After four years of dedication and daily posts, the San Francisco Travel Association has surpassed 500,000 “likes” or “fans” on the Facebook page, www.facebook.com/onlyinSF , titled “San Francisco – The Official Guide.”

“Facebook and social media in general continue to be an amazing tool to promote our destination. In 2012 alone, we attracted 138,000 visitors to our website from Facebook,” said San Francisco Travel president and CEO Joe D’Alessandro.

“While we may not be the largest Facebook city (in terms of fans and likes) we are definitely on the top as far as engagement – likes for posts, comments, and shares on personal pages. It’s not unusual for our posts to generate over a thousand likes or comments,” D’Alessandro said. “This is all due to the authentic ‘only in San Francisco’ content we provide.”

As expected, most of the posts feature things to do and see in San Francisco but with an insider’s perspective and a conversational tone that invites interaction. Responses to a recent post asking about the best places to photograph the city became a mini-guide for shutterbugs, http://bit.ly/SB3vN3.

San Francisco’s Facebook page also speaks as a voice from the city to the world. Triumphs like the repeal of “don’t ask, don’t tell” and tragedies like Hurricane Sandy have been addressed. After the huge earthquake tsunami in Japan, the post read, “We are deeply saddened by the recent earthquake in Japan; we have extensive ties with this country and send our concern and sympathy to all those affected by this event.” On the same day, pages from other cities continued to focus on local promotions and special events, seemingly oblivious to the events happening in the rest of the world.

In honor of Queen Elizabeth’s 60th year on the throne, San Francisco posted, “Dear Visit London, we’re still exhausted from the big Diamond Jubilee Celebration. Our queens want to know how your queen looks so good after 60 years?” Referring to the wedding of Prince William, San Francisco posted, “Dear London, We respectfully decline the invitation to the Royal Wedding tomorrow. We just have way too much going on here.”

All of these posts were greeted by thousands of “Likes” and positive comments, affirming that San Francisco is not just a city but a certain spirit that is acknowledged by people everywhere.

San Francisco Travel’s Facebook page was created on March 4th, 2009. The Facebook timeline allows visitors to go back in time to look at all of the posts made over the years. Highlights from San Francisco – The Official Guide on Facebook can be seen at http://bit.ly/10C9wN1.

San Francisco Travel also offers “OnlyinSF” on Twitter at http://twitter.com/onlyinsf with 98,587 followers.