Will enthusiasm for travel apps be the same on MySpace?

For very obvious reasons TripAdvisor is to push its three enormously successful Facebook applications onto rival social network MySpace. We got the story this morning.

The trio of apps - Cities I’ve Visited, Local Picks and the frighteningly addictive Traveler IQ Challenge - have attracted six million downloads over the last year, which is impressive.


But we are pondering a few things:

• Is the drive for apps slowing down?
• Many people are members of both social networks, so would it be unlikely (odd, even) if the same user dowloaded the app again for MySpace?
• What is the longevity of a travel app?
  

Kevin May, editor, Travolution

Technorati tags: myspace facebook tripadvisor apps

Are social network advertisers barking up the wrong tree?

Our latest column in Travel Weekly:

For many people in the industry there remains a big question mark over the value of using social networks to reach potential consumers.

At Travolution we have been unashamedly guilty of talking up the benefits of throwing increasingly scant resources at sites such as Facebook, MySpace and others in order to spread the marketing of a brand into these hugely popular new areas.

It is becoming clear to some marketers that traditional online advertising is not as rewarding – in terms of solid leads – as many would have expected, given the enormous volume of people using social networks.

One marketer said to us recently: “People use social networks to talk to each other, not buy products.”

This is a dilemma for travel brands and travel per se is one of the most experiential products.

Consumers appear very comfortable with using a social network to talk about their holidays – the planning process and, most importantly, what happened in resort.

Some travel brands – STA Travel in particular – have capitalised on this by creating simple applications within a Facebook page for people to visit, rather than traditional advertising slots.

Nevertheless, a new report by digital marketing agency Tamar suggests travel brands are still missing out on the goodwill factor often associated with a holiday.

There is a “great deal of consumer support” on social networks for travel brands, but only a few have registered their presence there.

But the most interesting fact to emerge from the study is this: brands that have tried to embrace social networks have a massive 59% more unofficial supporter groups than those with no presence.

It seems that just acknowledging the existence of social networks and creating some kind of presence is a good start.

Kevin May, editor, Travolution

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

SES London - Cash in China; Mobile in Japan

Boy, search is complex in Asia.

In Japan keyword choice is made that bit more difficult in that the same word will have multiple spellings.

Venice, for example, has six well used versions so you need to make some informed decisions on which version(s) you use on your site.

Japan has a different no 1 SE - Yahoo with 47 million users per month to Google’s 27 and Rakuten's 27.

The number 1 social network is not MySpace or Facebook but Mixi with 17 million users.

But probably the most intriguing fact is that more people in Japan now access the
internet via mobile then PC.

But China, forecast to overtake the US in internet users this year, really takes the biscuit (I would say Fortune Cookie but apparently these don't exist in China and are actually made in Mexico).

China search is dominated by Baidu.

This is very different from Google, not least in that paid inclusions sit at the top of the 'natural results' yet 90% of users don't realise they're paid for.

On the subject of paying most Chinese still prefer to pay in cash.

Particularly in travel with 60% of online transactions on C-Trip (the Chinese 'equiv' of Expedia) involving cash on demand that involves a man on a moped arriving at the online buyers doorstep, getting the cash then handing over the tickets.

This will change as credit cards are growing but, in the meantime, this is a stark example of just how different internet business really is in China.

Matt Brocklehurst, marketing director, Latitude Group

Google blames social media

Plenty of excellent analysis across the web to Google's "disappointing" financial results.

Dan Farber and Larry Dignan on ZDNet.

Greg Sterling on SearchEngineLand.

Both go into a lot of detail about comments from chief financial officer George Reyes about the impact (or not) of social networks advertising to the bottom line.

In not so many words, the clicks on Google Adsense from the likes of MySpace are not meeting expectations.

An apparent problem with social networks, as someone put it to us a few days ago, is that users are not in "transaction mode" when they are visiting a social network - they are in "chat mode".

Kevin May, editor, Travolution

Technorati tags: google social network

Predictions from around the web

Ahead of our own crystal ball gazing post (currently being written), check out the predictions from the Travolution RSS reader.

Guardian's John Naughton - Internet's own 9/11.

Drama 2.0 - The lighter side of the tech world.

Mashable's Adam Ostrow - News Corp to sell MySpace. Mobile social networking. Blogs become acquisition targets. Facebook goes truly mainstream. Start-up consolidation. Microsoft buys Yahoo. Email lives.

Mashable's Mark Hopkins - Battle between apps. Intellectual property. Rise of Green Tech. No bubble bursts.

ZDNet's Dana Blankenhorn & Paula Rooney - Battle for the network.

Computerworld's Stacy Collett - Google in 2008.

Struan & Associates Tourism Destination Crisis's David Beirman - Gulf states growth. Eco tourism. Eastern Europe. Stopover in Asia.

ZDNet's Mary Jo Foley - Microsoft in 2008.

Guardian Travel Section - Destinations aplenty.

We will add more as they come in during the next few days.

Kevin May, editor, Travolution

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

Identity theft rife in the travel industry

Brace yourself for some breaking news: Revealing your personal details online, or leaving your passport and/or wallet hanging around a hotel room, could make you a target for identity theft.

I know, I must be joking, but alas it's true.

Aren't you pleased I shared this important nugget of information?

I know August is a slow news period, but surely it's not necessary to trot out the same old stories week after week, year after year (change the date, keep the headline, is a phrase which pops to mind).

Over the past few weeks, a number of "warnings" have been issued to consumers about the hazards of revealing their personal and financial data online.

The scaremongers of late seem to favour targeting online social networking sites like FaceBook and MySpace (see our recent blog post Dark side of social networking).

Obviously, something which is new and interesting (though social networking sites are not really all that new) must have some major flaws (please).

But the "news" doesn't stop there.

Fraudsters are helping insurance premiums to skyrocket, so it is only logical that banks remind their careless customers not to leave their wallets hanging around for all the world to see.

New research from Capital One reveals that 45% of British holidaymakers don’t use the safes provided in hotels, with the majority leaving passports and personal documents lying around hotel rooms and apartments, or carrying them around whilst out and about.

Actually, that is a rather staggering statistic.

But, having just returned from holiday in Corfu, where many of the apartments and villas charge you a fiver a day to use their safe, I can understand why holidaymakers might opt instead to spend their hard-earned dosh on something more holiday-like (like a carafe of local wine).

The sad truth is we all have that "it will never happen to me" arrogance. I do it and I'll bet you a fiver you do it.

So, whilst I am a bit tired of all the scaremongering, I guess maybe we do need to be reminded to use some common sense---whether it's at home, abroad, online or offline.

(I do, however, take issue with targeting specific companies barring some firm evidence of their specific risk.)

Do we really need all these statistics and reports to tell us what we intuitively know?

No. But will we forget all about this by the time the next summer holiday season rolls around?

You betcha. Hence why I'm saving this blog--just gotta change the date next year.

Tricia Holly Davis, chief writer, Travolution

Why is everyone banning FaceBook?

Have you heard that the UK government has now banned its employees from using FaceBook?

Well, they have, as have a number of private firms, who shall remain nameless in the interest of sparing them the shame they deserve.

Let's go back to the UK government's decision for a moment, though.

It says it doesn't want its employees using FaceBook for fear that they will not get any work done.

That really helps to instill my faith in civil servants' commitment to their jobs. Cheers.

You can just hear the Homer Simpsonesque grumble..."Stupid working".

Can't you just see the next Prime Minister's Questions:

David Cameron (who no doubt has lots of hoodies as "friends" on his personal FaceBook account): "So, Mr Brown, why has your government banned its employees from using FaceBook?"

Gorden Brown (Scottish droll): "Britain will stand united against terrorism."

It's absurd.

Here's a newsflash: Banning FaceBook, YouTube, MySpace, or any other social networking site, will not solve corporate and government productivity dilemmas.

If companies and government really want to know how their employees are spending their time online, they should check out the lunchtime hits on travel sites like Expedia.

Three words: Through...The...Roof.

Translation: Employees are more interested in leaving work...not hanging out at their desk talking to some other poor slob whose bored at his desk.

Leave FaceBook alone!

Tricia Holly Davis, chief writer, Travolution

Say what you like about social networks - they are popular and travel can surely find a way to harness their potential

Ok, it seems like there are two camps of Facebook people at the moment: there are those that have completely embraced the concept and also those that use it by are trying desperately hard to find ways to criticise it and predict its imminent demise.

Let the debate amongst new media and travel professionals continue, but for a second take a look at some incredible statistics out of the US this evening regarding the phenomenal growth of Facebook and other social networking sites.

The latest figures from Comscore show sites such as Facebook have seen monthly user numbers leap from 14 million in June 2006 to 52 million just a year later (that's a rise of 270%).

Even MySpace, which here in the UK is in danger of losing its way/being overshadowed by Facebook, has seen numbers globally increase to 114 million from 66 million over the same period.

Hi5 is up 56%. Friendster 65%. Orkut 78%. Bebo 172%.

Bob Ivins from ComScore hits the nail on the head here:

“A fundamental aspect of the success of social networking sites is cultural relevance.

“Those doing well in certain regions are likely doing an effective job of communicating appropriately with those regions’ specific populations.

"As social networking continues to evolve, it will be exciting to see if networks are able to cross cultural barriers and bring people from different corners of the globe together in fulfilling the truest ideals of social networking.”

For travel brands there must be a way to seize upon this growth (and opportunity) with more than applications in Facebook and pages on MySpace.

We wrote about this a few weeks back, following comments from Alex Bainbridge.

Kevin May, editor, Travolution

Technorati tags: facebook myspace social network comscore

MySpace catches out sex offenders

MySpace has apparently identified more than 29,000 registered sex offenders on its social network.

Is that all????

This is more than four times the number the News Corp.-owned site claimed to have found in May, according to the attorneys general office in North Carolina, in the US.

In the wake of several sex offenses that are alleged to have been traced to contacts on social-networking sites, MySpace earlier this year began checking its registered-user list against a database of registered sex offenders, according to a report by Ad Age, a trade journal for the advertising industry.

The North Carolina House of Representatives is considering a bill, already passed by the state Senate, that would require parental consent for children to join MySpace.

(First children, next single men over 40)

The AdAge article quoted John Aristotle Phillips, CEO of Aristotle, an age-verification technology firm, as saying, "On the most basic level, this is horrifying".

Well, of course he's going to say this, isn't he? Come on.

I'm in no way making light of this, but I really think we're in danger of opening a Pandora's box the moment we start to even talk about restricting the Internet.

Yes, there are some bad eggs out there--29,000 in Myspace's case--but there are many more decent folk who have no ulterior, perverted motives for using social network sites.

Predators are a fact of life--online or offline--so I can only hope the good citizens sitting in the North Carolina House of Representatives will recognise that and leave their legislation where it belongs---out of MySpace.

Tricia Holly Davis, chief writer, Travolution

The dark side of social networking

Every time we start to have a little fun online, some government regulator or "concerned" citizens' association has to go and ruin everything.

The latest scaremongering comes from credit information group Equifax (aka the ultimate Big Brother), which warns that subscribers to social networking sites like Facebook and MySapce are sitting ducks for potential identity fraudsters.

Wow--good thing you told me! I was just about to add all of my personal financial details to my FaceBook profile....

To be fair to Equifax, people probably ought to think twice about posting too much personal information to any website and this will obviously present some challenges if (or, more likely when) these sites decide to enter the travel fold.

Details such as your date of birth, where you were born, and your marital status are particularly sensitive, says Equifax.

There is no denying (unfortunately) that identity theft is rampant in the UK. Last year, 80,000 people were victims of ID theft, costing the economy in the neighbourhood of £1.5 bn.

But it's wrong to imply that social network users are more at risk than online banks, for example.

I've had my bank details ripped off three times in two different countries because some genius figured out how to hack into my account or copy my debit card.

Yes, it's bloody annoying, but, sadly, it's a fact of our virtual world.

Equifax is advising people not to give too much away online....I think Equifax has probably never been on a social networking site.

Why else would they think the personal details on these sites are true anyway?

I know for a fact I'm not alone in embellishing my profiles.

Take how I met my FaceBook friend Nick, for example. He wasn't really the roller skating champion at the Croydon Blink-O-Rink.

I could be completely wrong here, though I hope I'm not, when I say that Equifax may be overreacting just a tad. I mean, if my own profiles are anything to go by, then the worst that could happen is someone snatches the identity of my avatar.

That's OK by me. I was planning a new autumn personality anyway.

Tricia Holly Davis, chief writer, Travolution

Social networks - not quite right for travel?

UPDATE: Bainbridge has continued his musings on a new post.

Current social networks - such as MySpace, Facebook, WAYN - are not the place for promoting travel companies. Why? Because travellers fall into three categories:

• Pre purchase information - finding out more product information from people who have been there before.
• Post purchase, pre travelling - checking last minute changes (errata?).
• Post travel - photo / video uploading, getting back in contact with people you travelled with.

Well, so says Alex Bainbridge on his Musings on Travel E-Commerce blog.

A fascinating post, although Bainbridge does have a social networking-type service being used by his own company, TourCMS, to plug at the end.

Worth a read...

Kevin May, editor, Travolution

EasyJet lands on MySpace

EasyJet is tapping into MySpace's 8.7 million user base to create an online resource for travellers.

The budget airline has launched a EasyJet branded page within MySpace to allow consumers to upload photos and videos of holiday destinations, including (of course) footage of attractions at easyJet destinations.

EasyJet plans to create a gallery of "interesting and little known sites" to provide consumers with holiday and weekend break suggestions which are accessbile (of course) by easyJet.

Each week a panel of judges will select the best photo and video submission to compete for the chance to win a pair of return tickets to a destination of their choice (so long, of course, as easyJet flies there).

The easyJet branded community will also allow MySpace members to blog on their easyJet travel experiences and access the latest cheap flight deals.

The easyJet channel follows the launch of several branded MySapce communities, including Adidas , Reebok and Lynx.

Tricia Holly Davis, chief writer, Travolution

Technorati tags: myspace easyjet community

Obvious to many but nice to have it officially

Mildly off-topic, but we’re here at the Periodical Publishers’ Association annual conference in London today, taking in – inevitably – reams of material about Web 2.0.

Perhaps one of the most intriguing aspects to come out of the day – which travel companies can relate to – is the publication of research about the popularity of social networking and Web 2.0 sites.

The study by Booz Allen Hamilton found 50% of online users visited sites such as MySpace, Wikipedia, Friendster, Hi5, YouTube, Second Life and Flickr.

In the UK the figure was slightly less than the average (41%), while the US (71%) and Germany (73%) lead the way. Germany loves Wikipedia, apparently...

“Contrary to popular belief”, the survey says, social networking and Web 2.0 is not the preserve of young blokes.

Sites such as Wikipedia, MySpace and YouTube have a 50-50 split between men and women, for example.

In terms of age, almost a quarter of visitors to Web 2.0 sites fall into the 35 to 49 age bracket.

A fascinating part of the research (and a crucial one for travel brands) is in the area of user recommendations.

The survey found 50% of users use tips from online acquaintances or friends to make purchasing decisions. In the Middle East this figure soars to an astonishing to 84%...

Interestingly, around 40% are happy to take advice from anonymous sources.

As the power of user generated reviews and recommendations grows, mainstream marketing messages continue to be challenged.

Kevin May, editor, Travolution

Technorati tags: web 2.0 travel 2.0 user generated content travel reviews

TripAdvisor has a MySpace page

Well, not exactly, but the gloriously sarcastic "Owl", who writes the very funny official TripAdvisor blog, does have a MySpace page.

Travolution is glad to say it has been accepted as one of the Snarky Owl's "friends".

[Travolution's MySpace page needs some love and attention]

Kevin May, editor, Travolution

Technorati tags: tripadvisor myspace

US senator aims to ban social networking

More distressing news from America’s Republican leadership appeared this morning.

Apparently, Alaskan Republican Senator Ted Stevens (the same genius who reportedly described the Internet as a “series of tubes” ) has introduced a bill which seeks to ban access to Wikipedia and social networking sites from schools and libraries.

An article in Computerworld reported that Stevens, last month, introduced a bill, which, among other things, would require that any school or library that gets federal Internet subsidies would have to block access to interactive websites, including social networking sites, and possibly blogs as well.

The article reported that the definition of those sites in the bill is so vague that it could include sites such as Wikipedia and would almost certainly ban MySpace.

The bill, entitled Protecting Children in the 21st Century Act, is similar to the Deleting Online Predators Act, which passed the House of Representatives last year, but failed to clear the Senate.

The intention of both proposed laws is to protect minors against online predators.

Noble as that intention may be, banning any educational materials—be they online or not—opens a Pandora’s Box that we would be wise to leave sealed.

Stevens’ rhetoric is disturbingly similar to another Republican Senator who represented the citizens of Wisconsin in the 1950s.

“McCarthyism is Americanism with its sleeves rolled.”

Many Americans today who read that quote from McCarthy wince with disgust.

Let’s hope there are enough of those people sitting in the US Congress.

Tricia Holly Davis, chief writer, Travolution

Spannerworks acquisition overshadowed

While all hell was breaking loose over the Thomas Cook-MyTravel merger, announced earlier today, readers may be interested to learn of another significant ownership change.

Spannerworks, the Brighton-based digital marketing agency, headed by Arjo Ghosh, has been snapped up by rival US giant iCrossing for a cool £40 million.

Rumours of a deal between Spannerworks and a US search company have been circulating for a few weeks, but the purchase by iCrossing, which counts ex-MySpace chairman Richard Rosenblatt in the same position within the team, is a major achievement for Ghosh and the team.

Spannerworks will continue to operate out of Brighton in the UK, with Don Scales and Jeff Herzog from iCrossing joining its board of directors.

Ghosh started the agency just ten years ago and it has grown steadily to now have a staff of 70.

The agency has also had some significant wins in the travel sector in the past year, including contracts to work with the likes of Thomson and Cheapflights.

Last year Spannerworks also hired Antony Mayfield as its first head of content and media – signalling its intent to add elements of social media into its search marketing strategies for clients.

[Read Mayfield’s personal blog here]

Kevin May, editor, Travolution