CSIT155_S18:DustinM

Most travel bloggers/ vloggers tend to publish edited content.  It is certainly easier to narrate a story when one can go back and revise its contents.  Live streaming provides a bit more of an authentic glimpse into somebody's real-time behaviors.  Although a person can choose when to participate in a live-stream, he cannot curate the content of the live-stream as if he would an edited video.  I imagine that it is probably important to build an audience before attempting to have an effective livestream, however, websites like Twitch, provide an opportunity for anybody, particularly video game enthusiasts to stream both their gameplay and themselves while playing a particular game.  A viewer who is interested in improving his gameplay, learning new things about the game, or simply wanting to be entertained by watching somebody else's approach to the game would appreciate the twitch platform. Live Stream In a similar fashion, live-streaming is an interesti...

Depending on one's service or product, there are a sundry of online marketing tools available.  Tools like yelp or google maps are very helpful to a service or product.  I have noticed one of the newest tools available is the instagram story ad.   1.) Instagram stories have grown to be an integral part of the site.  Basically a user can create small clips or pictures and include them as part of a story that runs for a 24 hour cycle.  These stories are widely popular due to there brevity, video-rich content, and accessibility at the top of instagram's app landing page.  The instagram video ad is effective because it is woven in between stories you are watching, appearing as if it is just a story itself.  2.) Snapchat Story Ad .  Like the Instagram story, the Snapchat ad story is run between stories that users are already engaged in.  The brevity is impressive and like the Instagram story, there is almost always a concluding call to a...

Blogs I commented on: Lamar Anderson Maxim Cardonna Sujatha Nanduri Chad Mullen

An effective travel newsletter should contain specific information, ideally with a solid clickbait title.  In the travel industry this often takes the form of, "5 THINGS YOU MUST PACK FOR YOUR TRIP!!!," or "6 REASONS YOU MUST TRAVEL COSTA RICA!"  Indeed, useful items are important, and coupled with an attractive appearance is a real winner. Appearance of the newsletter in the email is important.  Software that helps administer a newsletter can be helpful in delivering newsletters that are well-branded with consistent graphics and logos.   Concerning my own newsletter, here is a list of topics that may interest a traveler: 1.) Health Insurance While Traveling 2.) Renting a Car while Traveling  3.) How to Travel with a large group without killing each other 4.) Gay Travel in Latin America 5.) The Difference between a Tourist and a Traveler

Categories are an important aspect of any online presence.  By tagging within certain categories, somebody is essentially optimizing his search engine presence and making it easier to be found within sub-sections of whatever genre he is operating in.  In the case of DustintheWind Productions, focusing on travel and lifestyle is too broad.  Many travel bloggers and vloggers tend to focus on a specific category such as southeast Asia, budget travel, van travel, surfing, etc.  The market is indeed competitive and having a unique angle is important.  A few categories in which I think I can have an impact include: 1.) Latin America: a lot of my travels have taken me throughout south and central America.  Not only are people interested in traveling these regions, but the people who live in some of these countries are actively consuming and engaging with various social media platforms.  By categorizing my content within the Latin American/ Spanish-speaking/...

Pretty much every industry on the planet works to serve humans in one way or another.  Even if your job is welding steel for transmission towers, you are in effect, servicing humanity at large.  Adding human interest to a blog post is an excellent way to personalize an industry that sometimes seems to have a disconnect from the actual human consumer in which it serves.  Returning to the example of the welder, a welding company might want to include a story about one of it's workers on it's website; this allows the company to stand out to a buyer who might be researching it's products.  While a buyer is certainly searching for high quality materials, just the slightest human touch that stands out will go a long way.   In regards to my choice industry of travel blogging, it always makes sense to show a destination through very human eyes.  While featuring landmarks is interesting, it is exponentially more interesting to include some people in the photo...

In order to locate new connections on twitter I used the search words "travel" "travel blog" "travel blogger" and "travel media."  I became curious as to how many twitter users were using the angle "gay travel," so I included this in my search terms.  I also decided to search my search terms as tags, using the advanced search option. Lists I created two lists:  1.)  People- many users are interested in what other people are doing, so I thought it'd be nice to have a list of some people who have a successful twitter engagement.  I added some of my favorite twitter finds including @codyko and @nomadicboys. 2.) Organizations- this is the other side of twitter, and important to travel media.  Organizations such as @couchsurfing @lonelyplanet and @nytimestravel do a good job at offering variety in the realm of travel.  By creating these lists I can focus on what individuals are doing versus organizations, which inhe...