So – playing out the travel metaphor, I believe readers want the whole truth, they can handle the truth, and all information is good.

One of these days sellers will have more confidence in that. When we started BeachWalks.tv, it was the worst winter here in years! It rained every day for 40+ years – nonetheless we built a loyal audience very rapidly.

To me, it’s all about the energy – people will love you based on how you make them feel – not the impressomatic dog and pony show you put on for them. The glam is fun to be sure and I personally love it, but my take home memories are grounded in something less tangible.

As a freelance journalist for magazines, newspaper and on-line travel, I agree with Sheila that I would prefer to be paid appropriately for my content so that I would not need to be “hosted” on press trips.

Sorry to learn there is no Podcamp Hawaii 2009. Hawaii is leading the charge on social media tourism.

Thanks for this thought provoking blog post.
@Nancydbrown

Dipping in toes is a precise example of HTA’s recent investment in So Much More Hawaii—I am hopefully that they will emerge themselves into the waters of social media.

Everyone who knows me, knows that I love my home. I was honored to give my time and knowledge about Hawaii and social media to SMMH. Call me idealistic, but I believe good things are ahead for the social media industry both locally and globally.

I do believe all parties (sponsor, blogger, audience) all benefit most from a more independent business model. It is to the sponsor’s advantage to seek out and support over the long term those independent creators who have already built a highly loyal and targeted audience. It is to the creator’s advantage and the readers’ benefit to keep it transparent and truthful. Because we know the audience will eventually find out, as are Google and the FTC.

This seems so simple and straightforward;alas some people like to things in a veiled manner, an old style, a whatever.

My kudos to you for adding the disclaimer; maybe a universal icon akin to the orange RSS item could be developed to show compensation? Short, simple, redundant across multiple sites, etc. How would you feel about that?

Thanks so much for your thoughtful post; we are truly entering a new era and while some old ways and rules may deserve to be tossed, some are certainly still relevant and apply to even supposedly “wild child” bloggers.

As one of the mainland bloggers on the Hawaii Tourism Authority (HTA) “So Much More Hawaii” tour, I felt this ethical conflict daily.

I believe strongly in the power of social media and what I call “Tourism 2.0,” and I personally have lived in and love the islands and want to support tourism there, but the fact remains that I was there at the behest of the HTA and that DID change how I wrote. I was happy to be open about the positive things, of which there were so many, and I didn’t say much about the negative things, of which there were very few, but they still existed.

I felt pressure (self-imposed, to be sure, but still pressure) not to overtly criticize our various hosts while I was there. I put a disclosure of my paid sponsorship at the bottom of every Family Travel blog post, but for space reasons I had a harder time doing that for my tweets, Stumbles, Delicious bookmarks, Facebook comments & photos, Flickr photos, LinkedIn status items….as you discussed, we know how to reach out all over the place and full disclosure is still very important, but not always easy to do on every publishing platform.

I would MUCH prefer to be paid appropriately and regularly for my content, and then use that money to travel independently, within my normal budget, unfettered.

These hybrid “sponsored” arrangements are not ideal for anyone, but I see them as a short-term bridge into a social media-dominant future….a more balanced way of operating for bloggers and tourism organizations alike.

http://damontucker.com/2009/06/07/hawaii-tourism-authority-hopes-to-boost-hawaii-tourism-with-blogging-campaign/

http://damontucker.com/so-much-more-hawaii-at-the-waikoloa/

I myself probably spent more time uploading pictures and organizing blogs, then I actually did at the hotel in itself!

I know that the positive image we bloggers put out to the world… will go a long way in the future for my 4 year old son in the future.

I think we have a real chance in Hawaii to make a very big impact on tourism by the way we present the islands.