Ski Resorts and Twitter

[billski]

I've been using Twitter for my club for a short while now.

This leads to the question, how well are resorts using Twitter, especially for conditions update. It would be nice to have a near-real time status, as opposed to a daily web update.

Anyone follow resorts on Twitter last season?

 

[jarrodski]

i just started using it this summer. @SkiSundown

I like it for being able to share things / photos that arent neccessarily "brochure" shots...

i'll post conditions, trail reports, new jump reports, mogul placement changes for Bvibert....

 

[billski]

I've notice that resorts have been using Facebook for a similar purpose. What I like about twitter is that I can combine the resorts I'm interest into one feed for all. The other good thing is that I can change feeds depending on the season and other purposes.

The word from my 20-something daughter is that if you are not using both Facebook and Twitter you are a nothing. They use it to check out the place first to see if it's active. If so, then they look at web pages. Bass akkward from what I thought. Then again, there is a generation gap here, at least for this old fart.

 

[Glenn]

Mt Snow uses both I beleive. I'm just on FB...so I can't comment on Twitter. However, I want to say that their FB feed is updated by their twitter feed? I'm not 100%. I do like the realtime updates on FB when it comes to lifts and whatnot. I don't usually mess with my phone when skiing, but if there's an issue, it's nice to be able to check in the liftline if needed.

 

[gmcunni]

i have yet to realize the value of twitter. perhaps because i'm older and spend my entire day working on PC where i have access to other sources of info.

 

[billski]

i have yet to realize the value of twitter. perhaps because i'm older and spend my entire day working on PC where i have access to other sources of info.

Twit has a bad rep for people posting what they are doing every five minutes. I don't care what time you go to the bathroom or what you ate for lunch (er, uh, well, some AZers do!) Early adopters are feeling around for what to do with it.

I think from an organizational point of view it has some interesting value. Get to your target market immediately. Like on Facebook, you can have a 4-hour special for example. It makes people to keep watching your posts.

So far, I'm finding myself entering the same information on FB. My daughter uses the analogy of TV channels. Some prefer NPS, BBC, ABC, CBS, channel 5, channel 7. Not everyone watches the same channel. This is a way to cast your net farther and wider. Apparently this is true with FB and Twit. Now us old farts use email, web sites and discussion groups. One of the great connections that AZ has made is the feed into Twitter.

I believe it may be possible to stream these tweets into something like an iPhone. It's fairly light-weight. Not all resorts have a mobile interface and I don't like pawing from site to site using an iPhone/iTouch.

 

[Geoff]

The flashie-thing on my Blackberry provokes a Pavlovian response in me to see what voice mail, email, text message, Facebook alert, or Skype message needs to be handled. Voice mail, email, and Skype are work. I also have personal email but I have enough filters that I don't see much of it on my Blackberry. "Your car windows and sunroof are open" from my neighbor was sure useful last night. Text messages and Facebook alerts are personal. I don't get many of those. The last thing I need is yet another source of interrupts.

 

[steamboat1]

One of the things I enjoy most when I'm away skiing is no computer, no TV, no cell phone, pretty much nothing electronic. I can be contacted in the evening at the house by good old fashioned land line.

That's the way I'd like to keep it.

 

[oakapple]

I followed Killington regularly on Twitter last season. They use the tool in a sensible way, and don’t clutter my feed with needless trivia.

 

[Nick]

Check out the AZ Twitter account. I created a lisof ski resorts

Sent with Tapatalk

 

[billski]

Check out the AZ Twitter account. I created a lisof ski resorts

Sent with Tapatalk

Not sure what you're doing Nick. AZ can now follow the ski resort tweets. I have a similar follow list of the areas I love.

 

[deadheadskier]

Never used Twitter, but if it's info that's coming to my cell, I'll pass. I no longer even have a smart phone. Calls and texts from friends are all wish to come over the cell.

At home, I'll check Facebook pages.

 

[AdironRider]

Well as a 26 year old Ive yet to even use Twitter, and dont really see the need to unless Im a promoter of, well something.

Have I been short changed given my generation? Not at all.

Facebook on the other hand, no way. Despite my efforts, my generation lives and dies by that site. Its pretty creepy really.

 

[riverc0il]

I don't use Twitter. Don't think it is an age thing as I am in my early 30s and occasional early adopter of tech and on occasion use excessively geeky things. So I 'get' the tech thing... I just find much of the new tech annoying. It is intended for constant communication and updates. I don't know why status updates are not passe yet.

That said, I don't think most companies are using Facebook very well, let alone twitter. During a snow storm, these guys should be posting every two hours. There should never be any doubt how much snow a ski area is receiving. In a matter of fact, when I see radio silence online, I automatically assume they are covering up that they didn't get as much. But I keep in the back of my mind that sometimes these places are just inept. The only thing worse than a business not having a FB account is having a FB account and misusing it.

 

[Nick]

I mean I have created a quick hit list of resorts. Check it out here:

http://twitter.com/#!/AlpineZone/ski-resorts

You can then follow whatever resorts you want from that list directly. I don't think I have all the NE ones but I should have most.

 

[Glenn]

I don't use Twitter. Don't think it is an age thing as I am in my early 30s and occasional early adopter of tech and on occasion use excessively geeky things. So I 'get' the tech thing... I just find much of the new tech annoying. It is intended for constant communication and updates. I don't know why status updates are not passe yet.

That said, I don't think most companies are using Facebook very well, let alone twitter. During a snow storm, these guys should be posting every two hours. There should never be any doubt how much snow a ski area is receiving. In a matter of fact, when I see radio silence online, I automatically assume they are covering up that they didn't get as much. But I keep in the back of my mind that sometimes these places are just inept. The only thing worse than a business not having a FB account is having a FB account and misusing it.

Well put. I find FB is a great place to get info on a snow day. Yeah, it's rough when you're stuck in the flatlands and you're getting updates every few hours about how it's puking out....

 

[gmcunni]

Well put. I find FB is a great place to get info on a snow day. Yeah, it's rough when you're stuck in the flatlands and you're getting updates every few hours about how it's puking out....

i too like FB for info. what bugs me though is how some of the places i "like" post FB like they do twitter. I don't need my FB wall full of traffic alerts or breaking news headlines (often the same one 3 times in 5 minutes) from Channel 8 or an inning by inning update from SNY on the Mets losing efforts.

 

[ctenidae]

I use neither Facebook nor Twitter for anything. If I want to know how traffic is, I look it up. If I want to know how a friend is doing, I ask them. If I want to know the last time you took a dump, smack me.

 

[Glenn]

I want to know the last time you took a dump.

Before I left the house this AM.... The new Northern Tool "Master Catalog" arrived last week. Great reading on the can.

 

[k123]

The only thing worse than a business not having a FB account is having a FB account and misusing it.

The perfect example of this is Belleayre. They have a FB and a twitter but they rarely update either