photo: Chris-Seufert / Flickr / Creative Commons

Aloha. Guess what? I’ll be in Hawaii from May 24th to June 4th …working.

What does this have to do with China?

In the short term for the next few weeks. Nothing. In the long term for the coming years. Everything. Before I go into that, let me try and sum up how I got myself in this envious position of spending eight days in Oahu, Kauai, Maui and The Big Island connecting good people to each other so great things can happen.

I’ve spent the past 2 years using  social media as a platform for connecting people interested and involved in doing business in China by helping them better understand it. One of the highlights of this ongoing effort was a social media tour I co-organized last year with Web2Asia and CNReviews.com called The China 2.0 Tour in which 6 international tech bloggers spent 10 days with us on a multi-city tour that connected them directly with the local tech community in China. In between blogging, tweeting and live streaming events, tours of Chinese tech startups and exclusive Q&A sessions with the President of Google China and the Alibaba management these 6 bloggers brought along their combined hundreds of thousands millions of Twitter followers, Facebook friends and blog readers for the trip by sharing their first hand experience via social media. So there you go. A great example of social media as a tool for cross border and cross cultural sharing and connecting.

So what does this have to do with Hawaii? I’m getting there.

I follow trends of outbound Chinese tourism closely as Chinese tourists are now outnumbering and outspending Japanese tourists worldwide.  In addition to the Hawaii Tourism Authority, I’ve had meetings, discussions and interviews with NY State Tourism, Marriott International, Los Angeles Port Authority and the San Francisco  Center for Economic Development in the past year learning more about ways they are attracting Chinese outbound tourism and investment dollars to their company and local economy. If you asked me to paint a big picture based on the feedback I’ve learned, I would say there’s no doubt that these organizations understand the potential that Chinese outbound investment and tourism brings to the local economy. However, as with everything in China business, there is the potential and then there’s the challenge of tapping into that potential.

I am not a China expert. And it’s for that reason that I’ll be the first to tell you that everyone in this space — present company included — is still trying to figure it out. There is no cookie cutter formula. There is no point A to point B. There are only key learnings that we can take and adapt towards refining a broader strategy that’s headed in the right direction. This is what makes the China space so exciting to watch for those of us who have followed its development over the years. Again, I digress. Sorry, can’t help it. Big country. Huge opportunity.

So again, what does this have to do with Hawaii and social media?

I am a bit biased towards Hawaii as I have family connections there, friends there and was married there (divorced somewhere else, sorry San Diego you lose in this department by no fault of your own. lol) …so in respect to Hawaii, no surprise that there are a lot of great reasons that keep me involved and interested in the islands.

I was invited by Barefeet Studios co-founder Roxanne Darling to speak at last year’s Podcamp Hawaii. I can not stress enough how thankful I am to her for this opportunity. That event along with Twitter connected me with the base of social media and business influencers in Honolulu that I am grateful to count as friends as well as business contacts on the island.

This includes a kind introduction by Nathan Kam to HTA in an effort to help me better understand how Hawaii was positioning itself to attract Chinese tourists and hoping to be able to help out in some way or another through The China Business Network (re-launching May 26th!). Initial conversations focused on discussions related to creating opportunities for Hawaii to position itself as a tourist destination for Chinese traveling cross border.

Cross border. A recurring motivating theme for me. I am involved in several cross border initiatives with China in helping it connect better with the world. From the re-launch of The China Business Network to the China 2.0 Tour to being invited to speak on a panel at this year’s SXSW on China to the upcoming tour of China called “Geeks On A Plane” involving 30 tech investors & entrepreneurs from Silicon Valley to curator and co-organizer of TEDxShanghai . All core initiatives I’m involved with deal with connecting people cross border with China so that opportunities can be realized in the long term.

What does this have to do with Hawaii and social media. Ok fine. Here ya go.

Social media has provided the common thread for conversation involving these initiatives. In regards to tourism, social media is a great way for reaching a wide audience in China (and anywhere else for that matter) and sharing Hawaii with them. Social media and the whole idea of blogging in general is still very new as methods of PR and outreach. At the same time, I have many key contacts in China interested in helping me spread the word about Hawaii. Some ideas that have been seriously discussed are a video channel about Hawaii on Tudou.com or a special Hawaii edition of the popular Chinese reality show Quest China a “Hawaii Week” by M1NT Shanghai during next year’s 2010 World Expo.

All the ideas we’ve bounced around involves social media. A medium which, as many of us are aware, is still very new and continues to evolve as a strategy for reaching and influencing people. It’s hard to define. It’s hard to measure. It’s hard to gauge the ROI on. It’s hard to figure out where it fits in a traditional org chart. It’s new. It’s scary. It’s uncontrollable.

It’s a two way dialog that freaks people out. Especially those who are used to crafting and controlling a message. If you can get through the tunnel, the light on the other side has proven that it creates new opportunity by putting you ahead of the curve.

As a result of the growing connection among bloggers in Hawaii with those in the mainland (USA in this case), this upcoming So Much More Hawaii tour is meant as a proof of concept that through social media, first hand insight of Hawaii can create content and outreach that influences those to understand Hawaii better and want to visit the islands.

Big kudos to David Uchiyama, VP of Marketing for HTA and a shout out to the Hawaii Tourism Authority for giving this a shot and getting creative with allowing for social media to extend the reach of Hawaii online.

It was put together in …6 weeks! We have had *amazing* support and not so amazing support (the latter being another post for another day guys). We identified a window of time where key bloggers in different vertical niche markets were available to experience the island as a group with separate sector focuses. Each one has a sector they are known for covering and their visit to Hawaii is meant to share this with their audience.

Here they are. An amazing group of people who I have been lucky to have met and gotten to know this past year.

So Much More Hawaii Bloggers

Rick Calvert
Founder, Blog World Expo — http://www.blogworldexpo.com
Ricks comes from years in the trade show, conference organizing business. He is the founder and CEO of Blog World Expo. Rick will be covering the business side of Hawaii and blogging about Hawaii as a destination for trade shows, conferences, corporate retreats and other events as they relate to business. I hope he shares insight on “what would Blog World Expo look like if it relocated to Hawaii next year” :)

Jim Turner
Founder, OneByOneMedia and Social Media Director of Blog World Expo
Jim will be covering the story within the story. Highlighting the tour and the ways Hawaii and HTA are getting innovative with encouraging tourism to the island by leveraging social media (via this tour). Jim has a popular podcast show on Blog Talk Radio for Blog World and will also be sharing some adventure travel with his audience while in Hawaii.

Aric S. Queen
Value Traveler, Uptake.com
Aric was voted Current TV’s most prolific vlogger in 2008. He just wrapped up 6 months backpacking through Southeast Asia and India living on $3 a day. He’s a producer, writer and podcaster and if anyone can find a way to have a good time on a shoestring budget in Hawaii, it’s him. Aric will be blogging for Uptake.com — a leading travel search engine.

Leah Lamb
The Eco Tourist, Current TV
Leah is in charge of Current TV’s green channel. She’s also a producer, writer and video blogger. She’ll be covering the eco-tourist side of the islands and also learning more about what Hawaii’s doing in the green sector. Leah brings with her an ability to engage and crowd source the Current.com audience while leveraging her years of experience and passion for the green sector.

Shira Lazar
Solo Vacation, Jaunted.com
Shira is a popular — and extremely busy — jet seeting social media and TV personality. She brings a great crossover audience between online and network TV. She’ll be blogging for Jaunted.com — Pop Culture Travel Guide. She is a well known TV host and online personality who’ll be covering Hawaii as a great destination for the solo traveler who’s a busy professional with a hectic schedule — who is stressed out and seeks to recharge and rest.

Sheila Scarborough
Family Travel, BootsNAll and Family Travel Logue
Known for her family travel blogs. Sheila is not your average mommy blogger. She’s a retired Navy Commander and used to be stationed in Hawaii. She has traveled and blogged through China as well as various destinations in the US offering practical tips and highlighting interesting activities that are family friendly and off the beaten path. Sheila will offer great perspective as someone who is a mother of 2 who used to live on the islands and is bringing her 9 year old son with her. :)

Mark Tafoya
Foodie, Culinary Media Network
The foodie on the tour. Mark is a professional chef and co-founder of the Culinary Media Network. He has traveled to different destinations such as Indonesia on a similar tour where he offers an in depth look at local food culture. His first time in Hawaii, he is looking forward to sharing local Hawiian food and customs to his audience.

Neenz
Local Hawaiian Native and Chief Evangelist, Alltop
Neenz works for Guy Kawasaki’s latest startup called Alltop.com which offers the most comprehensive collection of blogs by category on the web. She is a native of Hawaii who is also very familiar to the social media community both on the island as well as in the mainland.  She will also be sharing posts of her own and pointing out other supportive local bloggers on the island.

All this amazing content gets agreggated to an HTA blog which launches on Monday, May 25th. In addition to covering the experiences of the individual visiting bloggers mentioned, it will also be a place where local Hawaiian bloggers can share their stories along with those online who may have visited Hawaii and have stories to share.

Combined with following the visiting bloggers, highlighting local Hawaiian bloggers and sharing stories of why those who have visited love Hawaii, we hope to create the seeds of the conversation portion of Hawaii tourism that will evolve organically into a community worldwide where people are getting to know people and culture directly via first hand insight in a way that only embracing social media’s two way conversation can provide. This gives folks a reason to spread the word, develop a strong desire to visit Hawaii and stay connected after they’ve gone by sharing their stories via pictures, videos and blog posts to those visiting the site who are interested and looking for testimonials.

All social media flowerly hippie language aside. This is more than counting retweets and followers online. This is about bringing people together by getting them on a plane and having them meet folks from the local community who are going to show them …so much more Hawaii. :D

So what does this have to do with China again?

Short term. Absolutely nothing. Long term. We’ll see. Thanks for reading. And now for a little less conversation and a little more action.  :)

photo: Ryan Ozawa aka @hawaii / Flickr /Creative Commons