Having access to social networks and mobile devices is both good and bad for travelers seeking to get away from it all. Do social media enhance or ruin the travel experience? Read the original article on my blog at http://fredericgonzalo.com/2013/09/22/is-social-media-enhancing-or-ruining-the-travel-experience/

1. IS SOCIAL MEDIA
ENHANCING OR RUINING
THE TRAVEL EXPERIENCE?
FREDERIC GONZALO

2. Ever since social networks have gained popularity in
recent years, we hear of similar questions, with
numerous studies and surveys giving arguments for
people standing on both side of the matter. Truth is,
social media impacts our every day relationships,
how we interact with long-lost friends or mates from
college, colleagues at work and even new
relationships borne out of Facebook, Snapchat,
Twitter or
Instagram where we share thoughts,
pictures and video moments of our everyday life.

3. AAAH, THE GOOD OL’ DAYS…
• It’s no surprise, then, that social media
should also affect how we travel and
experience hospitality, at home or
abroad. In fact, I would echo some of
the thoughts shared in this brilliant piece
recently published in the Globe & Mail,
How social media has ruined
backpacking through Europe. Having
traveled around the world back in the
early 90s with my own backpack, I can
certainly relate to the author’s fond
memories of discussions with fellow
travelers, sharing practical tips over a
local beverage or two!

4. For the past year, I have
been sitting on the board of
Quebec City’s international
youth
hostel,
part
of
Hostelling International, and
I
can
attest
that
backpackers
I
see
in
common areas indeed do
seem to interact a lot less
with each other, preferring
to sit back behind the
comfort of a laptop, tablet
or smartphone and chat
away with girlfriends or
family at home. Yet, I would
be cautious to jump to
conclusions and generalize
this behavior to all travelers
alike. And even if some folks
do indulge with lots of social
network while away on
vacation, does this need to
be a bad thing? Not
necessarily.

5. HOW SOCIAL MEDIA IMPACTS TRAVEL
Here are five of my personal pros and cons about social media within the
travel experience:
1. Sharing in real time
Once upon a time, you’d insert a
film roll into your camera, or better
yet have a disposable one, and
you’d take pictures during your trip.
A couple of days or weeks (or
months) later, you’d have them
developed at your corner store,
you’d put it all into a scrapbook
with perhaps a few written
comments here and there, so you
could show it off to friends and
relatives on special occasions.
Nowadays, people just take out
their smartphone, take numerous
pictures and keep the best ones,
add a filter and some comments,
then share instantly via Instagram,
Facebook, Twitter or perhaps
Pinterest.

6. Beyond images, travelers can now share experiences in
real time, too. You could be at the top of the Eiffel Tower
and Skype your friends or have some FaceTime or a
Google Hangout with them. Barriers have all but vanished
with new technologies, allowing to be in contact with
almost anyone, anywhere. That can be a pro or a con,
depending on your perspective! I prefer to see the glass
as half full, personally, so I’d say this is positive, assuming it
doesn’t override the overall trip with constant need to
« share online, right now, with all my friends back home ».

7. 2. YOU ARE NEVER ALONE…
UNLESS YOU WANT TO!
To segue from the previous point, social
media proves to be good company
when you travel by yourself, whether by
choice or by circumstances. With various
blogger groups, user-generated sites
and travel forums, there are more ways
than ever to connect with fellow
travelers and get to meet people. Before
social media, you’d just show up in the
common area, kitchen or bar of the
Youth Hostel and hope to start a
conversation with other interesting
travelers. That was, and certainly
remains, lots of fun. Social media is just a
different way to reach that same goal.
And if you want to do your own thing
and be left alone, the challenge will be
in finding the will to disconnect from the
mobile devices and social networks long
enough to bask into the local culture,
wherever you may be.

8. 3. QUANTITY AND QUALITY OF
INFORMATION AVAILABLE
I recall not so long ago when travelers would roam the planet with the
latest “Let’s Go” edition or Lonely Planet in their pocket, yet the content in
there would be at least 6 months old, at best. Nowadays, between travel
blogs, user reviews sites like Tripadvisor and Yelp, or niche forums, i.e.
backpackers, solo travelers, etc. there is plenty to choose from in order to
get fresh, updated information. Destinations have also embraced social
networks, so one can find quality blogs, Pinterest boards, Instagram ideas or
Vine videos that give glimpses into what the experience can be, like a
movie trailer or teaser to entice travelers to come and visit.

9. 4. IT’S TOUGH TO LET GO! (OR #FOMO)
This is perhaps the biggest drawback from social
media when traveling: the fear of missing out (FOMO)
on everything happening back home. Living in the
digital age means we can have access 24/7 to all
information from pretty much around the world. But
just because we can, doesn’t mean we should, as
they say!

10. This is certainly an aspect that seems harder to grasp
for my generation, when seeing younger folks
traveling, needing to skype home every evening to
catch up on what’s going on in the routine, everyday
life. I feel like saying: “You’re in Barcelona, for crying
out loud. Just go out and enjoy it, instead of spending
two hours on your computer with your best friend
talking about the latest episode of Breaking Bad !”

11. 5. IT’S NOW POSSIBLE TO INTERACT
WITH BRANDS AND FELLOW
TRAVELERS
• Last but not least, it’s hard to imagine life without
what is still a very nascent phenomenon: with social
media, we can interact easily, instantly, with brands
and other travelers. Customer service now takes
place on Twitter (think of most airlines or major hotel
chains), on Foursquare or Facebook. And with
collaborative platforms, we can now choose to
deal directly with vacation rental owners,
experience a home-cooked meal or park in
someone’s backyard through one of the various
peer-to-peer networks that seem to be popping up.
Read: Collaborative Economy in Travel: The Big
Disruptor

12. I sometimes wonder how my 8-months long trip
around the world, more than 20 years ago, would be
with all this technology available today. At the end of
the day, I can only say it would have been very
different. Not better, not worse. Just different. So, to
get back to the question raised in the Globe article
and in the title of this post: does social media
enhance or ruin the travel experience? Without a
doubt, I would say it has the potential to enhance it.
If used moderately, and intelligently.

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