Laffitte Conseil

Consumer Trends in Social Networking

Recently, I spoke at the Forrester Consumer Forum here in Chicago, titled “Winning in a World Transformed by Social Technologies.” I’d like to share with you some of the findings from my presentation, which focused on consumer trends in social networking.

I personally find the worldwide expansion of social networking sites fascinating. For example, it’s commonly thought that with the success of sites like MySpace and Facebook, the U.S. is the hub of social networking activity. However, Asia is not only the fastest-growing region for social networking, it is also the largest:

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VirtualTourist.com to support Google’s new OpenSocial standard

As a pioneer in the arena of user-generated content and one of the largest online travel communities in the world, VirtualTourist.com is a strong supporter of OpenSocial, a set of common APIs for building social applications across the web.

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Hoteliers, don’t be fooled by the Web 2.0 hype

Social media may become a major force to be reckoned with by hotels, but, it isn’t right now. Remember that your first point of sale for the Internet is now your hotel’s web site. Make sure it’s well designed for search/sales, and it is well promoted, says Neil Salerno.

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Search and social media marketing services for hotels

Lodging Interactive, a provider of interactive marketing services to the hospitality industry, today announced the roll out of comprehensive Search Engine and Social Media integrated marketing services to help hotels drive online awareness and bookings.

Lodging Interactive is taking hospitality Internet Marketing to the next level by combining its proven search optimization techniques with services that allow its clients to manage their online reputation in the rapidly emerging social media web2.0 environment. “Social media web sites and specifically user generated content sites continue to evolve and are becoming increasingly important in the travel industry by having a direct affect on consumer buying decisions. It’s only natural for hotels to start leveraging the enormous reach of these sites,” said Mr. DJ Vallauri, Lodging Interactive’s President & Founder.

According to a recent Deloitte Consumer Product Group study, Deloitte found that 62% of Internet users read product reviews written by other consumers. In travel, 41% of US online leisure travelers use some form of social media tool in their travel research efforts.

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Indirect route to customers works on Web

The sweeping success of online social networks like MySpace and Facebook has created new avenues for businesses - from New Balance to TripAdvisor - to market themselves.

Since Facebook opened up its platform to third-party users in May (allowing anyone to offer a free tool or game for Facebook users to download) Web traffic on the site has taken off at warp speed. Last month 33.7 million US Web users visited Facebook, up 46.5 percent from April, according to comScore Media Metrix, a firm that tracks Internet traffic.

One month after Facebook allowed outsiders in, TripAdvisor, the Needham-based online travel guide, launched an application called "Cities I've Visited," which the company's chief executive, Stephen Kaufer, likened to the maps children used to festoon with pins showing the different places they had visited. At last count, over 2 millions folks had installed the application on their profile page, Kaufer said.

"We certainly considered other social networks but what's particularly appealing about Facebook now is the viral nature of the news feed," said Kaufer. When someone installs an application, all of their friends are notified. And each time they update their profile friends are again notified which, Kaufer said, raises their curiosity. "Of all of their friends, some portion will check out and install the application, which in turn, causes more people to notice."

Facebook is currently the sixth-most-trafficked website in the United States, with members visiting the site an average of 2.3 times a day.

Two months after TripAdvisor launched "Cities I've Visited," it offered "Traveler I.Q. Challenge," a game that users can customize to ask geography-related questions, such as where events have taken place (from historic Olympic triumphs, to college pub crawls, for example) or where places are located according to topography, world capitals, or anything the imagination can conjure up. Depending upon how quickly players can find the correct location, or how close they are on the map, they receive a certain number of points. Players compete against their friends to see who has the highest traveler I.Q. Of course, the TripAdvisor icon is on the page, so with a click of the mouse, viewers can be transported to its site.

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Online travel videos, the next wave in social media sites

So are online travel videos the next wave in travel User Generated Content sites? All indications would appear to point in that direction.

In July, founders of igougo, who sold their business to Sabre in 2006, set up an online travel video website, www.tripfilms.com. With the tagline, "travel inspired", the site provides user generated videos of "authentic experiences" from around the world.

Last week, BBC World bought a 75% stake in Lonely Planet with its International Director of BBC Worldwide, Ian Watson, saying, "What we hope to be able to do very quickly is enrich, particularly in the online space, and increase the amount of video and audio content available to inspire travellers."

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Surge in online social networking predicted

Some 70% of internet content will be created by individuals as opposed to publishers and brands within three years.

The figure was revealed by Spannerworks business development manager Madeleine Wood as she urged travel companies to get involved in and be talked about on social networking sites.

Wood, who was speaking at the Travel Technology Initiative's autumn conference on the Future of Travel Distribution, said search engines like Google have evolved into reputation management systems because of online social networks.

"Search has gone beyond anyone's imagination and there is greater momentum than ever before. It's about a combined strategy of natural and paid for search, social media and display media," she said.

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Kids, Teens and Virtual Worlds

The Walt Disney Company's $350 million purchase of Club Penguin signals a new focus of attention for marketers and media companies targeting kids and teens online.

Virtual worlds are becoming more frequent destinations as the percentage of children and teens who use the Internet increases.

"For marketers trying reach kids and teens on social networking sites, there is a new game in town: virtual worlds," said Debra Aho Williamson, eMarketer senior analyst and author of the new report, Kids and Teens: Virtual Worlds Open New Universe.

"Of course, virtual worlds are not new, but the level of development activity, venture capital investment and consumer interest in virtual worlds is unprecedented," she said.

Club Penguin is one of the fastest growing virtual worlds for young children. As of August 2007, it had 12 million registered users and 700,000 paid subscribers, according to Nielsen//NetRatings.

According to eMarketer estimates, 41.5% of children ages 3 to 11 will use the Internet at least once a month in 2007. In total, 14.9 million children will go online in 2007, rising to an estimated 16.6 million in 2011.

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10 things you can do in response to traveler reviews

Traveler reviews have become part of the daily dialogue of web travel shoppers. The architecture of participation that is a basic hallmark of web 2.0 has resulted in users adding value to a site each time they write a review or upload a photo. It’s no wonder that up to 84% of people visiting a site hosting consumer generated content (CGC) have their hotel choices affected by what they see. Millions of travelers log on daily and may experience a property through hotel generated photos and written text, but they find reviews and candid photography much more believable.

Many in the industry feel review sites are not objective and may be manipulated. They feel the content is not controllable or actionable and reject the opportunity to manage these sites by saying the comments might be inaccurate. However, what matters in the issue of web 2.0 sites is whether guests perceive them to be accurate. So far, customer research indicates they do. Furthermore, the research shows increasing numbers of possible clients are researching on third party sites, even if they are booking on brand sites.

The model has changed from a brand or property image that was controlled by the supplier, to one that is forged in dialogue with consumers. And this image is being debated at the virtual point of purchase. The combination of increasing numbers of web-savvy consumers, the web 2.0 frenzy focusing on social media, and increased travel site volume, have created a ‘wild-west’ environment where hotels’ traditional comment card programs and advertising dollars are being trumped at the point of decision by dialogue in the public square.

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SkyRock, MySpace et Badoo dominent les réseaux sociaux français

Trois mois après une première étude sur la blogosphère française, ComScore se penche cette fois ci sur l'audience des réseaux sociaux de l'internet français, des sites communautaires qui auraient attiré plus de 13,2 millions de visiteurs uniques en juillet, représentant un taux de pénétration de plus de 50%.

Sans surprise, c'est la plate-forme SkyBlog, déjà leader du segment des blogs, qui arrive en tête de l'étude ComScore avec 9,1 millions de visiteurs uniques, ce qui la place largement devant MySpace qui revendiquent néanmoins 2,2 millions de VU.

Derrière ce duo, ComScore place Badoo.com (1,3 millions de VU), NetLog.com (827 000 VU), Hi5.com (754 000 VU), Lexode.com (675 000 VU), Dada.net (495 000 VU), FaceBook.com (310 000 VU), MSN Group (310 000 VU) et enfin Viadeo (270 000 VU).

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