Travolution@ABTA 2006 - Social media bursts out

Travolution has been busy here today, hosting a series of sessions that attempted - and suceeded, we felt - to summarise the world of Web 2.0 and its impact on travel.

It was actually rather interesting watching the reaction of not a majority, but a sizeable chunk of the delegates when listening to our trio of speakers - Travolution boss Simon Ferguson, Ed Whiting from Comtec and Dean Harvey from Spannerworks.

Many people, in part thanks to the recent Google deal and general mainstream media coverage, have now heard of YouTube.

MySpace registers somewhere on most radars, too - but throw names like Bebo, Technorati, Digg, Del.icio.us, or terms like mash-up, into the mix and some people start shifting in their seats a little.

It is crucial that travel companies - and there are many of them here - understand, despite the challenges of the brave new world, that there is actually a vast world of opportunity out there.

The travel industry is full of creative people. Channel that creativity into blogging, videos and social media tools and the world of Web 2.0 need not be something to be frightened of, but something to embrace.

Kevin May, editor, Travolution