Someone floated the idea recently (in a Facebook Group) of writing a textbook on social media for tourism.

My first reaction:  We’re already collectively writing it as we do it. The problem is capturing the best thoughts in one place.

Even if you wrote it as an ebook, you’d have to keep updating/rewriting/re-uploading the document (just like we do with our Tourism Currents online course, which fortunately uses WordPress publishing software so it’s easy to update.)

On the one hand, it’s not about the tools – which change constantly – it’s about how we use those tools as communicators.

How about a hybrid product: communications fundamentals in a book, with accompanying blogs that speak to specific areas like mobile, social, general digital, email, offline/print, etc. Maybe someone could build out an already-solid product like Social Media Marketing: An Hour a Day.

How would you teach this topic, Professor? Let’s talk in the comments….

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The publication of my Social Media and Tourism ebook yesterday marked the start of an exciting business collaboration with Oklahoma-based entrepreneur and small town business expert Becky McCray.

We are going to work together as speakers, trainers and consultants, showing others how to use social media for economic development.

There are a number of ideas and products in the works including interactive training packages and possibly paid membership to a Web-supported community.

Here at the beginning, Becky will focus largely on small town entrepreneurship and I’ll focus on what we call “Tourism 2.0″ – how travel and tourism can use social media tools to raise awareness of their destinations.

We see them as part of a greater economic development whole for any size of town or city, anywhere.

As a small town entrepreneur herself, Becky noticed lately that many “Shop Local” campaigns seemed to be targeted to larger cities, and she had specific ideas about how to execute such a project in a small town.

Being Becky, she went ahead and wrote the book on it:  a step-by-step guide to starting a “Shop Local” campaign in a small town.   I recommend it for any business person, especially in this tough economy.

I assure you that as we launch the rest of our business, you’ll hear about it on this blog, from me on Twitter or from @BeckyMcCray on Twitter.

Thanks for your support!

I’ve blogged (and still blog) for lots of other sites, using several different platforms and themes, but ironically, I’ve never started a blog of my own from the ground up.

Today, it’s time to do that.

I want a space to write about the topics that I don’t already cover in my family travel, cultural travel, motorsports or on other Web 2.0/social media sites.

I want to write about helping people find “the good stuff.”  I’m your guide to quality information, destinations and thoughts, wherever I find them.  If I’m going to be a know-it-all, I might as well be a helpful one.

Thanks for listening.