Travel 2.0: The Emerging Web 2.0 Virtual Travelscape

Slide 1: Travel 2.0: The Emerging Virtual Travelscape Alan A. Lew Dept of Geography, Planning & Recreation, Northern Arizona University Web20Travel.Blogspot.com - TravelGeography.info Alan.Lew@nau.edu

Slide 2: 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

Slide 3: Web 2.0 = new revolution in Internet growth  Internet = invisible part of every day life  “ Web 2.0 ” New levels of access to information  New Concepts, Applications, Websites, Channels  eHub - http://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 

Slide 4: Social Software “…lets people rendezvous, connect or collaborate by use of a computer network” “software that supports group interaction” (wikipedia.org) Social Citations  Instant Messaging  references for academics Internet Relay Chat   Citeulike.org  chat rooms  Peer-to-peer Social Networks Internet Forums   bulletin boards file sharing – photos, games   Social Network Services  Virtual Presence  MySpaces  meeting in online worlds  Social Guides  Second Life  recommend real world places /  Virtual Worlds & Massively  services - TripAdvisor Multiplayer Online Games Social Bookmarking  (MMOGs) publicly posted favorite lists  VOIP – Internet Telephony  Del.icio.us, Google Notebook  Skype, GizmoProject  Social Reputation Network  Wikis  eBay  Weblogs Collaborative Writing/Editing   Blogs, Podcasts, Writely, JotSpot, Wikipedia   Vlogs/Videocasts

Slide 5: 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

Slide 6: 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 

Slide 7: Travel Blogs

Slide 8: “Turning Marketing on its Head”   Viral Marketing Blog  Information focused, not Selling Marketing 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 

Slide 9: 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 1. Destination/Attraction News & Guides 2. Personal Travel Experiences & Opinions 3. Soundscapes / Soundscenes / Soundseeing Tours 4. Repurposed Radio Programs 5.

Slide 10: 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 

Slide 11: 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 http://www.geog.nau.edu/~alew/TG_Podcasts.html 

Slide 12: 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 

Slide 13: 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!”

Slide 14: 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

Slide 15: Social Networking

Slide 16: 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 

Slide 17: Travel Mapping

Slide 18: 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

Slide 19: More Web 2.0

Slide 20: Virtual Malaysia

Slide 21: Social Software for Distributed Businesses Social Software (Web 2.0)  Changing how people keep informed   More Personalized & Interactive Content is King  Co-Creation (User contributions)  Podcasting = Free Marketing  Requires Passion for the Topic  Blogs & Comment Forums  Public Relations  Sounding Board for Customers   Consumers love to Chat Businesses must be open to Criticism  to Build Trust - Social Reputation Network  to Build Community   Repeat Customers; Viral Marketing

Slide 22: A New Geography ? Kenichi Ohmae: The Invisible Continent (2001)   Old Continents = Land Based, State Power The New Continent   Borderless & Cyber-based Easy movement of information  across all kinds of borders  national & corporate Easy to enter – Open to All  Must give up old thinking  Governance & Infrastructure  under development Carve your own territory  Highly Individualistic Values  No domination by social groups or elites  Value not based on traditional profit models 

Slide 23: More Information…. Http://Web20Travel.com Http://TravelGeography.info Http://Web20Teach.com Http://AlanLew.com Http://MyLifeOfTravel.com/alew.home