper but i see the potential of social media either helping to increase readership or creating a whole new audience which i am finding on facebook! A little local newspaper in Western Australia can now reach the world and i really want to explore that further. I love social media and i love the way the world is so connected now (like me on this network - especially when you live in the world's most isolated capital city) - but at the end of the day it is finding the mix that suits you best but a 'mix' i believe is a must.
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  Allan Lynch June 15, 2010 at 2:09pm

  Thanks Barbara and Maralyn. Yours are the first concrete examples of how tweeting has worked for anyone. Last year at World Travel Mart the head of one destination asked if followed them on Twitter. I said no, I haven't the time. She laughed and said she doesn't read them either, and that they only tweeted to cover their asses with their partners.
  
  But I do think it might also be a cultural thing, rather than fuddy-duddiness. I still get editors responding to my email queries. And they're still handing out assignments that pay high three and low four figures.
  
  If I ever get the time to launch the blog I have planned, it may help drive eyes to it. Only in the last several weeks have I had reason to go back and identify all the articles I've written in the last 20 years (the copyright collective I belong to is having a "Payback Year" where we are being recognized with cheques for the number of articles we're written and the number of pages they cover). Traditionally, I get $700-$900 a year for the previous year's photocopying rights, but this should be more handsome since the cheque pool is larger and more targeted. And then I'm part of a class action copyright suit that was settled for $11 million (alas, the lawyers get about almost $6 of that). So, I've been hesitant to put too much of my work on the web while it's still kicking off old technology, old copyright income.
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  Barbara Weibel June 15, 2010 at 11:15am

  Hi Allan: Maralyn hit it right on the head - the editor was using twitter to communicate rather than emails. The youngsters will tell you that only fuddy-duddy old people use email - it's the new snail mail, having been replaced by texting. Same sort of thing with twitter. The travel conferences I attend are full of such stories - people connecting with all the top writers and editors with a tweet. last year I heard one story at TBEX about a writer who sent out a tweet as he was driving cross country, saying he would be passing through a particular city, and a well-known writer tweeted back and invited him to meet for coffee. This type of a meet-up would have never happened with an email or a phone call, because the writer was not responding to either.
  
  Since becoming immersed in social media, specifically Facebook, twitter & StumbleUpon, I've brought my blog up to a PR5, more than doubled the traffic to 21,000+ unique views and more than 30,000 page views per month. Twitter is a very powerful tool when used correctly.
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  Maralyn D Hill June 14, 2010 at 5:51pm

  Allan, I know you directed this to Barbara, however, I think if the editor likes Twitter, it may be easier to pitch him there. He may not be the one going through his e-mails.