My grandfather used to travel around the country with no specific destination. He just wanted to see a region so he got on a train, got off at a village and started to ask around: Good morning sir, do you know any place to stay in this village? What is the specialty in this region? Do you know a good place to eat around here? What is worth seeing here?
This was in the 60’s in Hungary. My grandfather had the best times while traveling and he also had the best stories. So does Andrew Nelson, who, according to his article that appeared in National Geographic Traveler, visited Miami by taking advice from only locals. However, his ways of communicating to locals was different. It was word of mouth, but this time – digital. While grandpa took the advice of the first stranger he met on the street, Nelson trusted the first tweet that he received on his Twitter account where he announced he wanted advice for this special holiday of his. Hungry for a good sandwich or hungry for some local music? Just tweet your desire and Ping, ping! You get the best recommendation from your local followers. Twitter revitalized the way of being a tourist for him and it served as his very own digital Lonely Planet for the day; an alternative one. Many of us kind of hate to be the touristy tourists, we want to have adventures and we want to do “as the Romans do in Rome”. What better way than taking the advice of your local tweet-friends who make a sport of recommending the best places?
After hanging out in Miami for a couple of days following local tweets, Nelson put down his Blackberry and choose the old fashioned way and invited his digital advisors for a drink at a bar that was recommended to him on Twitter. Summing up his trip he said, “It's a happy table of 11 Miamians and one out-of-towner who have decided that Twitter is where it's @.”
This was in the 60’s in Hungary. My grandfather had the best times while traveling and he also had the best stories. So does Andrew Nelson, who, according to his article that appeared in National Geographic Traveler, visited Miami by taking advice from only locals. However, his ways of communicating to locals was different. It was word of mouth, but this time – digital. While grandpa took the advice of the first stranger he met on the street, Nelson trusted the first tweet that he received on his Twitter account where he announced he wanted advice for this special holiday of his. Hungry for a good sandwich or hungry for some local music? Just tweet your desire and Ping, ping! You get the best recommendation from your local followers. Twitter revitalized the way of being a tourist for him and it served as his very own digital Lonely Planet for the day; an alternative one. Many of us kind of hate to be the touristy tourists, we want to have adventures and we want to do “as the Romans do in Rome”. What better way than taking the advice of your local tweet-friends who make a sport of recommending the best places?
After hanging out in Miami for a couple of days following local tweets, Nelson put down his Blackberry and choose the old fashioned way and invited his digital advisors for a drink at a bar that was recommended to him on Twitter. Summing up his trip he said, “It's a happy table of 11 Miamians and one out-of-towner who have decided that Twitter is where it's @.”
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