Our guide puts his finger to his lips. We mustn’t disturb them in case they run for it. “They’re very sensitive to intrusion,” he says. “The slightest disruption can make them squawk in anguished pain. And if the herd starts stampeding, they can start lashing out wildly without any rhyme or reason.”
We’re huddled behind a wall on an Amman street corner. Jordan is, apparently, one of the best places to see the magnificent travel blogger in the wild. These powerful creatures – once thought to be critically endangered – are slowly being introduced to other parts of the world, but in Jordan, they are thriving.
Our guide points over to the café. “At the moment, they are feasting on a three course meal,” he explains in an awed whisper. “They will do this two or three times a day, leisurely picking over the bones and communicating their satisfaction by doing what we call ‘Tweeting’.
“One will Tweet. Then another will Tweet back to it, and soon they are all Tweeting each other, showing how much they’re enjoying each others’ company and explaining that they’ve all enjoyed the meal just as much as each other.”
This is all part of the Buzz Creation ceremony. It shows outsiders that the herd is together and is happy, whilst not revealing anything about its location. “The important thing is that any other wildlife knows the herd is there, but no clues about the landscape or environment are given,” we’re told.
It’s a privilege to watch. The repetitive Tweeting builds into a driving rhythm, almost a hypnotic mantra. Each blogger makes the same noise over and over again, mimicked by its herd-mates until it all builds into a tumultuous, indiscriminate noise. I ask what the noise means. “Nothing,” replies our guide. “It’s essentially pointless.”
After watching for a good three hours, we follow the herd to another popular hang-out – a luxury hotel. Following the feast, bloggers will retreat here to spray faeces everywhere. “To be honest,” our guide admits. “It’s really quite unpleasant and serves no useful purpose other than boosting the status of the individual group members. It smells terrible, no-one outside the group really wants to go near it.
“However, each blogger takes real pleasure in being able to smear the faeces as far and wide as possible, and this process will continue until it’s time to go for the next three course meal.”
Blogger-spotting tours are quite new in Jordan. The government initiative is an attempt to capitalise on what has become one of the country’s greatest resources. Blogger numbers here have boomed in recent years to the point where some locals believe they’re a pest.
I ask a shopkeeper what he thinks of the bloggers. “They’re all over the place,” he says. “And they leave a constant trail of unbearable noise and pollution behind them.
“I feel sorry for them in a way, however. They’re blind, and can’t do much for themselves. They’ve become reliant on people to keep feeding and looking after them.”
Tourism minister Momani T’han-Senz reckons that the bloggers can become Jordan’s greatest attribute. “We’re becoming known for the bloggers,” he says. “And people love them because they’re so cute and dumb.
“If we have the Bloggers here, the tourists will surely come in search of them. And if they don’t, well, we can always set up canned hunts to attract the other section of the market.”
As our safari draws to a close, we stumble across an incredible scene. We spot a large group emerging from a restaurant, and they suddenly stop. One of the bloggers makes furious gestures towards the others, and arranges them in formation. In its paw is a rudimentary tool, and it points this at the remainder of the group. Once it has finished, it rejoins the group as another steps out to do the same thing. This goes on for nearly half an hour, and then the chorus of Tweeting starts again, the herd evidently keen to share with the world what has just happened.
Witnessing the spectacle is unquestionably worth enduring the smell.
Tags: blogging, Jordan, marketing, PR, press trips, Travel Writing
Hi, David!
I’m not against blog trips per se; I’ve done a couple & would accept more if offered. But, I believe you’ve pointed an accurate finger at how NOT to do it.
I say your job is NOT to give a minute-by-minute account of what you’re seeing and doing, but to wait until you get back to your hotel … or even home to tweet or post. There, you have time to review it all, collect your impressions and GIVE IT SOME THOUGHT!
You owe that much to your hosts or sponsors and your readers … in fact, if I were organising such a trip, I’d confiscate all tablets and smartphones until the evening, and issue everyone with a NOTEBOOK and a PENCIL.
Or, is that too old-fashioned?
Ha ha, that was funny. Sounds like you stumbled on one of those Travelers Nights In on twitter. You know, when they sit around and tweet about … travel … while having a night in from traveling … or something like that.
Anyway, any chance Momani T’han-Senz will be considering blogosphere-friendly culling trips to Jordan to keep the numbers of these little beasties in check?
See schoolground humor (or should that be bullying, always a fine line) still has its place.
Whilst I understand the sentiment, this feels harsh. The Jordan campaign involves some very good writers and bloggers, some with very large audiences outside of the blogging / twitter circles we all inhabit.
Unfortunately we all sit in the middle of the venn diagram exposed to the same messages from multiple bloggers. This is a drawback of the navel gazing travel blogging community and the tools it uses, not a fault of those creating the messages.
The same applies to #TNI et al. There is nothing wrong with these, except that as a follower of multiple participants, your twitter stream is full of irrelevant noise for a short period each week. They are easy targets to pick on.
Question to David: Were you invited by Jordan tourist board, and if invited would you have participated?
Course it’s harsh – it’s an obvious exaggeration that serves the purpose of making a number of points.
In answer to your questions, I’ve not been invited by the Jordan Tourist Board. If invited by them, I’d say no to a group trip (as I have done with press trips for a number of years). But I’d happily explore the possibility of an individual trip that got me to see/ do things I’d be interested in, would make for what I think are stories worth writing about and that I could get commissions to write about. I’d probably not write about them on this site, however – it’s not the right outlet.
Wow, I didn’t read the whole post but I don’t think I’m missing much.
To me this post just exudes jealousy and frustration. Is that how you see these bloggers? Did you even take the time to read their work about their experience in Jordan? Do you think they would be invited to press trips or even followed by thousands of people if they were not professional enough to write about their personal impressions of a country and give tips and essential information to travelers regardless of who’s paying for their trip?
I guess you are just seeking the attention you lack and these other writers obviously enjoy. Maybe if you spent more time writing about travel instead of insulting your ‘colleagues’, ‘competitors’ or however your twisted mind likes to call them you would have better luck.
Good day sir!
@panete – The good bloggers won’t recognise themselves in the above, and thus shouldn’t be offended by it. The Jordanian Tourism Organisation itself isn’t even the target – I used Jordan as so many bloggers have been there recently. The target is the insidious buzz creation model that values decibel level over sound quality, and – as Ben alludes to – the saturation of coverage that is totally irrelevent to the reader and ultimately useless to the destination.
As for “Do you think they would be invited to press trips or even followed by thousands of people if they were not professional enough to write about their personal impressions of a country and give tips and essential information to travelers regardless of who’s paying for their trip?”
In some circumstances, yes. Most definitely yes.
Nicely written… well done!
But on the other side, you should have done a bit more of your homework. I was invited by the Jordan Tourism Board & I just did what you would do. I was traveling Jordan & by an itinerary I wanted to do & which I chose. I did that solo & not in a group.
The Jordan campaign is actually a very smart one!
Sure, you read maaaany blog posts about Petra & that all over the year. You, as someone who is online all the time, this seems a bit boring, but you are also not the one who it’s targeted for. It’s targeted for the normal traveler.
It happens in the old media every day. Reuters is sending out an article & hours later you see that one pretty much copied & pasted in all the newspapers around the world.
Messi is giving an interview that he is changing the clubs & he will soon play for Real Madrid, instead of Barcelona. What happens? Every newspaper will print that. TV stations will interview him & whatever channel you’ll watch, you’ll get the same old story for days! And still… people will keep reading & watching it!
Sorry, but Jordan’s social media campaign is much smarter than others I’ve seen.
For me it’s getting boring to always see the same travel writers who try to write negatively about bloggers & social media. It seems that there is not one month, where we don’t have that debate. It’s just a feeling, but for me it seems that some travel writers feels threatened by the “new” media & maybe even jealous? I can enjoy posts like yours here for a while and to rant a bit against each other can be fun, too. It’s a bit like a rival football game, right?
But seriously, at some point it gets boring. I really think that these discussions are not really of need. I think that travel writers/journalists & bloggers could work very nicely together, as the whole stuff we do is “Same same, but different!”.
There is and still will be a very huge need of GOOD journalists in future. The bad ones, who don’t do a good job, have a good reason to feel threatened, but that’s the way it goes in any business, right?
@David “In some circumstances, yes. Most definitely yes.”
Well, as @Melvin just pointed out (I would +1 his comment if I could) it seems like you chose the wrong campaign to rant about this specific kind of journalist, and even if you didn’t, ranting about it over and over again will just categorize you in the travel blogging’s version of yellow press.
Just live and let live and let the good journalist prevail.
@melvin – I’ve made my views on the extremely tired bloggers vs journalists non-debate very clear on several occasions. Labels don’t matter, and the people who are concerned about them are the ones that are generally unsuccessful. Most of my income comes from writing online – and whether it’s called journalism, writing, blogging or Barry the Flamingo really doesn’t bother me.
A valid criticism of a certain aspect and approach within the blogging community/ industry isn’t necessarily a denunciation of the community/ industry as a whole.
Incidentally, for anyone else about to weigh in, the above post ISN’T A TRUE STORY. IT DIDN’T REALLY HAPPEN. If you went to Jordan, or anywhere on a blog trip, and didn’t spend more time banging on about the fact you were on a blog trip than the destination itself, there’s no need to get tetchy. Saying that Idi Amin was a terrible Ugandan man is not saying that all Ugandans are terrible men.
If people can’t see the sense of humor in David’s post, then you’re really taking yourself too seriously.
To me, it’s good to see someone with a sense of humor out there. You are we if we cannot laugh at ourselves?
A few years back travel bloggers were talking about places to see, where to go, and how to get there. Now, it’s all about SEO and what can I get for the sake of my “readers” who(I know)love me.
Where once one could complain about Lonely Planet’s Thorn Tree and the reception one got for asking a newbie question there, it seems the same now applies to the land of travel blog circles.
TNI is indeed an easy target. Apologies, but it’s the only acronym I could remember from the several other get-togethers that happen every week. And, possibly the only one that had a rather big PR bump at one stage. Just tying it all together
Dave, I believe the correct word nowadays is “followers,” not “readers.” Travel bloggers are now ranked with Jesus, Ghandi, Martin Luther King, and Glenn Beck as leaders of movements.
I’ve got several friends who were on the blog trip in question, and I can understand how some people might view this story as sour grapes. But, to me, it’s nothing more or less than a funny, well written satire, playfully poking fun at a group of people who frequently poke playful fun at themselves (and each other).
My only issue with the blogger trip is that the writers in question are supposedly being paid by the Tourism Board in addition to getting all their travel expenses covered. So how honest can they be in their coverage of the country, and how likely is the average reader to be able to have a similar experience if they choose to travel to Jordan?
When I set up an individual press trip, I try to get an authentic experience that any average traveler could get with proper planning, so that I can give them a clear idea of what to expect. I hope that the stories that eventually come out of this trip will represent a similar aesthetic.
As travel writers/photographers, Jordan is VERY high on our must-see list, so we’re excited to read all the stories and hopefully set up our own visit sometime in 2012.
Sniggle! Excellent narrative travel fiction!
I just want to commend you on a brilliant, well-written satire. I laughed out loud, at your observations, and at the reactions. I just wanna scream “oh get over yourselves!”, especially when I am entrenched in such a herd myself….then, wondrously, my phone battery goes dead
David, some no-talent hack with a streak of jealousy and bitterness got your login and password info and posted this uninformed piece of crap. You might want to double check your security settings and make sure they don’t hijack your blog again. They also posted two paid links for Australiafilghtbargains and Bestflightsales down at the bottom without disclosing them as paid links. Man, amazing what unscrupulous folks will do these days!!
For people who are online a lot and paying attention to the tweets etc of other travel bloggers, it probably does seem a bit like saturation coverage whenever there’s a group press trip going on.
There’s an easy answer to that. Don’t follow those people if such things get your panties in a bind.
I realise this piece was a satire, but honestly it still comes across as just bitching about the opportunities offered to others. Jealousy is an ugly trait, and even if that wasn’t the intent that is how this post reads to me.
Personally I prefer to spend less time ranting about other people’s success and more time emulating it (both inside and outside the travel blogger echo chamber), but each to their own.
@John and @Dave. Yes. Jealousy. That’s it. I’d love to earn a living by travelling the world and writing about it. I can only imagine what that’s like.
As for those ‘paid links’ to my own sites. I’m sorry if that offends your sensibilities.
You make a good point though, Dave. “There’s an easy answer to that. Don’t follow those people if such things get your panties in a bind.” Surely doing something that makes people want to unfollow you is not a good strategy for either blogger or host?
Interesting how the “if you don’t like what someone’s writing, don’t visit their blog” arguement doesn’t seem to apply to people who don’t like what you’re writing.
David on the travelllll.com post on paid links: “I sell adverts on my site, yes. If people come to me asking for links I say I don’t do paid links, but you can buy an ad and code it however you darn well please. But they clearly look like adverts – that’s the main thing. I’m hardly trying to disguise them. And I’m not trying to play within Google’s ‘rules’ – hence I can’t be bothered to nofollow any links.”
David on this post…. how the hell does this code at the bottom look like an advert exactly? Hidden at the bottom under the comment section? Don’t worry — I’ve reported it to Google, as travellll.com, Durant and you told me I should in these cases – you can sort it out with Google. I’m just doing what you told me to do in that travelllll.com article. And don’t worry — I sent a cached copy. Cheers.
Sigh. As I say. They are links to my own sites. What I have done is put links to two sites I run and own on another of my sites. If this is still incredibly difficult to understand, please let me know and I can write an essay with diagrams explaining it. Google probably already knows about it, given that they’re hosted on the same server and, technically, are internal links.
Still, I hope it makes you feel like a winner, John. Go champ, and I hope I can taste some of the ‘success’ one day.
As the author of the Rough Guide to Jordan – I’ve lived there, travelled there, worked there and written about the place for more than 15 years – I’d just like to add two points here.
First – so far, throughout the campaign, I haven’t read anything that hasn’t already been said over & over again in travel features on Jordan down the years. None of the invitees, it seems to me, has done much more than cursory pre-trip research, none has dug up an even remotely unique angle (let alone story) and none has gone AWOL for even a couple hours on a quiet evening to show us what they can find when they look. It’s almost as if bloggers haven’t even bothered to google previous Jordan stories in the travel media so they don’t cover the same ground (and take the same photos) themselves.
Second – I happen to know Mr “Momani ThanSenz” personally – and, in truth, he has a ton more sense than money. Jordan is a poor country. Small, no oil, few resources. Tourism makes up somewhere between 12 and 16 percent of GDP – it’s vital to the national economy. Yet, at a time of extreme instability in its home region, Jordan has chosen to invest in a risky social media strategy. No blogger has yet commented on that. No blogger has wondered why they are being hosted in the Four Seasons, and why they’re being driven around by private guides. No blogger has even unearthed how much private guides charge per day in Jordan. No blogger has totted up the rough cost to Jordan of hosting them. And no blogger has related that figure to what a similar amount might have achieved had it been invested in grassroots product development and diversification. It’s just all free and wonderful and amazing.
No blogger has even had this kind of conversation with the private guide assigned to them for a week on the road. Or at least I haven’t seen any evidence.
Jordan may or may not be gaining from this campaign. But to my mind it’s an out-and-out 100% embarrassingly obvious blogger #fail.
Sweet. muscular jesus. This is exactly why I stopped associating myself with travel bloggers.
John, sober up sunshine.
To a certain extent I agree about the strategy – people who spam their Twitter feed with 20 comments an hour about the wonders of a comped hotel aren’t necessarily going about things the right way. That is a learning thing for all parties involved, and not everyone is perfect first time around.
However, bear in mind that not all (I would venture to say, not many) of the intended audience sits around watching their favourite blogger’s Twitter feed all day. They may not be on Twitter at all. They’ll read a couple of posts about it, maybe look at the Facebook update and then possibly mark the destination down for future reference if it interests them.
The usual bunch of cynics who like to criticise rather than nurture will still continue to do so, I’m sure, but I don’t really see why this these trips are such a terrible thing for the three parties who potentially stand to benefit (the blogger, the host and the intended audience).
“I don’t really see why these trips are such a terrible thing for the three parties who potentially stand to benefit.”
There’s an awful lot of terrible travel blogging. I can only think of one party that wins in those instances.
The entry barrier to blogging is non-existent. The monthly uniques for nearly all travel blogs are so low they can be healthily massaged without anybody been able to prove otherwise. Many PR agencies don’t know the space very well, or what metrics matter.
There’s no doubt that social media can benefit a destination. It doesn’t follow that blogger-orientated trips are the most effective or most efficient way to do this. Matthew’s comments are hardly a glowing endorsement, and they appear well rooted in experience, not only of the output from these trips but the reality of the situation.
Of course this is a staggeringly old argument, but the fact remains that there are very, very few good travel bloggers, and an awful lot of mediocrity that makes a lot of noise.
Haha hilarious post! Ridiculous comments from some which is a shame but love the angle you took. Not sure why this has created such an uproar but so much for being a “community”.
@Matthew You’re complimentary to the TB boss above, so for you what’s going on here? Is it just the kind of directionless trend-chasing TBs can be prone to, or a conscious strategic move that reflects the kind of tourism Jordanian govt wants? If dependence on tourism revenue is that high, can imagine there’s a stronger than usual temptation to encourage managed, relatively high-spend, easily measured activity over independent and exploratory – whether or not that’s best in the long term. Just curious.
Slightly off-topic, sorry David. Very funny post.
I couldn’t agree with your satire more David! It’s like you stole the words from my head. Some may view my agreement as jealousy, after all I too have never been a guest of Jordan in their fine country. However, I’d write this even if I had been. It’s a problem that I’ve been pondering for quite some time. How am I to distinguish myself as a travel blogger when so many of the opportunities available to me are recently, or will be soon, on offer to every other travel blogger I know …
Crackerjack comment by Mr Teller there. Equalled only by the humour of the author of this stinkingly funny piece. One needs to laugh at oneself regularly and this did the job. If only to add to Teller’s comment above, national tourism boards tend (broad strokes here) to be quite apt at wasting cash – going for the glory and the column inches rather than say doing boring useful shit like funding bus signs in other languages or training guides, but I guess that just gets left to the free market – they’re always one to do a stellar job. Still some stuff Boards do works out. Maybe this will. Personally I doubt it, and, like Teller think it could quite savage the scene if it gies sideways badly, but what do I know. Good luck all involved.
Anyways, hat tip for a thoroughly amusing read and some great stuff in the comments.
Heh. Heh. Okay, this debate got totally ridiculous in the comments, and as one of the bloggers invited to Jordan earlier this year, I could still laugh at the well written satire. The current campaign though, as much as it’s controversial, is good–there is a potential for relationships and new partnerships down the road for bloggers, and that’s what I try to focus on rather than look at any faults in the current campaign coming this week. Opportunities exist, and we, as a community, have the opportunity to shape them into travel partnerships that will be beneficial to all involved. This is a step in that direction in my opinion and has its merits, perhaps alongside some faults
This post is funny and bitingly mean. It also brings up, through scathing satire and some of the comments, some interesting questions:
Who benefits initiatives that flood the social media landscape with noise about one specific destination?
What, specifically, are those benefits?
What’s good content as a result of a press trip?
Those are pretty good questions, ones I’d love to see answers to.
David you totally miss the point that if these bloggers didn’t go on this trip their aunts, reluctant significant others, and two dozen other people wouldn’t have heard about this Lebanon thing.
Hah, enjoyed this read. And the comments.
Not sure why everyone is getting so sensitive. Sure, the playful tone is also throwing jabs, but that’s the price bloggers pay if they want to be in the public domain. Consider it a back-handed compliment
Too funny…too true. The truth often stings, but not a reason you shouldn’t keep on telling it as you see and know it.
Merry Xmas David & avoid dangerous bloggerati sightings in 2012.
I loved it. They say imitation is the highest form of flattery, but I think the same could be said about satire. No one is going to satirize someone who is completely insignificant. Any bloggers out there offended by this should consider that thought.
My only complaint is where are the pictures? Any wildlife safari must have pictures. Perhaps despite their habit to congregate they are elusive to photographers?
Amusing read, I cracked a number of smiles. I think it is a fair play on a scenario we’re used to seeing everywhere now…where the dining, travel, attractions and experiences take a back seat to technology. You don’t have to be a travel blogger to relate to this post – well done.
David – you made my laugh so much but watch out as you may be the prey for a “Get that pesky Grumpy Traveller Safari”. I can bet there’ll be fierce competition from travel bloggers to get a place on that trip.
It’s the first time I’ve felt moved to leave a post on here, but this time I just had to say something. First of all, I have a vested interest. I am the author’s wife. And proud to be so. I am also a journalist of some 17 years experience and high principals. Not in travel I might add, but much closer to home. For those of you offended by this post, get a life. I’ve travelled many times with this bright, intelligent man. And yes, you might say ‘well she would say that’. Just wait a minute, if you please… When I travel with him I am constantly struck by his never ending quest to find something different to say about a destination. He won’t rest until he’s found a new story or a different angle. So please take his post exactly as it was intended, a satire. And let’s face it, we’re all in an industry that deserves a bit (if not a lot) of piss taking, now and again. And if we can all live with that, then I believe, we’re better journalists for it.
[...] this week, I wrote a post that was intended as a satire. Many people seemed to miss what the satire was about, but the [...]
This is hilarious. Seriously funny work. And, I’m with Travelling Ted — where are the pictures — or, at minimum, the screenshots of the tweeting?
[...] takes a lot of different forms. Sometimes it’s brutally sharp and satiric, sometimes it’s snarky and fast, sometimes it’s a thoughtful deconstruction, sometimes [...]
1) Jordan is a great place and I love it there.
2) The Jordan Tourist Board is wasting their money. I haven’t read a single original tweet/blog/photo from this trip. It’s as if they took the most annoying bloggers and sent them to Jordan and let them run rampant.
3) No, I’m not jealous. I have a real job and can actually afford trips like this.
4) Not a single blog press junket has ever said “if you want to take a trip and do the things I did, it will cost x amount of dollars.” Not a single one.
I’m not jealous at all. In fact, I’m envious that the bloggers can be devoid of basic tenets of journalism and not do research.