DROGHEDA IS hoping the town can tweet its way out of recession and is using Twitter this weekend for a novel promotion which it is hoped will attract shoppers to the Co Louth town.

Prizes of €3,000 are up for grabs in TweepTown, a photography competition to find the most interesting, eye-catching and original images of products on sale in the town on Saturday.

To take part shoppers have to follow the @DroghedaIreland account on Twitter and then post pictures to the network with the hashtag #tweeptown at the start of the tweet.

The competition is being run as part of the Local Heroes series on RTÉ television which is documenting efforts to revitalise the economy of the town.

Fiona Ashe, of FlasheForward Communications, who devised the initiative, says the internet has changed the way people buy.

“Consumers are very influenced by their online community. They consider opinions expressed by their peers through social networks about products and services before deciding to buy. TweepTown taps into this phenomenon and leverages it for Drogheda.”