Big Cities Compete in Twitter Tattoo Competition

March 18, 2009— -- One Baltimore man made his fondness for Twitter, as well as his commitment to the job of promoting his hometown, permanent last month when he tattooed the company's logo to his body.

It wasn't an easy decision. "I am petrified of needles; every time I go to the doctor I pass out," said Ryan Goff, 24.

Goff works for a marketing firm representing tourism in the city of Baltimore. He was already active on Twitter -- the social networking and micro-blogging service -- when his colleague Tom Rowe concocted an unusual recruiting plan to expand the visibility of the Baltimore Area Convention and Visitors Association, which left Goff with an everlasting souvenir.

In seeking to best the Twitter reach of tourism-friendly cities like Chicago and Portland, Ore., Rowe and Goff challenged those cities' tourism groups to see which could garner 3,000 followers first.

Their Twitter handle, @BaltimoreMD, had 1,700 followers. Chicago and Portland were already way ahead, just a few hundred short of the goal of 3,000. Nearly doubling Baltimore's followers would be a gargantuan task, Rowe and Goff presumed, but they said they were up for the challenge.

"It was a point of pride," Rowe said. "I had all the faith in the world that we could do it."

At 2:20 p.m. Feb 23, Rowe attacked the challenge head-on with a "Tweet" message sent to his followers asking, "Which destination will be the first with 3,000 followers: @visitchicago or @travelportland? 1,300 followers. We can do it."

Anne Hornyak, operator of the Chicago Twitter page, was close to reaching 3,000 followers. "I was hoping to beat them to that goal," she said.

What started as a competition between Portland and Chicago soon morphed into an intense three-way race for 3,000 followers, when Rowe and Goff sweetened the pot. They promised that if @BaltimoreMD reached 3,000 first, Goff would "get inked" with the Twitter logo.

"The tattoo thing would be odd enough to get people's attention," Rowe said he surmised.

Rowe rallied followers, saying, "Come on. We're like the 'Slumdog Millionaire' of destination tweets," he said, referencing the acclaimed film's underdog status during movie-award season.