What, TripAdvisor is a Social Network Now?
Everyone has been wondering when the next big thing will come in social media. This may be it. TripAdvisor just became a social network. Apparently about 500 big brands have been testing their new social feed in beta since September. We’re on TripAdvisor pretty frequently. And we just noticed today that the new social feed went live on their home page. Now, the majority of space on the homepage is dedicated to a new social feed. And, if you do search for a destination you get a social feed about the destination.
How TripAdvisor Becoming a Social Network Impacts Lodging Industry
How will TripAdvisor morphing into a social network impact the lodging industry? Well right now this is immensely unfair to the small players. An independent hotel property that we represent in Vail can’t post to the feed as themselves. They are limited to posting photos and text as an individual. Big brands like the Four Seasons already have video running in the Vail feed. But independent properties are left with the ability to share photos as an individual. Hopefully this will change soon.
We’ll be very interested to see how TripAdvisor addresses this over the next couple of weeks. Much of their revenue comes from independent hotel properties and activity operators who pay a fairly hefty fee for a business listing, and pay even place pay per click ads. I know at least one TripAdvisor account manager who can expect a probing call from their client Monday morning.
The good news is that all of the different lodging categories have gone away. This levels the playing field a bit for independent properties who don’t run a 24 hour front desk.
How TripAdvisor Becoming a Social Network Impacts Their Existing Content Creators
Will those reviewers who are the backbone of TripAdvisor’s content like or hate this? I haven’t been able to find much yet, just one unhappy reviewer. But the fact is that it may bring TripAdvisor even more reviewers and content creators even if their existing backbone of content creators fall on the hate side. However, those new reviewers are going to have different motivations other than just sharing feedback. They may be trying to build a following or influence. The brands who were given access to the beta are already working hard to do just this.
How TripAdvisor Becoming a Social Network Impacts Travel Bloggers
As a travel blogger, I just changed a very inactive personal TripAdvisor account to be my travel blog TripAdvisor account. I only have a few reviews and no real posts. Be sure that is about to change! I’ll be testing this out over the next few weeks.
So, will individuals jump on board. Those who already use it as a review platform will probably love this. Ultimately the answer may depend on how TripAdvisor is able to mobilize those people.
Have you taken a look at the platform? How do you think this will impact industries in which you work. Tell us below!