Metz, The Social Concept

Travel Social Media Roundup: November 2008

November 22, 2008

This is the first in a monthly series that has been requested by my hotel and destination-marketing clients. In this series, I’m going to sketch out what I see as key developments on the social web in vertical markets like travel and green (sustainable brands and initiatives). Here’s what I’ve got for November 2008. Post questions in the comments, please.

Key Developments, November 2008

Social Network Services

• Virgin Airlines Cabin Crew Fired For Facebook Postings , British Airways Investigates Similar Abuses By Employees (Search Engine Watch’s Elisabeth Osemeloski writes a killer debrief here.)
• Dozens More Hotels Launch Facebook Presence: Most of them suck, and feature no engagement from users.

Travel Brands Getting On To The Social Web

• Virgin Atlantic plans London BarCamp (11/28/08) to jumpstart their social web program
• LinkedIn and Tripit Launch The First Social Travel Application on a Major B2B Social Network
• New kosher tourism/travel/social media blog YeahThatsKosher launches

November Analyst And Industry Reports

• The TIA releases Behavioral Study On Why People Travel During The Holidays and Leisure Travel Forecast For 2009
• Peter Kim posts (via Sally Falkow) a list of travel brands using social media; it appears to be under 3% of the industry
• Forrester Releases U.S. Travellers & The Recession: A Glance Ahead To 2009

Killer Blog Posts

• HotelChatter posts The 5 Worst Hotel Rooms For Drunk People

Email this • Save to del.icio.us • Share on Facebook • Digg This! • Tweet This!