user generated content and travel

On page 50 of the Glueck interview we are once again brought into the topic of social networking., more than clearly one of the hottest trends on the Internet right now. With the risk of repeating myself from previous blog entries, I want to point out how it’s the influence of generation Y that’s shaping the future of the Internet; both by structure and by content. Although what Travelocity is doing on their website isn’t strictly social networking, which Glueck also emphasizes, he instead uses another for today’s Internet important keyword, which is “user-generated content”. And the way I see it, Generation Y is just as much about user generated material as it is about social networking. I think this is something that comes rather natural in a time that’s all about communication and connectivity, and where information’s so easy accessible and distributable. Everybody with an Internet connection can easily share their expertise and thoughts. And the information seekers find trust in having multiple and independent sources on the same topic, rather than just having one source, even if it may be of high stature. We can just take the growing popularity of Wikipedia as an example for that. And I believe this type of user generated knowledge will just keep on spreading

But except for the typical generation Y traits I’ve already mentioned, I believe one of the forces that’s thriving all these knowledge sharing communities and reviews may be this generation’s strong focus on individuality. I think it’s an attitude of wanting to be unique and to be seen and stand out from the masses that drives members of this generation to share knowledge, skills and experiences.

Now going back to topic of discussing Travelocity’s website, I find it quite interesting how Glueck mentions travel to be one of the biggest areas of communities on the Internet. After first thinking that this can’t be right what he’s saying, I’m now coming to realize that this may actually be true. There’s a lot of websites and more specifically user generated content out there about travel. I can mention a very popular Swedish website as an example, resedagboken.se. This is a website where users write diaries about their travels, during their travels, with optionals like maps, pictures and videos. They post their diaries so that their family and friends can travel with them in spirit, but I truly believe that it’s more often about sharing their experiences so that other people planning on doing a similar trip can share their joys and avoid their pains. I think it’s human nature to share like this. In the past it’s only been to family and friends, but this generation has now taken it all to a higher level, making our sharing’s available to everyone.

There must be an extreme demand for information about travels and destinations, with travelers like myself wanting to get the most out of our trips, so integrating user reviews into their website must have been a very rewarding strategic move by Travelocity. As I already mentioned today’s generation have come to trust other individuals more than if Travelocity had just posted some information, but I think people trust other individuals even more if they can tell that they think alike, which would make the categorized reviews yet another good move.