Spanish take to the cloud for new social media platform

A cloud-hosted social media news platform incorporating existing and new social media channels in one place has been developed by the Spanish National Tourist Office in London.

A cloud-hosted social media news platform incorporating existing and new social media channels in one place has been developed by the Spanish National Tourist Office in London.


The social news hub is claimed to be the first of its kind for the UK travel industry.


It is connected to more than 323 social channels to provide range of services for users such as regularly updated news content, downloadable copy and images, quotes, links, polls and video links.


The hub will be updated on an ongoing basis and will provide inspiring content as well as downloadable images, videos and other documents.


The hub will be connected via a ‘social news hub’ tab on the official Spanish Tourist Office website (spain.info/uk ) from the start of World Travel Market on Monday.


STO director Enrique Ruiz de Lera said: “The launch of the Social News Hub is part of our overall digital strategy. We wanted to host a platform which integrates all of our current digital and social media channels in just one place, as well as offering easy expansion for the future.


“In the last few years, we have seen a compete shift in the way news is distributed and consumed. Holidaymakers are increasingly looking to new media channels to research their holidays, such as blogs, forums and Facebook and therefore we wanted to create a robust platform that speaks to our many ambassadors including citizen journalists and bloggers as well as traditional media.”


He added: “The social news hub must feature engaging and accurate communication so is edited by our digital editing team however, unlike conventional newsrooms, the hub allows users to comment on the stories and to get in touch with suggestions and content.  As well as comments and polls, a feedback element has been incorporated which urges our audience to contribute to the content.


“Going forward the idea is to incorporate hosted content and comments from across the board, whether it be from a well-known Spanish chef or sports star to a hiker or cyclist that has taken to documenting his travels around Spain.”


The hub can be accessed at http://socialnewsroom.spain.info/en/ and is accessible via the ‘Spain in UK ’ Facebook page.