Jaunted

Hackneye pointed us to the motherlode for anyone who wants to follow U.S. city tourism boards on Twitter: The Twisitor Center. This site has a mega-listing of all the cities/states that are Twittering. The good news is there are a lot of cities that are Twittering.

Most of these are perpetually cheery news and invitations to check out the latest events in the city. Yet, the best Tourism Board Twitters are the ones who personally reply to your questions and give more personal suggestions on things to do rather just hawk the latest festival coming to town. The best place to start finding a city to follow on Twitter is at TwisitorCenter.com.

Now, the bad news is some cities that we automatically expected to be on Twitter are radio silent. Below, we've called 'em out and given them some reasons to join, aside from the obvious ones of "Everyone is doing it" and "You're a nobody unless you tweet about it."

Cities That Aren't Twittering

· San Francisco: This sort of struck us because San Fran is tech capital, shouldn't they be up on the social media craze that is sweeping the nation? And Obvious, Twitter's parent company, is based here.

· Las Vegas: Several hotel-casinos on the Strip have their own Twitter feeds and we applaud them for that but with the recession draining tourist budgets, Las Vegas should really flesh out their Twitter feed to include incentives and deals. Right now, the Las Vegas CVA hasn't even put in a single update. Not even a "test" tweet.

· Denver: According to TwisitorCenter.com, no city in Colorado is tweeting. Are they too busy skiing? What's up with that?

· UPDATE: Kansas City does have a Twitter account. Our bad. Kansas City: You may wonder why we've selected Kansas City because it doesn't seem that "major" to you. Well, if you were recently voted a hot destination for 2009, don't you think you should be onboard with the hottest social media of 2009?

· New York: Sure there are several NYC-centric Twitterers out there but we don't see any from the city's official tourism board, Go NYC. Considering NYC is one of the top cities for U.S. tourism with about four million arrivals, you'd think they be on this by now.

In all seriousness, Twitter could be some crazy social media fad that will fall the way of slap bracelets and Reebok pump shoes. However, tourism boards would be smart to use Twitter as another means of promotion and as a way to actively interact with visitors. If Bank of America and Time Warner can deal with their customers on Twitter, fielding "What to do in your city?" requests should be easy. Remember people, yes you can Twitter!

Do you find these type of Twitter feeds helpful in your trip-planning? Or do you just want to get some more followers? Share your thoughts on Tourism Board Twitters in comments below.