Alice tried another question. “What sort of people live about here?”
“In THAT direction,” the Cat said, waving its right paw round, “lives a Hatter: And in THAT direction,” waving the other paw, “lives a March Hare. Visit either you like: they’re both mad.”
“But I don’t want to go among mad people,” Alice remarked.
“Oh, you can’t help that,” said the Cat: “we’re all mad here. I’m mad. You’re mad.”
“How do you know I’m mad?” said Alice.
“You must be,” said the Cat, “or you wouldn’t have come here.”
I’m Ciaran Blumenfeld. Here’s how I ended up here
I kinda love making lists
- Travel is my favorite thing
- I’m a tech entrepreneur, designer and mom of four.
- But really, I always thought I’d be a globe trotting anthropologist. WTH?
- Instagram, Tiktok, Pinterest, Twitter… I’m down. Down the rabbit hole. Particularly when there’s travel, photography, food, DIY, books, cats, art, shoes, plants, and oddly satisfying things to look at down there
Hashtags have buttered my bread for nearly a decade. I’m proud of the hashtag-focussed social media data & analytics companies I have founded (read more on my personal page). But if there’s one thing I’ve learned about hashtags over the year it’s this: Hashtags are about so much more than marketing and data.
Hashtags are route markers that lead to interesting people, places, and things
I’m in the social media trenches daily. What I love the most about that is the “treasure hunt”.
Perusing social is like searching for treasure at a flea market. There’s piles and piles of garbage everywhere. But down there in the corner, surrounded by some balled up newspaper and fast food wrappers, is real treasure. It’s a post about an indie bakery somewhere with pastries that look like fine china, or a particular street artist in Europe who will draw a portrait of you in your past life.
It takes patience and a little bit of savvy know how to find the hidden gems amongst all the bad selfies.
I love a good treasure hunt. Shelling, rockhounding , flea marketing, hashtag picking…
After spending so much time researching communities and their tags for my work, I found myself returning to browse their content and wanting to tell others about what I discovered there. Oh the places to go!
For me, travel starts long before I leave home. Where to stay, where to get a sunset selfie, secret bookshops, instagram worthy donuts… you name it, it’s on social. Social media is the biggest, most current and most real travel guide there is. But the sheer volume and disorganization of information is overwhelming.
I’m using my social media data and analytics tools and training to help you cut to the chase and get on with the good stuff.
Here’s another list about why I created this site
- Vacation location planning & inspo
- Vacation activity planning & inspo
- History, trivia and other obscure facts that make places come alive
- Markets, artisans and other travel shopping ops
- Travel Product and Services Info and Research
- Travel Food/Fashion/Decor porn (but no actual porn, sorry!)
- Cute animals of the world (for me it’s not a good trip if there are no cats)
- Travel photography & post ideas and inspiration for you to share in your own feed
- Armchair traveling & general escapism
Want to collaborate? Contact me
Email me Ciaran@hashtagtravels.com if you would like to collaborate or work with this site. Drop me a note if there is a topic, location or activity you’d like us to write about.
Follow me personally on social @Ciaranblu on Twitter/Instagram and Tiktok.
I hope you’ll check out Hashtaglists.com, and Hashtracking.com if you’d like to delve deeper into topics on social media. These sites will make your life a lot easier if you are tracking a social media campaign, or looking for more ways to grow and connect with targeted audiences on social.
Email: ciaran@hashtagtravels.com