Web 2.0 Travel Market Gets Crowded With Clones
Tag line: “Real People. Real Advice. Real Experience.”
Logo: Little globe
‘”…an exciting new online community that lets people like you share and find detailed advice and experiences on places around the world. And we make it easy for you to connect to other travelers who are just as passionate about travel as you.”
Not to be confused with:
Tag line: “Real People. Real Travel.”
Logo: Little globe.
“…offer travel guides and blogs created by independent travelers from around the world. The next best thing to traveling is sharing your travel experiences with the community and finding new and interesting ideas for your next travel adventure from other independent travelers like yourself.”
++
I can just imagine how these guys must have explained their differentiation to their VCs. “So see they are focusing on community experiences while we’re focused on the experiences of the community. We really don’t compete.”
Come on guys, 2.0 companies should be creative if nothing else and where is the liberal use of Ajax?
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May 10th, 2006 at 6:06 am
Original post:Web 2.0 Travel Market Gets Crowded With Clones by at [Technorati] Tag results for companies Pages: Start 1 2
May 16th, 2006 at 7:10 pm
I checked out the two travel sites above. When you boil it down you are right on that they both have similar sites. But I would look closer at http://www.communitytraveler.com and see this is a one man show running a web 2.0 site. I would use that over the corporate ad mongering realtravel.com site. My 2 bits.
Bill
May 16th, 2006 at 8:00 pm
I didn’t find either all that compelling. However on a community site like the ones above there often isn’t much value until a community gets going and there is the network effect. However it’s a catch-22 because there isn’t much of a reason for a community to build around something that has no utility out of the box.
May 19th, 2006 at 5:06 am
What’s the “network effect”?
What do you mean has no utility out of the box?
May 19th, 2006 at 7:56 am
What this means is that if we are to build networks of value, then each person on the network needs to find value for themselves before they can contribute value to the network.
I didn’t see a lot of value (ie utility) other than what was being provided via user (community) input. Since the community is rather sparse at this point there wasn’t that much value for users. This lack of value will make it hard to attract users, without users you don’t get much in the way of input. Hence the catch 22.
Network effect basically describes the phenomenon whereby the value of a network grows as additional people join it. How valuable is a small, closed network compared to a large, open system? Wikipedia has an outstanding description if you are interested. There is also something called the Del.icio.us lesson which digs into the issue of individual value vs. social value on a site and from which I lifted the first sentence of this response. It can be found at:
https://wes2.wordpress.com/2006/05/11/the-delicious-lesson-now-dont-forget-it/
May 22nd, 2006 at 4:28 pm
The value on this dude’s site comes in the form of interaction. Look at sites like myspace.com. Get a whole bunch of like minded individuals together (ex. independent travellers) and let them interact. Information is the backbone of the Net’s philosophy. I don’t buy your utility factor that’s more for VC’s and business people to justify throwing money behind a project because they aren’t connected.
May 22nd, 2006 at 7:57 pm
Do you know how many sites are trying to get a “whole bunch of like minded” anythings to build a community? I’ll give you a tip, it’s a lot (check out the partial list below of social networking sites) and understand most will fail because they’ll never get enough people to achieve to get critical mass. They’ll be saying “Hey let’s get a bunch of people and benefit from their collective wisdom.” They’re right but getting enough people is the hard part if there isn’t a compelling reason to be there prior to a lot of people being there.
You sound like you work for one of the companies and if so that’s cool, I didn’t mean to offend your employer or perhaps your company. I harbor no ill-will and hope you make it. The fact is however that most won’t make it and you are in denial if you don’t at least accept that fact. Don’t shoot the messenger and good luck with whichever one you work for/with.
Partial list of Web 2.0 companies described as social networks (sorry for any formatting issues):
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43people - Tag based matching & dating. http://www.43people.com/
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43places - Publish & share stories about places. http://www.43places.com/
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Blogtronix - Blogging & corporate community software. http://www.blogtronix.com/
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Communitywalk - Share places & routes (map mash-up). http://www.communitywalk.com/
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Consumating - Tag based dating. http://www.consumating.com/
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Create & Participate in communities. http://www.towncrossing.com/
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Dodgeball - Hook in with your mobile & meet friends. http://www.dodgeball.com/
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Doostang - Community for professionals. http://www.doostang.com/
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Facebook - Student communities. http://www.facebook.com/
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Frappr - Put your group on the map, share photos. http://www.frappr.com/
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Friendster - Connect with friends. http://www.friendster.com/
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Groups - Create groups & share content. http://grou.ps/
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HumanPages – Philanthropic “LinkedIn-Like” People Search. http://www.humanpages.com/
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Ikarma - Document & promote your reputation. http://ikarma.com/
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Linkedin - Manage and share your cv. Http://www.linkedin.com/
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Livejournal - Join or create your own community. http://www.sixapart.com/livejournal/
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Lovento - Find friends & events. http://www.lovento.com/
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Mapmix. Find your friends (map mash-up). http://www.mapmix.com/
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Meetro - Find friends nearby (thru messenger). http://www.meetro.com/
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Meetup - Find common interests & organize meetings. http://www.meetup.com/
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Mologogo - Share where you are. http://www.mologogo.com/
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Mozes - Share information & people thru your mobile. http://mozes.com/
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MySpace - Communicate with & share content with your friends. http://www.myspace.com/
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OpenBC - Community for entrepreneurs & professionals. http://www.openbc.com
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Opinity - Manage your reputation. http://www.opinity.com/
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Orkut - Connect to your friends. https://www.orkut.com/
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Partysync - Meet & sms people. http://group.partysync.com/
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Peerprofile - Publish & share your profiles. http://www.peerprofile.com/
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Peertrainer - Buddy up, slim down. http://www.peertrainer.com/
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Phusebox - Community for sophisticated people. http://phusebox.net/
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Piczo - Create & share website. http://piczo.com/
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Placesite - Wi-fi portal & location communities. http://www.placesite.com/
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Plum - Collect, share, connect. http://www.plum.com/
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Poddater - Create vodcast & connect. http://www.poddater.com/
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Pooln - Schedule your car pooling. http://www.pooln.com/
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Rabble - Create it & share it mobile. http://www.rabble.com/
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Tagalag - Tag & map your contacts. http://www.tagalag.com/
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Theblackstripe - Upload & share photos. http://www.theblackstripe.com/
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Tinfinger - Search persons. http://www.tinfinger.com/
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Towncrossing - Find & Link to Friends. http://towncrossing.com/
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Twocrowds - Share & vote for predictions. http://www.twocrowds.com/
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Vcarious - Travel community. http://www.vcarious.com/
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Wallop - Phlog & interact. http://mywallop.com/
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Xanga - Blog rings. http://www.xanga.com/
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Zaadz~ - Network of inspired people. http://www.zaadz.com/
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Ziggs - Index of professionals. http://www.ziggs.com/
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Zoominfo* - Search persons; create your own page. http://www.zoominfo.com/