Thanks. Article coming soon.

I agree, that the contrast between this and the previous post is interesting, they expose two different attitudes towards technology and life itself I think. The main subject being addressed here is the mindless photographer - the person who shoots before even composing their shot properly, or considering what it is they are shooting, and why - capturing huge numbers of photos that they will probably never look at again. Photography is indeed a very personal expression, but just like slow food and slow travel, being able to take good photos is about having the right mindset or philosophy. I disagree that these other movements are first and foremost about encouraging sustainability, I believe they are all about providing people with the tools and inspiration for viewing and appreciating the world in a new way, which is exactly what photography provides.

Thanks for your comments Alex. For me it was the arrival of digital that got me more involved with photography. Being able to alter camera settings and instantly see how they affect the photo made the whole activity a lot more accessible to me, not to mention more affordable to experiment with. Now that I have a decent understanding of how to use a camera properly it would be interesting to return to using a film SLR, and understand why so many photographers feel that they lost something in the transition.

This place looks great Cynthia.

Thanks for your comments Isaac. I agree it would be good to see businesses embrace TA in a similar way to Twitter. I think the trouble is it\'s a great deal of work to be proactive on all these channels. When you have to seek out reviews to comment on across a number of sites it\'s a very time consuming process.

I\'m sure there are paid social media monitoring packages out there that flag reviews and such like relating to a business and pull them into one place.

There was an interesting article on Gigaom last week raising some similar questions about the overwhelming amount of deal and promo sites like Groupon http://gigaom.com/2010/09/29/hey-groupon-its-time...

Thanks for your comment John. Sometimes it seems like Twitter is pushing hard into the mainstream and then other times it seems to sit on the fringes as just another social platform... the ebb and flow of web technology.

In the 18 months since I wrote this Twitter hasn\'t really transformed into the powerful question and answer network that some thought it might become.

I certainly wouldn\'t class it as a source of personal travel intelligence. For me it it usually ends up being more of a way for Bloggers to communicate with each other.

An article on \'What has happened to travel?\' sounds interesting.

Great insight, thanks Tom. I think catching a ride on a cargo ship is a fascinating prospect. It\'s clearly not ideal for the short-term traveller but an interesting option for anyone on a longer journey.

Thanks for your comments Wanderfly. Will be keeping an eye out for your launch. Sounds interesting.

An interesting article from Valere. Thanks for sharing that here John.

You talk a lot of sense here John. Good piece.