Go TripAdvisor! Tourism Critics on the Rise
Last week online market research firm Compete published new data about TripAdvisor, the popular and fast growing consumer tourism review site.
Internet users will fall into one of several categories in terms of their use of social media.This is the “social technographics ladder”, as set out by Forrester research.
Inactives (Don’t use social media)
Spectators (Read blogs, watch videos on YouTube)
Joiners (Sign up to MySpace or Facebook)
Collectors (Use tools like RSS feeds or Delicious to track or save content)
Critics (Add comments or write reviews)
Creators (Write blogs, create videos)
Relatively few social media users – about one in ten – have become creators in the same way as very few newspaper readers write articles for the newspaper, although tools like Twitter and Facebook blur the edges by offering a way for people to share thoughts and ideas in short bursts.
Most social media users are spectators or joiners, so it is exciting news that TripAdvisor has increased its number of “critics”. In May 2008 the percentage of visitors submitting reviews rose to 1.33%, compared to an average of just over 1% of site traffic over the previous year.
This is quite an achievement and proves that the TripAdvisor site is designed and promoted in such a way as to encourage more than just passive viewing. Visitors must find it easy to review, and they must be getting real benefit from the site in order for them to bother adding their own comments on return from holiday. According to Compete, Yahoo’s travel service was only able to encourage half as many participants to bother to write a review.
Like most social media sites, TripAdvisor can only exist if its users continue to contribute content. Users make the site useful to users. TripAdvisor’s role is as a facilitator in a conversation between its users, and it is fulfilling this well. They have recently extended their reach by integrating with Facebook, making sure their service is where the people are, not just on their own site. Yahoo, meanwhile, is a troubled organisation, and it seems they may have a long way to go if they are to position themselves as a key player in the growing social media world.
Any other great examples of consumer review sites? Add your comments on the blog.
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