This is the age of the social network. Facebook recently overtook Google in terms of internet traffic, and with around 500 million members, it would be the third biggest country in the world.
Travel is no exception. There are numerous travel social networks, and many of them provide a lot of value. But they were not created equal. These are the top ten travel social networks, and what you should be using them for.
Tripatini: ASK A TRAVEL EXPERT. Once described as “Facebook for travellers” by the New York Post, Tripatini is notable for bringing together travellers with travel experts, be it travel journalists, publicists, agents, vendors, or other local experts. In line with their slogan “The Social Network for Travelers & Travel Experts”, Tripatini members can connect and interact with industry insiders, which makes it a valuable resource if you’re a traveller in need of useful information. Instead of only receiving tips from fellow travellers (often the case on other networks), you also get more access to the professionals who can give you the insider tip that will make your travel experience truly memorable. And this in turn allows travel industry professionals to build followers for their own services by providing expert advice. Tripatini’s Ask a Travel Expert forum even features a widget you can embed on your desktop, blog or Website to help your site visitors get professional answers… or to help the pros keep tabs on the latest questions they can offer their expertise on. As well as eliminating the traditional barriers between travellers and professionals, Tripatini provides unique, informative travel content such as destination spotlights, user-generated blogs, image galleries and newsfeeds through their ever-growing community. Arthur Frommer proclaimed himself “simply impressed – enormously impressed – by it”
Boots N All / Lonely Planet Thorntree forum: ASK A TRAVELLER. Boots N All is an indie travel guide with over 30 websites covering all aspects of travel, while Lonely Planet is a travel publishing giant whose guidebooks are used all over the world. Both sites have a great community of travellers with message boards and forums that are packed with useful tips and advice. If you’re after specific advice from fellow travellers, you could go much worse than to ask a question on these message boards and forums; questions tend to be answered quickly and helpfully, and users are normally very friendly.
TripWolf: READ TIPS FROM EXPERTS AND TRAVELLERS. TripWolf was discussed in more detail in a previous post, so I don’t want to cover it in too much detail, but suffice to say that there are a number of interesting aspects. TripWolf combines user-generated text and reviews with content and tips from professional travel writers, e.g. from Footprint guidebooks. There are a number of expert ‘trip gurus’ available for answering questions, a useful trip planner, the chance to see other people’s itineraries, and daily blog posts and travel stories. TripWolf also provides city guides via their iPhone app, which is free to download, although you’ll have to pay for the premium content.
TripAdvisor / Virtual Tourist: READ REVIEWS FROM TRAVELLERS. TripAdvisor needs little introduction. TripAdvisor-branded sites attract over 35 million unique monthly visitors and contain over 35 million reviews and opinions, constituting the largest travel community in the world. VirtualTourist.com was perhaps the original online travel community, and gathered over a million registered members before being acquired by the TripAdvisor Media Network in 2008. It remains one of the largest sites and best resources in the network. These sites are very useful for finding a mass of opinion on restaurants and hotels, with low standards mercilessly harpooned! TripAdvisor now has a useful addition to its popular Facebook application, “Cities I’ve visited”, which allows you to see which of your friends has been to a destination you’re researching.
Dopplr: SEE WHERE YOUR FRIENDS ARE GOING. Dopplr is different from many travel social networks, because it’s not about telling people where you’ve been. It’s about where you’re going. Instead of connecting one person who’s been to a place and one person who hasn’t, Dopplr enables smart travel planning, allowing you to privately share your travel plans with your personal network and to see where they will be at any one time. So you won’t end up missing a close friend by a day or two when you’re half way across the world. Originally launched as a service for selected global companies, Dopplr is now public, but it aims to restrict its user base to members who will actively and regularly participate. Nevertheless, they’ve still attracted several million members. The site is also available on mobile.
TripSay: SMARTER TRIP PLANNING. TripSay allows users to share their trips and connect with travelling friends, but it also makes trip-planning faster, easier and more fun by recommending targeted information to users based on their travel preferences. Working from the assumption that every traveller looks for different things from their trips, TripSay aims to filter the amount of research that users need to do, and thereby to deliver quality information that will be genuinely useful for the user. Instead of sifting through mountains of generic information, travellers only find the information that is useful and interesting for them. By “liking” or “hating” places that you’ve been before, you will be connected with like-minded travellers, and new destination ideas will be suggested.
WAYN: SOCIAL NETWORK WITH A TRAVEL THEME. Where Are You Now (commonly shortened to WAYN) is the world’s largest travel and lifestyle community, with over 15 million members around the world. A true travel social network, members must sign up and create a profile to use the site, like Facebook. WAYN connects like-minded people based on what they have done and what they want to do, allowing them to interact via instant messaging, email and SMS. The “Who’s Around” feature shows users which of their friends are available, while the new “Meet People” feature suggests friends based on interest matches. You can also benefit from the local knowledge of people who have been to your destination.
Foursquare: CHECK IN, RECEIVE POINTS, DISCOVER NEW PLACES. Location-based application Foursquare allows users to share local experiences, connect with friends and discover new places. Like a Twitter for travel, you can keep up to date with friends while creating a real-time social city-guide. “Check-in” anywhere in the world and you’ll be awarded points and badges based on your adventurousness, although the criteria for this remain relatively secret. Available on the web but primarily used on mobile devices, many people view Foursquare more as a game than a travel social network, but its massively growing popularity merits its inclusion.
I’ve found a lot of useful information on all of these sites, and I use most of them regularly, but I particularly like the way Tripatini brings together travellers and experts in a way that is beneficial to both but at no cost to either. Travellers receive personalised advice from those with genuine local knowledge, while local service providers are given a platform to attract followers and customers simply by demonstrating that expertise. The founders David Paul Appell and José Balido are experienced travel experts themselves, and they’ve come up with a great site that is well worth checking out.
Charles Crellin
2 years agoGreat idea!