A New Trend - Using Twitter for Travel

With more than 140 million active Twitter users posting 400 million Tweets a day, it wasn't long before the travel industry began using this social media to reach out with to consumers with deals that have the potential for being re-tweeted throughout the Twitter kingdom. But who knew it would be so successful?

Using a simple hashtag, would-be travelers can search Twitter for information on any number of travel subjects. Interested in traveling to Tuscany? You can search #Tuscany tours and find dozens of possibilities. You can also post your own questions and receive all kinds of answers.

Travelers can also sign up to follow travel websites that use twitter effectively to offer information and deals. Here are a few to follow:

* TripnCo.com. Launched this June, it brings together like-minded people on collaborative excursions and vacations. Be it sharing a villa in Tuscany or a yacht in the Mediterranean, travelers can propose or join a trip with other users, adding a networking aspect that most travel sites do not embrace.

* Budgetplaces.com. With more than 10,500 hand-selected hotels, hostels, apartments, and bed and breakfasts in more than 1,500 destinations around the world, budgetplaces.com offers prices 40 percent less than typical nightly rates.

Recent Tweet: @budgetplaces Hotel Opera Vivaldi in Paris gives you 40% in August! http://bdget.pl/1L

* Fly.com. This site sifts through airlines and online travel agencies giving travelers the best prices and itineraries.

Recent Tweet: @fly_com #NYC to Costa Rica, lowest price ever! $271 r/t incl. tax nonstop on @JetBlue: ow.ly/bBKnD

* Eurocheapo.com. This website sends out writers to visit cheap hotels in 26 European cities in search of the best budget hotels.

Recent Tweet: @eurocheapo This is our most popular hotel in Paris. Only 18 rooms, on a hidden street, free wifi + free breakfast. $72/nt. Bit.ly/AilSdB #Cheapo April 12

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