In the process of planning a month long trip to Italy, I've been looking for very specific information about the areas we plan to visit. In addition, to using the traditional travel sites and social networks like Trip Advisor and Virtual Tourist, I've been experimenting with using Twitter as a type of search engine to locate blogs and other sources all too often buried by the usual search engines. In doing this, I discovered that it was relatively easy to identify hotels, travel writers and photojournalists, travel experts, travelers, travel bloggers and others sharing pictures, hotel and restaurant recommendations and more. Not only could I review their tweets, but the tweets directed me to more extensive blogs, websites and videos. Plus, I could peruse their followers and find more sources.
But most importantly, quite often, I was able to start up a mini-dialogue with someone in country. Through Twitter, for instance, I met "ARoadRetraveled", i.e. Simone di Santi, a producer of travel videos and host of a website, who happened to be in Cortona, when I was doing my research. Not only was I able to view her wonderful videos and read her tweets, I tweeted back and forth with her about Cortona and received a restaurant recommendation.
As Twitter and its usage evolve, I envision a further opening up of the vast hidden web and a massive extension of the interactivity between web users.
Here is a short list of resources for Cortona and Arezzo on Twitter:
ARoadRetraveled Photos, tweets on Cortona and more links to website, responses to tweets.
TuscanyTraveler Tweet on Tuscany based in Arezzo
ILoveTuscany Tweets on Cortona, Arezzo links to blog
VillaiBossi Lots of tweets on goings-on in Arezzo
ToscanaMia Tweets on Tuscan Food traveling in Tuscany, replies to requests for tips in tweets based in Chianti area and Florence, links to web-site, runs cooking school, provides tours
Tuscany_Advisor Lives in Tuscany and operates agritourism business. Tweets about Tuscan Hills and will answer questions from tweeters.
