TripAdvisor.com, the largest travel community on the web and one of the hottest sites within the travel category, has shown impressive growth after a 2008 site redesign. Like most travel-related sites, TripAdvisor.com experienced a lull in activity in the winter months of 2007. However, since January 2008 an average of 6.6 million US unique visitors have viewed the pages of TripAdvisor. In May 2008 TripAdvisor’s US audience was 7 million unique visitors, 34% higher than the level recorded in May 2007.

Many travelers use TripAdvisor for its consumer-generated reviews in order to get an unbiased feel for a hotel or vacation spot. As such, it is important that a consistent flow of reviews are posted so that content remains relevant and up to date. Over the past year an average of 1% of visitors added a review, a significant volume for such a large site.

TripAdvisor.com is a growing site that has managed to harness the valuable opinions of its users. As online travel researchers become more and more savvy, utilizing the expertise and feedback from peers becomes more and more attractive. As such, TripAdvisor and other consumer-generated review sites are poised for continued success.

WAYN.com (Where Are You Now?), a UK-based travel social networking site has recently made successful inroads within the US online population. In hopes of increasing member-engagement WAYN announced WAYN Desktop in September, an application designed to help users more easily upload photos and manage their accounts. Below is a synopsis of the popularity of the varying content areas of WAYN.com, as well as an early-stage look at download interest of WAYN Desktop.

In December, over 550,000 US web browsers visited WAYN.com, up from 330,000 one year ago. Over the past 6 months several pages within the site have emerged as the most popular content areas. The Mail tab is the most visited section of the site with 215,000 US WAYN users landing on it in December. Not surprisingly, the Web 2.0 sections such as Profile, Friends, and Photos have also increased audience volumes over the second part of 2007.

Thus far, the recently announced WAYN desktop application has shown minimal attraction among US visitors to WAYN.com. In December, only 1,130 WAYN members explored the download page of the newly released tool, continuing a downward trend in interest for the new tool.

All in all, WAYN has managed to gain healthy momentum among US travelers. Although the recently released WAYN Desktop application failed to catch on, the site’s core competency, its networking platform, has proven to be a hit with users. Congrats to WAYN.com!

If you have had a chance to read the Q3 Earnings Reports for both Netflix and Blockbuster you undoubtedly noted the glaring difference in strategies between the two competitors. While Netflix continues to concentrate on growing subscriptions, Blockbuster has decided to less narrowly focus on the online channel and continue to use the brick-and-mortar stores as its competitive advantage. Both camps, however, plan to further invest in the new digital delivery medium.

To summarize the two reports, below is a CEO quote from each company’s Q3 Earnings Transcript.

“At a high level, our strategy is to build a very large DVD rental subscriber base and to bundle in the ability to watch those movies online.” - Reed Hastings - Netflix, Inc. - Chairman, CEO

“…our pursuit of by-mail subscribers was a bit overzealous. Clearly our spending on that one channel was exceeding our returns.” - James Keyes - Blockbuster Inc. - CEO

Compete data reflects the combating strategies of the two DVD rental giants. Since June 2007, site traffic of Netflix.com and Blockbuster.com has further divided as Blockbuster reels in its online channel marketing spend. In October, Netflix hosted four times the site traffic of Blockbuster.

Despite differing strategic blueprints, both Netflix and Blockbuster agree on the importance of the up-and-coming distribution channel; digital delivery. Netflix rolled out Watch Instantly (formerly Watch Now) in early 2007 and has managed to garner a significant volume of early adopters. Although download interest peaked in August of this year, actual usage of the product continues to climb month-over-month. There are currently 450,000 Watch Instantly users each month in the US.

Following suit, Blockbuster has announced plans to integrate the recently acquired movielink.com into Blockbuster.com as early as Q1 2008.

If DVD rental market share were a war, there have been several clear battles fought thus far. The first, being the brick-and-mortar battle, was won by Blockbuster. Netflix came on the scene and quickly declared victory in the second battle, online subscriptions, when Blockbuster waved the white flag in their Q3 Earnings Report. An imminent third battle is on the horizon, and the platform is digital delivery. Thus far Netflix has had success in the space but it is far too early to name a victor as Blockbuster’s counter attack has not yet been rolled out.

The News:
In June, TripAdvisor introduced Traveler Network, a social-networking platform that allows users to connect with fellow travelers and share their experiences. Members exchange pictures and videos from previous trips and offer advice on where to go and what to see for future adventures.

Compete Analysis:
In its early stages, Traveler Network has quickly caught on with over 42,000 US travelers signing up in July alone. Showing momentum, the July sign-up volume was 65% higher than that of June. Even with strong early adoption, June and July’s combined sign-ups represent just 1% of TripAdvisor’s 6.8 million monthly visitors.

Traveler Network is growing its user base largely through referrals from early adopting members. In July, over 30,000 Traveler Network members used the site’s “Invite Friends” capability, representing the biggest single source of new memberships. Referrals from current members suggests that the content is compelling enough to grow a significantly larger user base.

Takeaways:
Traveler Network is helping to transform TripAdvisor into a next-generation travel portal. The integration of Web 2.0 functionality is attracting new members and further engaging existing TripAdvisor users. Over 42,000 new members enrolled in July, the first full month of existence. Growing referrals from current users is proof that enthusiasts enjoy the site enough to recommend it to friends, family, and colleagues. As with any social-network, the breadth of content relies upon its members. With a rapidly growing user-base, Traveler Network, still in its infant stage, is poised for success.

Recently, my Gmail inbox has received “New MySpace Comment” alert emails much more frequently than usual. Oddly, these comments are often times posted by Friends who rarely, if ever, converse with me via MySpace. Without fail, upon logging in to the social networking giant I find something similar to the image to the right has been posted on my page.

There is a picture (that looks like a video) coupled with some descriptive text that presents a compelling “click on me” pitch. I admit, at first I fell for the scam. I clicked on the picture trying to get the video to play (I’m only human, and male).

Now here is where the scam kicks in. Upon clicking on this faux-video I was taken to a login
screen asking for my username and password. To the naked eye the log in page looks completely normal, so most people have no problem providing their log in information. Below, on the left is an example of a scam log in page compared to the regular MySpace log in page.

Although these two pages look almost identical there is one major difference: the URL. On the left, the URL is http://rnyspacei.com/ while on the right the URL http://www.myspace.com/ - often an unnoticeable difference. (By the way, the Compete Toolbar will let you know if you are on a phishing site.)

Continue reading “The Anatomy of a MySpace Scam” »

Yapta (Your Amazing Personal Travel Assistant), a new online travel startup, is looking to change how consumers compare and shop for flights. Users who download free Yapta software are able to tag specific flights as they research on online travel agencies and suppliers, the details of which are then saved to Yapta. Once tagged, Yapta keeps track of prices for the selected trips, silently returning to check prices, and then informing users if a change has occurred.

I must admit I have not yet tested Yapta so I cannot speak to the user experience, but I can tell you a bit about how successful the site has been in its early stages.

In June Yapta reached its high water mark of 109,000 US unique visitors. After the initial buzz there has been a steady decline in traffic and subsequently in downloads. Speaking of downloads, a look at the Download Interest numbers – people reaching the download page of yapta.com – shows that a healthy portion of Yapta visitors are interested in downloading but get cold feet when it comes to actually clicking the “Download” button (or they use Firefox and have to wait for a compatible version).

Will Yapta be successful? It is too early to say. Perhaps some Yapta users could chime in???