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It was about three months ago that I received an invitation to participate in a social media cruise. The deal? A handful of travel bloggers were invited for seven days of Caribbean cruising in exchange for covering their adventures on Twitter, their blogs, whatever social media format they choose. I declined for a handful of reasons -- I get seasick, I'm a little claustrophobic, I was highly skeptical that this trip was my scene.
Wow, am I glad I made that decision! Not only does Hurricane Ida mean that the boat has been rolling (though I see that it's calmed this morning), but the participants spent yesterday being blasted on Twitter under the #FollowMeAtSea tag. Ouch.
What was meant to be a fun adventure, an opportunity for the host to use social media to promote their services, turned into an object lesson into how not to use Twitter. The issue at hand -- a totally valid one -- was the environmental and social impact of cruising. Vocal critics of the industry used the hashtag to promote an anti-cruising agenda. So far, so good, but the discussion quickly turned to personal attacks, defensiveness, and an absurd one-upping around who's a "better" traveler.
I found the whole thing embarrassing but I couldn't look away. I eventually blocked the Twitter handle doing the most baiting, that seemed to moderate the tone some, but what I really wanted to do was block the hashtag. I was frustrated that the critics couldn't see this as an opportunity to ask hard questions about impact -- after all, their social media contacts were right there on board with access to the public relations staff. I was disappointed that the host didn't seize the opportunity to respond directly to their critics; I've looked, they do have green initiatives and as a resident of a cruise terminal town, I'm actually aware of some of them. And I was amazed at the defensiveness and vitriol from some of the people in the conversation.
Here's a little more detail in to what I think went wrong:
- Attacks were made on individuals rather than the industry. My best analogy? The seat reclining wars. It's uncool to hate the guy in front of you for reclining -- he paid for a reclining seat. The airlines has put you in a remarkably uncomfortable position, the guy in front of you on the plane is Just Like You. Go after the airlines, not the passenger, okay? Let's talk about the airlines -- or in this case, the cruise lines. We've heard it here on BlogHer before -- attack the idea, not the individual.
- An opportunity went sour. With smart, well respected bloggers on board, this could have been a forum for asking hard questions about environmental impact while seeing first hand both the initiatives and the results. It can still happen, the trip isn't over yet, but the tone of the conversation has gone from curious to hostile and defensive. Because of the personal attacks, those on board could understandably be reluctant now to engage.
- The host was absent or intentionally ignored the critics. The host had the opportunity to use this discussion as a platform to highlight their work to mitigate impact -- if it exists. They initiated the conversation by inviting a group of well connected travel twitter folks to talk about their experiences, but they were not prepared for either criticism or to participate themselves in more than just the barest, self promotional manner. They seemed unaware that the conversation they initiated would have active participants, not just passive consumers.
- Heat made for bad manners. Personal insults are the fast track to alienation. No matter how excellent your point, no one wants to engage with you when you cease being civil. Claiming the moral high ground is a poor tactic too, no one wants to converse with someone who thinks they're better than you are -- and says so.
"Why would you take a cruise?" is a good question. "What's the environmental impact of that choice?" is also a good question. While I do trust that there are bloggers on board who are willing to ask those questions, I also believe that there are those along for the fun of the ride. I'm willing to wait until they've published their results, though, before I form my opinions.
My takeaway from this whole thing is more surprise than anything else. The travel community, it turns out, is subject to the same squabbling of any
