:: travellingcari.com ::

Is there anything not called 2.0 these days? I think it’s especially annoying when it’s not new.

In an article on the trustworthiness of Travel 2.0 (stemming from this MSNBC column), the authors mention the change from the days of the printed guidebook being king to the power of word of mouth. They state a five year change, but on a personal level I think word of mouth, or website, goes back at least four years. I used the reviews feature to help choose a hostel in Prague, a city I’d never been to. Normally, I’d also ask friends and/or family, however at the time I didn’t know anyone who had been there. Does that mean everyone was? Of course not, but in no way do I think this is as cutting edge as the article makes it seem.

One of the benefits of this word-of-mouth marketing is that, by its very nature, it’s more up to date than any guidebook can ever hope to be.I found some of the same argument to be true for brochures found at a CVB. Because the lead time is so long for the guidebooks, there’s substantial room for inadvertent error where places, prices, exhibits, owners, etc. change. And then of course there are the facts that go uncorrected from one edition to the next, but that’s a horse of a whole ‘nother color.

One of the points that I agree wholely with is:

Or maybe you’re looking for something more personal. Maybe you’re looking for people with similar interests, a sense of community, or even someone to share an upcoming adventure with.

I love speaking with like-minded individuals because their preferences, whether positive or negative, might be more likely to be in line with my own than those of the general public. However, that argument doesn’t necessarily exclude guidebooks, it just pays to look for the guidebooks geared toward your own type of travel. I’ll never forget being on the upper deck of the Yasawa Flyer and looking around at the sea of Lonely Planets. There’s a reason it’s known as a backpacker bible.

The article’s POV is a nicely well-rounded one, but it doesn’t reveal anything earth shattering. Don’t accept everything you hear (or read) at face value but use it as a basis for learning more. In that sense, it’s a lot like Wikipedia. Will I buy a Lonely Planet for Prague? Probably not. I’ll get enough info through school and on the web. Plus, I’ve been there before. I have a basis to work from, but if I were going to an unknown location, I probably still would to get a feel for the place.

It brings about an interesting question, how much of word of mouth marketing is marketing? My gut says no, but the experts say otherwise. This issue is certainly something that comes up in Emanuel Rosen’s The Anatomy of Buzz, but it’s not something a company can control, which presents challenges in and of itself. Successful business people try to respond to “buzz” when they can, such as in responses to a post (see Hostel Advantage’s response to my review) and or on eBay. However, they can only respond to what they see. No one can ever hope to hear or see all the discussion, but should they want to?

I think the true power of buzz lies in the fact that it gets people’s attention. It doesn’t always matter how it’s being discussed. Just the fact that it is being discussed makes people curious. Non travel related examples are the success of the DaVinci code in the face of the criticism from various parties and the hulabaloo over the Chcolate Jesus. In both cases, the voices of the critics were some of the best free marketing around, but due to the cost of traveling to a destination, I wonder if the same applies to travel. Would people really risk spending money just to ‘test’ a critic’s opinion?