Travel 2.0: The Emerging Web 2.0 Virtual Travelscape

Travel 2.0: The Emerging Virtual Travelscape Alan A. Lew Dept of Geography, Planning & Recreation, Northern Arizona University Web20Travel.Blogspot.com - TravelGeography.info [email_address]

Distributed Business Model

Geographically Distributed

Employees / Production

Customers & Sales / Products

Distributed Business Model

Loose Couplings & Long Term Relationships

Lower Transaction Costs & Greater Innovation

Social Networking with Partners & Customers

Shared Intellectual Property

Through Transparency, Frequency, Visibility

Technology to Facilitate Communication ( Web 2.0 )

To build Community, Trust, & Cooperation

New Knowledge through many Small Discussions

Game Theory

“ Web 2.0 ”

Web 2.0 = new revolution in Internet growth

Internet = invisible part of every day life

New levels of access to information

New Concepts, Applications, Websites, Channels

eHub - h ttp:// www.emilychang.com/go/ehub /

“… web applications, services, resources, blogs or sites with a focus on next generation web (web 2.0), social software, blogging, Ajax, Ruby on Rails, location mapping, open source, folksonomy, [tagging], design and digital media sharing”

Democratizing the tools of production

User Generated & Contributed Data / Info.

“ Ideas over Costs”

Online business without venture capital

“ a Billion Niches”

Custom Streams, not mass markets

Enabled by High Speed Internet

Social Software “…lets people rendezvous, connect or collaborate by use of a computer network” “software that supports group interaction” ( wikipedia.org )

Instant Messaging

Internet Relay Chat

chat rooms

Internet Forums

bulletin boards

Social Network Services

MySpaces

Social Guides

recommend real world places / services - TripAdvisor

Social Bookmarking

publicly posted favorite lists

Del.icio.us, Google Notebook

Social Reputation Network

eBay

Weblogs

Blogs, Podcasts, Vlogs/Videocasts

Social Citations

references for academics

Citeulike.org

Peer-to-peer Social Networks

file sharing – photos, games

Virtual Presence

meeting in online worlds

Second Life

Virtual Worlds & Massively Multiplayer Online Games (MMOGs)

VOIP – Internet Telephony

Skype, GizmoProject

Wikis

Collaborative Writing/Editing

Writely, JotSpot, Wikipedia

WEBLOGS

“ Weblog ” = 1997 “ Blog ” = 1999

= Websites that contain a series of articles in chronological order = Niche Media

Identity Blogs (diaries)

News & Political Blogs

Collaborative Blogs (many contributors)

“ Moblog” = Mobile phone photo blogging

“ Blogosphere ” = 40.7 million Active Blogs

1.2 million posts each day = 50k / hour (May 2006)

BUT – Many new blogs are Splogs -- Spam Blogs

Travel Blogs

Personal Trip Diaries

Golden Triangle Blog - golden- triangle.blogspot.com

Travel Pod - www.travelpod.com

My Life of Travel – mylifeoftravel.com

YourHotelStinks -

Destination Blogs

PinoyTravelBlog.com – A Filipino Guide to the Philippines

Gadling.com – Professional Travel Writers - collaborative blog

Travel News & Opinion

Roads Less Traveled - www.ahlsmith.com

Scott Ahlsmith, president of The Travel Institute

VagaBlond.com

Collaborative Travel Blog – “Fashionable Travel”

Geeky Traveller – A Travel Blog for Nerds - www.geekytraveller.com

Written Road blog – Tips for Travel Writing – writtenroad.com

Travel Blogs

Blog Marketing

“ Turning Marketing on its Head”

Viral Marketing

Information focused, not Selling

Employee blogs (maker specialists)

Customer blogs (user specialists)

www.EnglishCut.com

traditional tailoring (clothing) techniques

1000 visitors a day

Stoneyfield Farms (largest U.S. organic dairy producer)

blogs on: Babies , Mothers , Cows , & Kids

www.stonyfield.com/weblog /

Difficult to Monetize

Based on “Free” web text model

Podcast = “Audio Blog”

Internet Radio – early 1990s

“ Podcasting ” – September 2004

individuals creating own material

easy & cheap = democratizing “radio”

July 1, 2005 = Apple’s iTunes supports Podcast downloads

PodcastAlley.com - >19,000 Podcasts & Videocasts (May 2006)

Feedburner.com - >47,000 Podcasts & Videocasts (April 2006)

Estimated 1 to 10 million Listeners, 20% growth/month

Travel Podcast Types:

Industry News & Reviews

Destination/Attraction News & Guides

Personal Travel Experiences & Opinions

Soundscapes / Soundscenes / Soundseeing Tours

Repurposed Radio Programs

Podcasting Market

“ Come to Me ” Web

Instead of “Go and Get It” Web

Pushing text, audio & video to computer & MP3 player

via Podcatcher (RSS Aggregator) program

Podcasting = Narrow casting

Opposite of Broadcasting

Video blogging (Vlog, Vodcast)

Redefining Marketing

– more than Blogging has

Well developed Radio Advertising market

Psychographic Community

Radio & TV = Geography-based community

Ultimate Niche Marketing – narrow & devoted

Travel & Tourism Podcast

Home Based Travel Agent - http://hometravelagent.blogspot.com

Lonely Planet Travelcasts - http://www.lonelyplanet.com/podcasts/

Travelography: World Travel News &

Geography for Travelers http:// travelgeography.info

The Rocky Top Podcast – Knoxville, Tennessee CVB http://www.5minuteswithwichita.com/rockytop/

A more complete list of travel & tourism podcasts can be found at: http:// www.geog.nau.edu/~alew/TG_Podcasts.html

Destination Audio Guides

Auidoguides ? Audiotours ? Podguides ? Podtours ?

Emerging: GPS Based

Is Podcasting "The death of the guidebook?"

www.iAudioguide.com

www.podguides.net

www.parisaudioguides.com

www.bluebrolly.co.uk

www.dorlingkindersley-uk.co.uk/static/cs/uk/11/travel/podcast.html

www.visitscotland.com/sitewide/edinburghpodcast

www.talkingstreet.com/

www.footnotesaudiowalks.co.uk/

www.audiocitytour.com/

www.ijourneys.com/

www.ricksteves.com/news/travelnews/0602/audiotour.htm

Other Web 2.0 Travel Tools

Web20Travel.blogspot.com

Blog list of Web 2.0 websites and webtools for Tourism

Wiki Travel Guides

Wikitravel.org

Wikipedia-like travel guide

www.World66.com - User-generated Guide (& Map Tool)

VCarious.com

“ Contribute to VCarious by editing any of the guides or listings . Or share your trip by adding your own journal and photos . Happy Travels!”

Social Network Travel Sites

43Places.com

list & discuss places to go & places have been (mapped)

travel tips & place descriptions

VirtualTourist.com - 700,000+ members

Each Day: 1,000+ travel tips, 2,000+ forum postings, 1,000+ page comments, 75+ new travel deals, & 400+ new members

Yelp.com - restaurants, dentists, hairstylists, & anything local

I Love Travel Stories - “The best new travel writing on the web? You choose. You decide.”

WEB 1.0

TripAdvisor.com - 19 million visit per month, narrow focus on accommodation reviews -- > 4 million user reviews

CitySearch.com

more reviews than Yelp, including Editor reviews - lacks social networking & community building tools

Social Networking

TRAVEL MAPPING 2.0

Basic Mapping Tools

maps. Google .com , maps. Yahoo .com , Microsoft ( local.live.com ), maps. Ask .com and Mapquest .com

Heated competition - new feature rollouts make comparisons a moving target

User Created Maps

MyWorld66.com on World66.com

Visited Countries choropleth mapping

43Places.com – point maps of places visited or wanting to visit

MyLifeOfTravel.com – Point & Line Maps

Map Mashups (mostly using Google Maps)

Flagr.com - Point maps of places visited

JumpClaimerer.com - SMS/text message Trip tracking

LicketyTrip.com - Last Minute Vacation Rentals

Travel Mapping

And More Web 2.0 Tools

Information

SeatGuru.com & LoveMySeat.com

ePassportPhoto.com – DIY Passport & Visa Photos

Schmap.com – downloadable interactive guidebooks

AJAX Websites

Paguna.com - Single page hotel bookings

Latitudes Magazine (Italian & English) - latitudesmag.leonardo.it

Online, broadband travel photo magazine

Latest issue (#14) - 181 pages of full color photos, animations and sounds

Destination Sites

VirtualMalaysia.com

traveler tales, photo sharing, tips for travelers, videos, music, mobile pocket travel, separate photography community site, & 360 degree photo gallery

More Web 2.0

Virtual Malaysia

Social Software for Distributed Businesses