As last month's oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico threatens to scare off vacationers from beaches in Louisiana, Alabama, Mississippi, and Florida, tourism departments in those states are using social media to provide user-generated updates via photos and text.

The tourism departments of all four Gulf States have launched top-of-the-page advisories on their websites, with up-to-date information about the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. Some of them are also leveraging their websites and social media properties to encourage ...