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Ireland's national tourism board has launched a social media campaign to connect with an estimated six million people of Irish extraction living in the United Kingdom.

The 'My Irish 140', which has been launched by Tourism Ireland, encourages people to tweet just what it is that makes them Irish on #makesmeirish.

The campaign started at 1.40pm on 10 December, and will continue over 140 hours. The best tweet will win an 140 hour adventure tour of Ireland, embracing sheep dog trials and hot air balloon rides, while spot prizes will be awarded every 140 minutes.

The best tweets, which currently include 'explaining to people what potato bread is made of', are displayed on Myirish140.com.

The social media initiative follows a recent campaign by an online campaign launched by national newspaper, The Irish Times, designed to counterbalance the recent slew of bad news about the Republic of Ireland.

People were invited to tweet positive things about the country on #greatthingsaboutireland. Among the 'great things' were 'all the ailments that can be treated by putting on the kettle', 'wakes and funerals turning into parties' and 'looking like Quasimodo but still being able to charm the pants off a beautiful foreigner due to the accent'.

Niall Gibbons, chief executive of Tourism Ireland, said: 'Twitter is a great way for us to promote Ireland and engage directly with potential British holidaymakers in 140 characters. We can keep in touch with people around GB, track what they are thinking, inform them about news and events in Ireland in a fun way, inspiring them to come and explore the island of Ireland.'

The impact of online word-of-mouth cannot be underestimated, particularly when it comes to travel and holiday decisions.  Tourism Ireland aims to be part of a lively conversation about Ireland, to engage with fans and get them talking about the many great things to see and do here. This is part of our overall marketing strategy which increasingly uses social media to complement both our traditional and other e-marketing channels.'

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