Facebook & Twitter While Traveling

Share. Connect. Earn. Travel blogging has developed into a formidable industry and seems to have no end in sight. With social networking playing such an intrinsic role in all our lives, it is no wonder that you want to always stay ‘connected’ during your course of travel. Travel blogs are in great demand, but what works even better is using Facebook & Twitter for small updates. Send updates, offer travel advice, seek opinions and write reviews, all while on-the-go. While it is great to share while on the move, ensure that this doesn’t eat up too much into your travel experience. Facebook & Twitter, while being great platforms to share, tend to be a tad addictive and may hamper your travel if you don’t watch out.  Disclaimers aside, here are some great Facebook & Twitter travel apps that seek to enhance your travel blogging and travel networking experience.

Must Have Twitter Travel Apps:

TwtTRIP Twitter App – An extremely cool travel organizer that lets you organize, share, and meet people on your travels.

ArrivedOK Twitter App – Let people back at home know that you’ve arrived OK, by just turning on your cell phone.

Sat2Twitter Twitter App – Tweet from anywhere in the world using your SPOT messenger

Tweetups Twitter App – Twtapps is the integration of part of twtvite and twtTRIP and allows you to seek fellow tweeters. Add a Google map and locate places to meet up.

Must Have Facebook Travel Apps:

TripAdvisor Cities I’ve Visited – Make a personal travel map and share it with your Facebook friends, allowing you to view their travel history.

Tripit – Helps you create detailed itineraries of trips – from flight confirmation numbers to hotel check-in hours. Automatically publich this info to Facebook to keep your friends informed.

Travel Brain – Maps your travels online and creates your personality profile based on your travel map.

Where I’ve Been – Is an extremely active community of like-minded travelers. Share thoughts, seek advice and take part in geographical trivia.

If you are looking to enhance your travel social networking experience, here are a few safety tips to keep in mind.

Use a secure WiFi: While it is tempting to take advantage of free WiFi hotspots at airports, hotel lobbies and other public places, these sessions can leave you vulnerable to hacking of your email logins and other financial activities. Restrict the use of public WiFi for general browsing such as maps and train schedules.

Use an offline solution: Staying connected to the Internet while on the go is not always a feasible solution and can hamper your blogging while traveling. Use offline solutions as often as you can. Jot down those thoughts on a word doc or a notepad and upload them as soon as you gain internet access.

Carry Smart gadgets: Smart phones, tablets and other smart gadgets greatly increase the ease of communication while traveling. Invest in one of these, you won’t regret it. Smart gadgets have many apps which work offline as well, so download them now!

Ensure you have back-up: You don’t want those moments of inspiration to go up in smoke. Back up your writing on other gadgets like smart phones, tablets or portable hard drives. Or better yet, try getting some online storage and backup your work whenever you are connected to the internet.

Don’t be too open about vacation plans: Don’t divulge too many details about your travel plans, especially with regard to the dates and duration of your stay. This might leave your unattended homes more prone to thefts and burglaries.