RAMALLAH, West Bank — A group of 50 journalists, bloggers and social media activists has embarked on a blogging tour in a bus sponsored by the Taghyeer media organization. On the morning of Nov. 4, the bus left for the town of Sebastia, northwest of Nablus, and the Village of Kur, southeast Tulkarm, both in the northern West Bank.

This is the second tour for the Social Media Bus in less than a month. The first started off Oct. 15 in the city of Jericho and visited several archaeological and natural sites suffering from neglect in the province, including Wadi Qelt and Nabi Moussa. The bloggers encouraged Palestinians to visit these areas and urge officials to focus on ailing sites.

The Social Media Bus idea produces vlogs, photography and articles about the geography and history of certain sites in Palestine to show them to the public and officials and urge them to bring about change. This tour aims to highlight the Palestinian authorities’ neglect of those sites and the weak tourist activity in those areas through social media posts including interviews with citizens and local officials. The group's posts were tagged with the hashtag #SMBUS and its Arabic equivalent.

From the city of Ramallah, the bus went to the town of Sebastia, some 60 kilometers (37 miles) away, with 50 bloggers and journalists on board. They were selected by the Taghyeer foundation officials based on their popularity on social media, their careers in local, Arab or international media outlets, and their skills in preparing written and visual reports. Chief among the participants was storyteller Hamza al-Akrabawi, who served as a tour guide as he gave historical background on all the sites visited.