​A group of city enthusiasts have launched a public movement to promote Plymouth on the internet.

People involved with the project, driven by their passion for the city, are taking advantage of a range of social media tools, especially networking site Twitter.

They want Plymouth to be the first city in the UK to have a social media strategy to promote itself.

The movement, under the Devon Social Media Cafe umbrella, aims to highlight the city’s potential, despite the current economic situation.

It also wants to focus on Plymouth’s active social media community, while interacting with users worldwide.

Social media enthusiasts in the city will be using the #LovePlymouth phrase on Twitter to promote activities in and around the city, boost online discussions and send messages every day to a wide audience.

Campaigner Ash Mashhadi said: “We will be using people power to show the world how wonderful Plymouth is, because we care about this city and its future.

“Plymouth faces different problems such as transport, recession and cutbacks, but we seek to turn our disadvantages into advantages by using the compound effect, that means taking small but focused actions to create an enormous impact in the future.

“It would be like saving £1 a day for your entire life. Imagine multiplying that effect over 100 or 1,000 people. This is something we can easily manage thanks to social media.”

The #LovePlymouth tag will help to promote “the uniqueness of Plymouth”, as well as tell people about events, celebrations and places to visit.

People behind this community movement estimate that the project is already reaching 20,000 a day, but they hope that by focusing the virtual campaign the figure could treble.

The movement has already attracted local political figures such as Labour candidate for South-West Devon Luke Pollard, Claire Meredith, who works with MP Oliver Colvile, Chaz Singh and Chris Penberthy.

Mashhadi, a web designer who was born in the Midlands but moved to Plymouth 20 years ago, added: “I have lived in so many different cities and Plymouth offers greater opportunities than any other in social media terms.

“The city has one of the most active online communities I have ever seen, but it is unfocused and by changing that, we can achieve so many things.

“We can attract money and work together to have a better future by simply promoting Plymouth on the internet.”

Members of the movement are committed to make daily tweets accompanied by the #LovePlymouth tag, as well as set up online chats to endorse Plymouth.

Devon Social Media Cafe is a project that allows city new technology enthusiasts to meet and discuss topics once a month.

To join in the social movement, Twitter users have only to add #LovePlymouth at the end of their tweets.