Disney, postcards, and remote control tourists…

We all know that travel lends itself to social media – particularly visual platforms such as Instagram and Pinterest. This week, during a trademark lawsuit, Pinterest revealed that there are 660 million pins related to travel across the network. Considering Pinterest launched in March 2010, that works out at over 40,000 travel pins per day. When asked if other categories could stack up to this impressive volume of content, Pinterest commented: "We actually haven’t broken out other categories in the same way yet. Travel is clearly very popular, though". This revelation once again showcases the power of social media and the vast quantity of travel-based content uploaded.

Friends and family of well-travelled holidaymakers can expect an influx of postcards thanks to a new mobile phone app. The new app, called Ps Postcards, allows the user to take a photo and add a message. This is then delivered to the recipient through their letter box in postcard form. The new app saves the expense of foreign postage and the hassle of finding that all important post box.

Touch screen users will literally be able to feel what they see on iphones and tablets soon, thanks to exciting new technology from Disney. The software will work by sending tiny vibrations through the handheld device, fooling the brain into thinking that it is feeling the texture of an object like bumps or ridges.

On Monday, Nielsen, one of the world’s leading television ratings services rolled out its new Twitter metric. Designed to measure mass audiences tweeting about individual programmes, the ‘Nielsen Twitter TV Ranking‘ will publish data on the shows with the greatest traction on the microblogging social network. While savvy marketers see opportunity in knowing which shows have traction with Twitter users, bizarrely, studies have shown that shows with the greatest Twitter activity do not always correlate to programmes with the highest ratings…

And finally, it seems that Australia has once again proved itself a digital forward thinker with the launch of Remote Control Tourist – giving anyone with an internet connection the ability to explore Melbourne. Two individuals are documenting their travels through the city – simple enough you might think. The catch, their itineraries are completely controlled by social media users. Another example of an engaging online campaign, utilising a key aspect of social media, audience participation.