Posts by: Steve Keenan

Steve Keenan

Steve Keenan has been a travel journalist for 25 years. He started at a Reed paper, news editing at Travel News in London - now Travel Weekly - having spent a decade reporting general news in the UK and abroad. He also taught English in Peru, delivered cars in the USA, ran the Sydney desk at AAP and took the train home from Hong Kong. He left Travel News in 1990 to freelance for several publications, including The Times of London, which he later joined as deputy travel editor. In December 2004, he became the first national digital travel editor in the UK, running the combined travel website of The Times and Sunday Times. The introduction of a paywall at the papers in 2010 persuaded him that the connected world might continue outside of Wapping and he left to co-found Travel Perspective. The company runs the social media seminars at World Travel Market London, and works with Reed Expos and others in helping the travel and tourism industry best communicate stories in all forms of publishing.

September 7, 2020September 4, 2020

Ripping up the travel marketing manual for 2021

Blog, marketing

Travel marketing, March-September 2020: Close down, think short-term, salvage remains of the summer season, lose staff, realign, change marketing strategy completely for 2021. ... Read more

August 7, 2020August 20, 2020

Camping: this summer’s hot holiday

Blog, Destinations

The months of lockdown have left a spectacular pent-up demand for a simple, safe place to relax and breathe. And that place is a field. ... Read more

May 7, 2020August 13, 2020

The current thirst for virtual travel and its role in future travel planning

Blog, Technology

When travel shut down in March, the Faroe Islands – along with a large part of the world – turned to virtual tourism to remind tourists what ... Read more

June 24, 2019July 8, 2019

SEO, affiliates, podcasts and IG Stories: the big conference stories

Social Media

MORE than 400 travel influencers & content creators gathered in Italy at the weekend for a summer conference and catch-up. The Traverse event in the Trentino town ... Read more

May 23, 2019

Realising Augmented Reality’s potential

Social Media

On September 1, the Cranborne Chase will launch an app using augmented reality to promote its wares. It’s an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AoNB), largely in ... Read more

April 5, 2019

The Dorchester Collection takes social media offline in Brunei political row

Social Media

Blunt force trauma is a medical term which describes an injury caused when an object hits or strikes a body. These days, social media has pretty much ... Read more

February 22, 2019February 22, 2019

2019: the year of Culture Trip?

Social Media

SIT back and enjoy the films. No, not The Oscars silly, but a series of travel shorts from Culture Trip, the media company promising to shake up ... Read more

January 28, 2019

Blippar stops trading: the long wait for AR and VR to become a reality

Social Media

ANOTHER new year, another debate on whether virtual and augmented reality will become, well, a reality. Not delivering on what’s been promised, gimmicky ideas, a focus on ... Read more

December 20, 2018

The retro resurgence in travel and tourism

Social Media

When travelling around America in the 1980s, helpful signs directed you to park the car and photograph a view. With a camera back then, not a smartphone. ... Read more

November 30, 2018November 30, 2018

Draining the swamp of fake influencers: can it be done?

Social Media

The analysis of an influencer’s worth is deepening daily, as brands turn away and genuine influencers turn on their wannabe colleagues. Two influencers in the past week ... Read more

November 4, 2018

Social Media at WTM London 2018

Social Media

WE are delighted to be back at World Travel Market to deliver seven world-class seminars on the best use of social media in today’s travel and tourism ... Read more

October 4, 2018

Cornwall benefits from social media tourists – but inland UK misses out

Social Media

England had its hottest summer ever this year, while the UK as a whole equalled previous highs set since records began in 1910. The heatwave lasted 46 ... Read more

September 7, 2018

The buying (and selling) of travel photos and video gets easier

Social Media

There were two developments this week that will help social media organisers and brands improve their output in visuals. One concerns images, the other video. And both ... Read more

August 15, 2018August 18, 2020

Neglect your blog and social and suffer the consequences

Blog, Blogging, marketing, Social Media

For the life of me, I fail to understand why a travel and tourism site starts a blog or a social media channel if it can’t maintain ... Read more

July 12, 2018

Instagram: becoming the TV of mobile?

Social Media

I read an interesting line the other day: the regular Instagram feed is getting boring as everybody is playing with video on the platform. The observation is ... Read more

June 14, 2018August 3, 2018

My best travel friend is Google

Social Media, Trends

I grew to accept that Google owned travel several years ago. Already seduced by Gmail and hangouts (remember them?), it had me at Google Maps. So when ... Read more

March 22, 2018March 23, 2018

Facebook faces its biggest crisis…

Social Media

TWO friends left Facebook this week after revelations that the data of 50m people had been mined and sold without the knowledge and permission of the user. ... Read more

February 22, 2018June 2, 2020

Social media expertise needed as the market gets complicated

Technology

For three years from 2014-17, I looked after a lot of social media accounts. It was the phase where travel companies knew they had to have social, ... Read more

December 22, 2017

Storify is dead: long live any decent alternative

Social Media

Back in July, on these pages, I wrote about the long and slow decline of Storify, a platform which allowed users to aggregate links, photos and social ... Read more

November 30, 2017

The best social media projects of 2017

Social Media

This year, the Faroe Islands won. Their victory highlighted, yet again, the importance of setting out on a project with a clear strategy. Because there are many ... Read more

October 26, 2017

A brief history of travel influencers and what comes next

Blogging

In the old days, about 2014, a travel influencer was a blogger with a decent set of numbers on their website and social media. Such a blogger ... Read more

August 25, 2017October 4, 2017

Instagram Stories on the rise as Instagram engagement drop-off still causes anger

Blog, Social Media

It started in the summer of 2016, a conscious algorithm move by Instagram to get shot of bots and introduce an avalanche of features that are still ... Read more

July 28, 2017October 4, 2017

Bye-bye Storify, you’ve been Scooped.

Blog, Social Media, Technology

I was a big fan of Storify… as were a lot of journalists and news organisations, who regularly used the site between for the four years after ... Read more

June 29, 2017June 30, 2017

Chatbots, will they take over the tourism industry?

Social Media

JAPAN has done a tremendous amount of work in the past decade to help foreign travellers by installing English language signs at transport hubs and dual language ... Read more

May 26, 2017May 26, 2017

DMO bosses reveal their social media tactics in attracting visitors

Social Media

With the summer season approaching, this should be a cracking year for British holidays. Forecasts say the weakened pound and fragile economic confidence is likely to see ... Read more

April 28, 2017April 28, 2017

Facebook & Instagram make up the rules as they go, but not everyone likes it

Social Media

This week, I wanted to create an Instagram account for a tourism destination on my iPhone 5 but I wasn’t allowed. I’d taken a few steps – ... Read more

March 20, 2017March 20, 2017

How important is social media in attracting visitors to Britain?

Social Media

A lot, according to Visit Britain – and it’s going a long way to disrupting traditional research methods. Will talking to friends, family and colleagues replace other ... Read more

February 17, 2017February 21, 2017

Spotlight on: virtual reality, drones and wearable technology

Blog, Social Media, Video

One is interesting, two is a co-incidence and three is a feature. Or, in this case, a blog post. The 1-2-3 motto is a benchmark which journalists ... Read more

December 12, 2016January 26, 2017

Instagram: the winner in the 2016 social media channel wars

Social Media

Instagram is looking forward to 2017 by adding a host of bells and whistles to its increasingly strong dominance of social media channels. While Twitter’s social stock ... Read more

October 7, 2016January 23, 2017

The wifi revolution is set to accelerate real-time conversations with visitors to your city

Social Media

Real-time travel information for tourists is the widely acknowledged ambition of any destination. That is, being able to stay in touch with your visitors throughout their stay, ... Read more

September 9, 2016January 23, 2017

Is the Government finally getting serious about how social and digital media can boost British tourism?

Blog, Social Media

Summer has been normally the quiet time of year, when everyone in the travel industry is on holiday with the rest of the country. But there’s been ... Read more

August 26, 2016January 23, 2017

Why do people use social media? The answer is revealed

Social Media

FIVE years ago, Travel Perspective was asked by an online travel agent to help re-write all of its destination content following a big algorithm change by Google. ... Read more

August 5, 2016January 23, 2017

Is your social media strategy ready for The Olympics?

Social Media

How is your gold plated social media strategy shaping up ahead of tonight’s launch of The Olympic Games? Just putting the finishing touches to your schedule of ... Read more

June 3, 2016January 23, 2017

Chat Apps: Real-Time Travel Information on the Move

Social Media

If visiting Istanbul, you may well buy a tourist pass giving discounts to museums, bus tours and other attractions. Many cities have them. But not all offer ... Read more

April 1, 2016January 23, 2017

The only way is video

Social Media

I think this is a UK first: there is a drone film festival in London in May. It is essentially a drinks event with awards attached: 10 ... Read more

March 4, 2016January 23, 2017

Social media analytics: be careful what you choose

Social Media

A COUPLE of years ago, I started playing with an analytics tool called Sumall. It’s essentially a site that pulls together social media statistics from all platforms, ... Read more

February 8, 2016January 23, 2017

Find a friend in Iceland through social media

Social Media

One of the many, many benefits of this technological age is that it has allowed destinations to put themselves on the map in a way that they ... Read more

December 1, 2015January 23, 2017

Would you buy a present without reading the reviews?

Social Media

With Christmas shopping yet to reach its peak, time spent researching product reviews will be hugely on the increase. Online reviews now form a vital part of ... Read more

October 7, 2015January 23, 2017

Social media helps business to bloom in British tourism

Social Media

A COUPLE of years ago, my wife and I made the big move out of London to Dorset to set up a cut flower business. The business ... Read more

September 4, 2015January 23, 2017

Square, us? Instagram makes its photo size rule obsolete

Social Media

You can’t keep Instagram out of the news. Already the brightest star in the social media firmament, IG is generating ever more heat this summer. I wrote ... Read more

August 12, 2015January 23, 2017

The app making it difficult to be lost in translation

Technology

For several years when I was deputy travel editor at The Times, we ran a weekly slot in which we invited readers to share their favourite travelling ... Read more

July 10, 2015June 2, 2020

Making money out of Instagram

Social Media

Instagram remains the current darling of social media, its star rising as brands clamour for attention in the best photogenic social platform on the market. The ability ... Read more

June 11, 2015January 23, 2017

Instagram redesign: revolution or evolution?

Social Media

Instagram’s website has been redesigned. On the face of it, that’s very nice but there’s not a lot to shout about. It does look better, certainly. Only ... Read more

May 5, 2015January 23, 2017

Tourism Attractions Should Embrace Social Media

Social Media

There was a distinct moment when David Coulthard realized he had ‘cracked’ the challenge of encouraging his staff to adopt social media. The marketing manager of Salisbury ... Read more

April 2, 2015January 23, 2017

Self, Self, Self. In Some Places

Social Media

It’s getting to the point where you need to check whether its acceptable to brandish a selfie stick. Last month, several museums banned the ubiquitous poles. Music ... Read more

January 28, 2015January 23, 2017

Old Media and New Tricks: Money Rules

Blogging, Technology

Recently, a blogger friend told me of a trip she will take in March to Africa. Nothing new there. Except that the publication she is writing for ... Read more

December 17, 2014January 23, 2017

Social Media: bye bye fictitious figures

Social Media

Over the past five years, bloggers and brands have built fictitious number of real followers. They have bought followers, blindly followed everybody that follows them (without regard) ... Read more

October 22, 2014January 24, 2017

Will Storify enter the Room 101 of digital travel?

Social Media, Technology

I don’t know how I feel about Storify. I mean, we’ve been together for two years now and I’ve never been let down. Yes, I’ve dumped others. ... Read more

September 24, 2014January 24, 2017

Instagram: the star social performer of 2014

Social Media

Let’s put video to one side for a moment. But if you accept that images are very important to your social media strategy, then Instagram has to ... Read more

August 29, 2014January 24, 2017

Facebook cracks down on the click-baiters

Social Media

It’s called click-baiting, whereby fantastically humorous quizzes await those who link through and then (usually) share the results with friends on Facebook. In this case, ‘Canvey Island ... Read more

July 31, 2014January 24, 2017

The splintered picture in travel and social media

Aviation, Social Media

I work with social media in travel every day. Nose down to the grindstone, I don’t sniff the air often enough to always gauge what others are ... Read more

July 17, 2014January 24, 2017

Using Twitter for Twitter stats

Social Media

In preparing monthly reports for travel clients on how well their social media is faring, I’m a fan of Twitonomy in gathering data on Twitter. It gives ... Read more

July 2, 2014January 24, 2017

The anatomy of a perfect blog post

Blogging

They say that email marketing is dead. That the opening rates are so low, that you do your brand more damage than good by abseiling into an ... Read more

May 22, 2014January 24, 2017

The social media expert is dead. Discuss

Social Media

There have been a few more blog posts doing the rounds recently announcing the death of the social media consultant. The broad argument goes that, as companies ... Read more

April 24, 2014January 24, 2017

Twitter and the art of promoted accounts

Social Media

Twitter has become a commercial beast for some time now. But until last week, I’d not really considered it as a potential business tool, instead using the ... Read more

March 27, 2014January 24, 2017

Video back in favour again on social media

Social Media

Screenshot by Jennifer Van Grove/CNET There’s an old saying in journalism that goes like this: One is interesting, two is co-incidence, three is a blog post. That ... Read more

February 26, 2014February 13, 2015

Traverse 2014: it’s all about travel bloggers

Blogging, Social Media

Image: Macca Sherifi More than 165 travel bloggers gathered in Newcastle/Gateshead at the weekend in the year’s first UK gathering, allowing observers (including me) to test the ... Read more

January 31, 2014January 24, 2017

Instagram appeal grows across UK

Social Media

Stick a pin in a map of the UK and chances are that you’ll find an Instagram community at work in the area. From Cumbria to Dorset, ... Read more