One tweet made me laugh during last night’s travel blog camp, but it then got me thinking…

“Lots of PADs in evidence at #tbacmp – that’s Personal Analogue Devices aka those lined notebook thingies you need a pen for.”

I had mine in front of me, but didn’t write a thing – despite last year’s copious notes during the event.

But this year, all the activity was being done by the participants/organisers. Everything tends to get documented as it happens nowadays (unless you’re at this type of event). I am also fairly lazy, which  could also explain the lack of documentation.

So no notes, but there was a hash tag (#tbcamp), and Twitter legend Alex Bainbridge was manning Tnooz’s website, providing a running commentary.

The future of blogs
If online forums are becoming less popular, and harder to sustain, I’m starting to get worried for blogging.

During last night, the start of the evening was taken up by the sponsors/speakers’ praise for Twitter, and tips on how to use it – this may have been a case of preaching to the converted.

The conversation moved on to commenting etiquette and law, via paywalls and Murdoch, and paying for quality, but it was funny how Twitter kept rearing its head.

Is blogging now regarded as long-winded, failing to not engage with others? Travel companies seem to have varying success rates with it, although Lastminute.com seemed to take it seriously – it even has a blog school.

Interestingly, for a travel blog camp, most of the sponsors/speakers did not blog (one admitted they had set one up one on typepad the week before). Alex Bainbridge, who has stopped blogging to focus on his role as a Tnooz “node”, told me it was a lot tougher for him nowadays, as posts for Tnooz can take up to two hours to wri  te.

The Voldemort of travel
Hearing organiser Darren Cronin (aka @travelrants) talk about his recent brush with a libel case was fascinating (the company that shall not be named, as one travel journalist put it).

Darren spoke frankly about what happened, and this in turn raised a good debate in the audience. Meanwhile business travel agent Murray Harold (for me, the star of the show and like a cross between Morissey and an angry politician) gave an energetic speech about the real reason we should be using – to make money.

Joobli also blogged about the event.

READ: A mini-review of Tnooz.com
READ: Keep blogging alive! (this is actually just a link through to subscribing to this blog)

• Internet Evolution – Editor's Blog – The Audience Still Exists… If You Believe It

Interesting quotes for you from internetevolution.com – The Audience Still Exists… If You Believe It

While many in the Web 2.0 industry believe there’s no longer a separation between creator and audience (we’re all content co-creators, we crowdsource the news…we all are the president, etc., etc.), no one here at Audience seems to be under that impression. Rather, the focus of today’s content is on how to maintain an audience — particularly a monetizable audience — in today’s digital world…

…Web figureheads like Michael Arrington and Robert Scoble who make the audience believe they are “collaborators” while still maintaining authority.

What’s interesting is that this high-tech conference has banned technology, forcing delegates to listen, and think, instead of blogging, tweeting or taking pictures. Nicole Ferraro, the website editor, ends with:

Listening… Remember what that feels like?

Last-minute post on how to prepare yourself for the social media roller coaster that is the Travel Tweet-up…

1. Name tags
Please pick up a name tag of yourself when you arrive; gives the event an air of professionalism/suggests that some planning has gone into this.

2. Business cards
We’ll be having a prize draw, so don’t forget to leave us your business card. Up for grabs is a £100 Hotels.com voucher.

3. Interact
To get involved with the evening with photos, or filming, or tweeting – don’t forget the #travtweetup hash tag). Lewis and I would also like to hear your feedback, and ideas/themes for future events. Please leave a comment at the end of this post, if you feel inclined…

4. Talk to me
I have a Flip, and I’m not afraid to use it. During the last event, some people kindly allowed me to film them talking about who they were, what they did and how social media worked for their organsisation. You can see the video report here. So this time, seeing as there are lots of people from overseas, I thought it would be a good opportunity to record some more thoughts on social media in the travel industry. Does it differ from a UK perspective, are there different platforms we should be using? Sometimes it’s good to get a fresh perspective, and you’ll see the results on ttglive.com later in the week.

5. Finally…
The event starts at 7pm, with a free bar for early arrivals. The venue, Abacus, is located here. Any questions, please send myself (@matt_parsons), or Lewis Shields (@lewisshields) a note…

• Noticings is Foursquare for photo sharers
  'Game' that taps into FlickR's API

Good scoop in TTG this week – Chris Gray grabs the first interview with the new UK boss of Emirates.

In it, Clifford talks about how he wants to create more of a buzz around Emirates, and reveals he has taken on digital agency VCCP, which is behind the successful comparethemarket.com campaign – yes, the one with this character:

So what’s the secret to success? And I think you can call VCCP’s campaign a success when you’ve got 600,000 Facebook fans and 30,000 Twitter followers.

Is it as simple as a comedy character, combined with a heavy, and engaging, online presence? He is, after all, a very talkative meerkat.

Or perhaps it’s just a case of getting the tone right? If you want the maximum impact on the internet,  you mustn’t be fussy about what type of sector/person you want to target. It’s the web – or nothing.

It’s not dumbing down, but this is basic humour and it plays to a fairly outdated sense of humour, but one that everyone can understand. Obviously the TV campaign has helped, but you can’t interact with a TV (well, not that much, and pressing a red button doesn’t quite cut it yet).

I know one PR company that loves the character – so why can’t a PR company in travel try and emulate this kind of success? Basic idea, right tone, and make it funny – if it can work with a sector such as car insurance, surely a lot more fun can be had with a travel brand…

Read the full interview over at ttglive.com, or click on the picture at the very top.

Had no idea it was the M1’s 50th birthday today, and surprised it was being celebrated. Anyway, it was, and the Guardian has a nice piece about it – an extract below.

“Yet anyone tempted to undervalue the motorways should try driving tomorrow, say from London to Swindon, by the route that one had to take before the M4,  juddering through the centre of Reading…”

Fair point. I never knew a motorway could have this kind of emotional effect on people, or service stations. But then Iain Sinclair did write about the M25 (Orbital), so really I shouldn’t be surprised.

Tenuous travel-themed post over, and I’m going to think more about roads.

Don’t worry – you haven’t clicked on the wrong button. I’ve decided on a new WordPress theme, and it’s a cheeky little number called DePo Masthead, designed by Derek Powazek.

Lots of boxes to fill below the actual posts, in the bottom half of the screen, so not sure what works and what doesn’t…

If you have any strong feelings about this new look, please leave a comment below (I think there’s a red button hovering beneath this text).