The objective of the Social News Hub is to create a one stop shop for content which makes the most of the latest social media channels in a tangible and trackable way as well as hosting fresh and newsworthy content.
The Spanish National Tourist Office in London has launched a pioneering social news hub; a robust cloud-hosted social media news platform which incorporates all existing and new social media channels in just one place.
The Social News Hub which is the first of its kind for the UK travel industry is connected to over 323 social channels and offers a wide range of services for users such as regularly updated news content, downloadable copy and images, quotes, links, polls and video links.
The objective of the Social News Hub is to create a one stop shop for content which makes the most of the latest social media channels in a tangible and trackable way as well as hosting fresh and newsworthy content. The hub will be updated on an ongoing basis and will provide inspiring content as well as downloadable images, videos and other useful documents.
Created with traditional and new media in mind, the Spanish Tourist Office hopes that the Social News Hub will become the ‘go to’ resource for all those interested in communicating about travel to Spain, as well as Spanish culture and happenings. Likewise, the newsroom will publish content provided by external contributors from bloggers to established travel writers.
Enrique Ruiz de Lera, Director of the Spanish Tourist Office in London, explains the concept: “The launch of the Social News Hub is part of our overall digital strategy. We wanted to host a platform which integrates all of our current digital and social media channels in just one place, as well as offering easy expansion for the future.
In the last few years, we have seen a compete shift in the way news is distributed and consumed. Holidaymakers are increasingly looking to new media channels to research their holidays, such as blogs, forums and facebook and therefore we wanted to create a robust platform that speaks to our many ambassadors including citizen journalists and bloggers as well as traditional media.
The social news hub must feature engaging and accurate communication so is edited by our digital editing team however, unlike conventional newsrooms the hub allows users to comment on the stories and to get in touch with suggestions and content. As well as comments and polls, a feedback element has been incorporated which urges our audience to contribute to the content.
Going forward the idea is to incorporate hosted content and comments from across the board, whether it be from a well-known Spanish chef or sports star to a hiker or cyclist that has taken to documenting his travels around Spain.”
The social news hub can be accessed either directly via the following link (http://socialnewsroom.spain.info/en/) or is accessible via the ‘Spain in UK’ facebook page. The social news hub will also be connected via a ‘social news hub’ tab on the official Spanish Tourist Office website from today, 5th November 2012, corresponding with the start of World Travel Market.
Vicky is the co-founder of TravelDailyNews Media Network where she is the Editor-in Chief. She is also responsible for the daily operation and the financial policy. She holds a Bachelor's degree in Tourism Business Administration from the Technical University of Athens and a Master in Business Administration (MBA) from the University of Wales.
She has many years of both academic and industrial experience within the travel industry. She has written/edited numerous articles in various tourism magazines.
