Greetings Readers! Happy Anniversary! Today is 22nd December 2010, and I have officially been @BruneiTweet for one whole year. I keep telling people that I started this account on 22nd December 2009, but Twitter has it on record that the correct date is 21st December 2009. Reason being this - I was in Adelaide, South Australia when I launched it...and my guess it that Twitter records sign-ups in a different time-zone.

This blog post is dedicated to you committed ones. What I mean is that there are casual tweeters and readers who read tweets and blog posts as a one off event...like a one night Stan(d). And then, there are you committed ones. You are in this for the long haul. You see the bigger picture. You are in this for better for worse, through the CNN iReports and the lousy posts. This post is for you.

  Image Source: Softwareorg.com

Here are some facts from the journey so far...

Greetings Readers! I recently read an opinion-article by Romulo Luib on The Brunei Times, shared by @Sorayadhamid on Twitter. The headliner - How do I sell Brunei's wonders? It arrested my attention. I recommend that you check it out too. This was the opening paragraph (word for word):

A COUPLE of friends asked me once what they could do when they visit Brunei for their holiday. I knew they were bent on having a good time for the week that they had planned on being away from work. I said, "There are jungles to visit, there are mosques, magnificent. But I tell you it's not like Thailand. It's not like Vietnam, Malaysia, Laos or Cambodia." And then I groped for more words. 

And then the next line:

They cancelled their planned trip to Brunei and went elsewhere.

I am not a fan of using the caps lock button or over using the bold function when blogging but I NEED YOUR HELP! I will be writing up another CNN iReport and I need your insight, help and input...but before that, picture this. You are in an airport in transit. You are sitting next to a fellow traveller. You start talking, and the person asks "So where are you from?". "Brunei" you answer. "Where is that? What is it known for?" is the next question. Do you already have an answer in mind, or do you (also) grope for more words?

So I am writing up another CNN iReport and here's the question I need your help with:

"What is the one thing you would like the World to know about Brunei?"

In other words, how can we sell Brunei to people who have never heard of or have never been to Brunei? What are some things Brunei is or should be known for? It is great to say things like 'there is no place like home', but join me on this projek and let's think bigger than that. Globally, tourism is multi-billion dollar industry so these are very valid questions.

Greetings Readers! I came across a story on The Washington Post (recommended read!) today, and I just had to share it with you. It is about a homeless man in the US who uses social media to raise awareness and speak on behalf of other homeless people; Eric Sheptock. He calls himself a "homeless homeless advocate", he has over 4,000 Facebook friends and over 800 Twitter followers, he gets invited to do speeches, and oh yes - he blogs.

> If the media player (2nd image) does not show, click on the screen shot from The Washington Post.

Check out Eric's blog http://streatstv.blogspot.com and follow him on Twitter - @EricSheptock.

What do you think Readers?

Greetings Readers! Back in the earlier days of @BruneiTweet, I sent out a few 'Big Questions'. The idea is to put out a question on Twitter and let you decide on the 'winner'. For example, in the past we found out that Mc Donald's, Nike and Milo were local brand favourites based on results from the Bruneian Twitterverse.

It had probably been six months since I asked a Big Question, so a couple of days ago...I tweeted:

"Do you follow your Head or your Heart?"

Here are your results...