Is the social networking boom losing momentum?

Our latest column for Travel Weekly:

There are murmurings in the force about the sustainability and usefulness of social networks.

Last year saw the huge growth of Facebook and Bebo, and the continued dominance of MySpace.

For every cynic in travel, there was an e-commerce boss ‘looking at launching a social network’ at the height of the frenzy last summer.

But while Facebook might have taken a hit on its user numbers between December 2007 and January 2008, questions remain as to the long-term viability of social networks per se.
Some sites are seeing a decline in user engagement and monetising the concept is proving difficult for many.

Facebook, MySpace, Bebo and travel network WAYN.com would appear at this stage to be somewhat protected simply by virtue of the volume of users interacting with the sites.

They pretty much caught the wave on its way up.

But ask many of those refuseniks from last year and they will feel somewhat justified that they didn’t spend fortunes developing and maintaining social networks.

The issue here is primarily one of scale and an ability – or inability – to target an audience and add value to their time on the web.

We are hearing increasingly how travel companies are desperate to reach these network-obsessed users, but are thinking the best method will be to hit them in the existing networks, such as Facebook, through widgets and applications.

Where social networks might work is when they are driven – once again, like the perennial Long Tail of Travel theory – into specific niches.

The new smallfishbigocean.com business social network for small operators and niche agencies is a good example.

Cliche corner, but time will tell; this is still a relatively new area for businesses and consumers. Nobody will risk dismissing ideas at a time when a point of difference is so important.

Kevin May, editor, Travolution

Technorati tags: facebook bebo

Here's looking at you, kids

Haven Holidays, the owner and operator of 35 holiday parks in the UK, has added some new features to its web site aimed at making the online experience more fun.

A few weeks ago, Travolution reported that Haven had signed up Nasdaq-listed JDA Software for a new multi-channel revenue management system. Aimed, one assumes, at making the online experience more profitable.

UK holiday and caravan parks have a number of issues to overcome, in terms of profitability as well as the product perception.

Haven – and others in the sector – are using the web to address these issues. JDA will help Haven manage inventory during to drive short break business during the parks’ less busy periods outside the school holidays.

The consumer-y features launched today include an improved kids zone channel, designed to get the kids to engage with the brand before the holiday.

As a family holiday business, it makes sense to get kids onside, although whether the web-savvy ,instant-messaging, PS3, Bebo generation will be satisfied with Haven’s offer to ‘play games, download pictures to colour in themselves and take part in competitions’ remains to be seen.

Back in the mists of time – okay, mid-2004 to be precise – Mintel released a report called 'Marketing to Tomorrow's Consumers'. 46% of parents said that their children had 'some level of influence' over the choice of the main family holiday.

Tour operators are always keen to big up their kids club products – such as First Choice’s ‘we’ve taught more than 7,000 kids to swim’ TV ad campaign – but how serious is the online travel sector about engaging kids before or after their break? And how receptive would the younger generation be?

Martin Cowen, chief writer, Travolution

Where I've Been first of many on Bebo

A fair bit of hullabaloo yesterday about Bebo's announcement to allow third party applications.

These ranged from:

Bebo embraces Facebook [Techcrunch]
Bebo snubs Google [Techcrunch]
Nielsen's top ten social networks: Where's Bebo [Mashable]

We've got an interesting angle - Where I've Been will be the first travel app - on the main announcement.

If the Bebo application platform is a "clone" of the Facebook one we can probably expect many more travel-related tools to launch on Bebo in the coming months.

[Recent post about the most popular travel apps on Facebook]

Kevin May, editor, Travolution

Technorati tags: bebo facebook opensocial

Bebo will its open doors to applications

We've heard in recent days and Mashable has announced that social networking site Bebo will follow in the path of bitter rival Facebook and open its platform to third party applications.

Developers are being invited to an event in San Francisco, California, this afternoon (GMT) where they will be told who are the first partners and how the system will work.

You can almost feel that a travel-related app will be on that inital list, such is the synergy between social networks and travel experiences.

The debate Mashable is focusing on surrounds whether Bebo will use the new Google OpenSocial system or develop one of its own.

We will update if anything concrete about travel comes out of the event in SF.

Kevin May, editor, Travolution

Technorati tags: bebo opensocial san francisco

It must be very distressing not being cool anymore

This time last year Opodo was celebrating after learning it had been named one of the coolest brands in the UK.

But reaching such, er, heady heights means there is often only one way to go, according to the 2007 CoolBrands survey, and that's downwards.

In fact, such has been Opodo's dramatic fall from grace that rival online travel agecncy Expedia is now deemed cooler and Opodo didn't even manage to get on the "qualifying" group.

Say what you like about the methodology behind the CoolBrands and SuperBrands scheme (Bebo and MySpace qualified, Facebook didn't), but its PR is fantastic and the national press lap it up reproduce the results every year.

Other travel catgeory winners included:

Virgin Atlantic (general)
Babington House & The Cow Shed (hotels)
Japan (destination)

The top 20 cool brands included Amazon, YouTube, Google and Ebay.

Kevin May, editor, Travolution

Technorati tags: opodo expedia superbrands coolbrands

We need to talk the language of social networking sites

Our latest column for Travel Weekly:

Is there any value in engaging with social networking if you are working for a travel company?

This is a critical question that needs answering now that millions of people are gripped by the social networking frenzy.

It is worth pointing out that by “social networking”, I mean using sites such as Facebook, Myspace or Bebo, rather than taking off to the pub for a drink – although the similarities for travel are not too different (just remove the alcohol element).

At a Travolution advisory board meeting earlier this summer we asked some of the leading figures in the industry how they felt a travel company could engage with sites such as facebook.com.

The group agreed that travel companies should not try replicating what social networking sites are doing. “Stick to what we are good at”, would summarise the opinions of the group.

In fact, “it is not that easy to go and generate a community,” said one member.

However, what travel companies should be doing is learning how to engage with people that are using these sites. Previously people would talk to friends, family and agents when looking for ideas as they considered where next to go on holiday.

This is still taking place, but people are happy to do this on a social networking site – sharing videos and memories.

Some travel companies are learning how to do this quickly. Sidestep.com and tripadvisor.co.uk have developed quirky – and useful – applications that fit into a member’s facebook.com page.

Whether they are getting any leads from these toys is another matter. But they are right to try. For perhaps one of the best examples, look at the STA Travel page on the same site.

The agency is not trying to be a social network, but has managed to create enough of a presence that it is talking the language of the social networker.

NB: Join the Travolution group on Facebook. Or the Travel Weekly Group.

Kevin May, editor, Travolution

Technorati tags: facebook myspace bebo social networks social media

Travolution@E4T - Just checking my Facebook...

The kind folk at Datalex hosted a free internet station for visitors to EyeForTravel.

So what were many people doing once they'd plugged in their laptops?

Following news today that social networking site Facebook has attracted three million new members in the UK since October 2006, readers will not be shocked to learn that in just a few visits we counted ten people checking their accounts. [Me included, admittedly]

The site is certainly taking the country by storm. We have created a Travolution group and have attracted nearly 30 members in less than a week.

"It's so addictive," the second in command of one of the UK's biggest online travel companies admitted. "I often walk around the office and see people suddenly switch their screens away from Facebook."

Some firms are even blocking staff from accessing the site, such is its ability to distract people from the day-job.

At least staff at one particular online travel operation will be safe for a while...

Kevin May, editor, Travolution

Technorati tags: facebook bebo

Richest in travel

The annual Sunday Times Rich List (all 1,000 of them) has been published.

Clearly the hotel industry is the way to go. And whoever said Duncan Cameron and Simon Nixon (of Money/TravelSupermarket fame) are not sitting on a goldmine...

Those trousering it in the travel and web-related sectors include:

• Sir Richard Branson (Virgin) - £3.1 billion
• Nadhmi Auchi (General Mediteranean) - £2.6 billion
• Lord Paul and family (Contemporary Hotels) – £1.5 billion
• Sir Stelios Haji-Ioannou and family (Easy Group) - £1.3 billion
• Naresh Goyal (Jet Airways) – £512 million
• Duncan Cameron (MoneySupermarket and TravelSupermarket) – £480 million
• Simon Nixon (MoneySupermarket and TravelSupermarket) – £480 million
• Sir Rocco Forte and family (Rocco Forte Hotels) – £450 million
• Jasminder Singh and family (Radisson Edwardian Hotels) – £350 million
• Geoffrey Kent (Abercrombie & Kent) – £253 million
• Michael Gooley (TrailFinders) – £240 million
• Surinder Arora and family (Arora Group Hotels) - £225 million
• Andrew Davis (Von Essen Hotels) – £210 million
• Harpal Matharu (Globalgrange Hotels) – £207 million
• David Babai (Gullivers Travel Associates) – £200 million
• Peter Harris and family (Bourne Leisure) – £195 million
• Sir Michael Bishop (BMI) – £185 million
• John Cook and family (Bourne Leisure) – £180 million
• Sir Bernard Schreier and family (Danubius Hotels) – £174 million
• Michael and Xochi (Bebo) – £150 million
• Ian McGlinn (Hotel du Vin) – £146 million
• Nick Denton (First Tuesday/Moreover Technologies) – £140 million
• David Crossland and family (Airtours) – £124 million
• Jamie Moffatt and family (A T Mays) – £108 million
• David Seymour and family (Pomme d’Or) – £100 million
• Edward Faith and family (Gullivers Travel Associates) – £100 million
• Uzi Kattan (Gullivers Travel Associates) – £100 million
• Rahul and Rita Sharma (Worldwide Journeys) – £99 million
• Peter Stephens (Lotus Group) – £93 million
• Walduck Family (Imperial London Hotels) – £92 million
• Philip Meeson (Jet2) – £90 million
• Lord Daresbury and Greenall family (De Vere Hotels) – £85 million
• Maurice Segal (Modern Hotel/Expotel) – £80 million
• Giuseppe Pecorelli (Exclusive Hotels) – £78 million
• John Marston (ex-hotelier) – £76 million
• Dinesh Dhamija (Ebookers) – £75 million
• John Boyle (Direct Holidays) – £75 million
• Gulshan and Asif Bhatia (Hilton Paddington/Hyatt Regency Birmingham) – £70 million
• Tej and Bobby Dhillon (Dhillon Hotels) – £70 million

Kevin May, editor, Travolution

Travolution@MediaGuardian Summit - Beta-isation of ideas

It is a somewhat fanciful notion that there are hundreds of companies out there that are in constant "blue-sky" mode, lazing around on wacky chairs in bold-coloured rooms, coming up with great ideas for their brands.

And, what's more, risk-taking is apparently a lot of fun.

According to Joanna Shields, the international president of social networking site Bebo, their tiny team of around 30 people have often spent months formulating an idea and it has subsequently failed, only for something that was conceived and built in a afternoon has had a massive impact.

The point Shields and others on a panel to discuss social media, including Stefan Lechere at Google, are making is that if brands do not play with fire every now and again how will know if their consumers will embrace it.

My mind goes back to a conversation with a senior executive at one of the UK's leading multiples travel companies a few months back.

He said the company had tried out quite a few social media tools across their portfolio of websites - some had paid-off considerably in terms of conversions or leads, while others were quietly dropped within weeks.

I remember another senior figure from a small tour operator who told me recently that he was too afraid to ask his developers about introducing Google Maps to his website, thinking that it would be a lot of legwork and stress.

He didn't even know that Google Maps can be implemented with a widget as simple as an coded API - something any right-minded developer would not be scared of.

Funnily enough he walked away with a slightly more confident approach to trying out ideas.

Kevin May, editor, Travolution

Person of the Year is...

...You - according to Time Magazine.

This is actually quite a nice touch for a magazine that normally recognises the achievements of politicians, philanthropists, intellectuals, and businesspeople in its infamous end-of-year front page.

The cover star this year has been chosen to acknowledge the role of everyday computer users in defining the new age of the internet and media through user-generated content and involvement with sites like MySpace, YouTube, Bebo and Wikipedia.

Read the full article.

Kevin May, editor, Travolution