This digital-savvy generation of freshers is more likely to need a laptop at their lectures than a notepad, and they expect the tools they use in their personal life – such as blogs, social-networking sites and instant-messaging services – to be applied to the educational environment too. More…

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This, combined with the effective application of technology, is our core area of expertise. 4TM has developed a range of tried and tested services to support communication and conversation in the industry, developed with input from some of the industry’s most progressive thinkers.

We’re now ready to shout about it.

Our TouristSite destination portal enables information about a destination, and the businesses in it, to be readily maintained and made available through a compelling and flexible web site. TouristSite links with blogs, TripAdvisor and YouTube, enabling the area to be projected through the eyes of satisfied visitors as well as the industry.

Our social media workshops for tourism businesses offer an understanding of social media and practical steps of how to manage and engage with customers using TripAdvisor, YouTube, Facebook, Twitter and similar tools. Read some of our 5 star reviews.

Our Dashboard for Tourism provides real-time updates, including monitoring of conversations, blogs, news and reviews in one place, managing reputation and enabling pro-active customer engagement. It’s an easy yet effective way of being part of social media, without having to spend all day doing it.

The latest addition to our product range are mobile web sites and applications, enabling tourism businesses and destinations to connect with visitors while they are in the local area. We expect this to be a big “wow”!

Please contact us to find out more about 4TM’s services for tourism and travel. You can give us a ring on 01309 638077. Or visit our website at 4tm-services.com for more.

Image by Craig Rodway.

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The proportion of Internet users participating in social media will inevitably begin to level out over the next couple of years. However, the volume of social media usage among participants will grow rapidly.

Why? In 2008 many users became active creators on the web and contibuted content to Facebook, MySpace, Bebo et al. However, it has been very much a distinct operation: log onto the website; participate; log off.

2009 will change this. In part this will be due to increased federation. Facebook Connect and Google Friend Connect mean you will be able to be social on web sites that have been resolutely stuck in 1999. When browsing in a news web site, you may be able to discuss the article with online Facebook friends. Social media will be all over the web, not as “share this” links but as interactive tools driven by a single login.

But the key driver of growth will be mobile: Mobile 2.0, as it were. Smartphones are now the norm. Blackberry drove a generation of business people who were permanently connected to their email, communicating on the train or, yuk, on the toilet. (Yes, I’ve witnessed Blackberry usage at public urinals. Some people can be too connected).

Text messaging is even more pervasive, with millions of messages sent every day, particularly in Europe where SMS is effectively free. It’s convenient. It’s easy to use. It’s affordable.

The mobile phone is the logical place for social media, even more than the web. I’m an early adopter, and the incredible ability to make a short video at an event or upload a photograph, there and then, directly from a client application, is powerful. The iPhone is trailblazing with an easy to use and consistent interface, and clever third party developers.

Once we can access our social networks effectively on a mobile phone, so we can take them everywhere. Microblogging, as seen on Twitter, is an amazing tool: effectively zero cost SMS to groups of friends or business colleagues. On a mobile, why text when you can Twitter, given proper integration with the phone’s user interface rather than access through an inadequate and slow WAP site?

The iPhone has proved that YouTube is perfectly usable on the small screen. Anecdotal evidence suggests that many find it easier to keep up with Facebook during downtime on their mobile. Qik is making it easy to stream live video from events using a mobile. Yes, live outside broadcasts, albeit rough and ready. 12seconds makes it easy to capture the moment with an audiovisual slideshow.

This blog post has been written on my mobile. Just because at this time it’s more convenient (and, again, because there is a dedicated Wordpress application to make writing offline easy).

2009 will be the year of Mobile 2.0. In 2009 we will be more social than ever, everywhere.

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