It looks obvious

“Things should be made as simple as possible, but no simpler.” — Albert Einstein

TravBuddy

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Here is a company that is not rising to the challenge. Is there a room for a company that will provide useful personal trip experience? - Probably. However, as I argued in the past, if your marketing approach is “come to my site and give me data” don’t wait for the masses.
Why should anyone publish travel experience in a blog-like journal that is not their own blog? The challenge is to either bring them to the site for related services (travelocity for example) or better get the information from their blog directly. The only thing after that is to be able to aggregate and filter it in meaningful way.
Web 2.0 is not AJaX, RSS or being in Beta mod until Bankruptcy, it is mainly a concept. TravBuddy missed it.

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Written by Rogel

December 14th, 2005 at 9:17 pm

Posted in Technology and Software, Web 2.0, companies that nobody need

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Viewing 9 Comments

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    Actually, I think you've missed the point. I don't think TravBuddy.com's marketing approach is "come to my site and give me data," I think it markets itself as a social networking site for travelers. TravBuddy and travelocity are completely different sites-- travelocity is for booking travel, whereas TravBuddy is for sharing travel experiences with friends. All social networking sites operate on the marketing approach you describe as "come to my site and give me data," and they've been very successful-- take yelp.com, facebook.com, and myspace.com as examples.
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    Hi Rogel,

    Sorry to hear that you didn't like the site! The reason I created the site was because I wanted an easy and fun way to share my travel experiences with friends. I've found that I actually want to "share my travel data" with others for the same reasons I love travel-- I get to interact with different people and learn about new cultures. I've already met a lot of friendly and interesting people all over the world through the site who share my passion for travel and enjoy sharing their experiences as well. It's too bad the site didn't fit your needs, but I guess we can't be perfect for everyone!
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    Guys,
    as I wrote I agree that site that deals with travel experience has justification, really! what I claimed was also that the technic of having people writing in this site (which is a way of data gathering for the site owner!) is the wrong approach. In the long run people will write in personal blogs and not in your site.
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    I just don't think it's responsible to throw around statements like "here is a company that is not rising to the challenge" without using the site first. It's hard to take your criticism seriously if it's grounded in cursory glances and bombastic rhetoric.
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    Why do I need to use the site if the concept of using it is wrong? instead of being defensive and attacking my rhetoric you can do one of two productive activities:
    1. Ignore me
    2. Think about what I said

    I'm still thinking that if you will change the concept of your data gathering you have a chance to create value. Otherwise you are just waste of time.
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    It's not my site, but I am a user. It's impossible to tell what the concept of a site is until you use it, especially in the case of social networking sites. That seems pretty obvious to me.
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    You committed the biggest sin in this blog - you are boring me. I’ll try to explain again, for the last time. The concept of having users submitting content into this site is wrong. If the idea, the money maker, is that you will be able to provide first hand information for travelers then people will usually come to check for information. Why should someone submit content into a “site” when they can do that in their own blog? I do not need to open an account to know that I browsed enough to get more then the general Idea. Unless you develop a method to extract this type of information from other sources you are going to be around for short time.
    Now unless you have something interesting to say, don’t bother.

    And by the way to claim that you are just a user is simply not Sirius when I see the I.P. address you are using....
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    I am just a user. The people who founded the site are friends, and I showed the post to Eric when he was at my house. He used my computer to leave a post. The site is not about "data gathering," but I'll stop arguing with you since you don't seem to understand that.
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    well I'm not the owner of the site.

    I was researching travbuddy beforeI joined it. btw I liek most people Already have a personal diary with LJ, others use wordpress, xanga etc.

    For social networking used, HI5, now just on myspace facebook.

    But if this site is credible, the users, and active. It would be great. Because I am not looking for a blog, BUT travel experiences from different places I'm interested in, tips etc. So I can help peple about Africa, Georgia, a lil London, And hopefully they can help me.


    If this website is not good, then please suggest a better alternative in your post, than just knocking it.

    (oh well I doubt I'll find this againfor the reply)

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