Crowd Sourcing TravelGroup E – MDMK2012

Wikipedia (The mother of all crowd sourcing websites) defines crowdsourcing as –

“the act of outsourcing tasks … to an undefined, large group of people or community (a "crowd”)

Crowd Sourcing has been one of the biggest features of successful websites on the internet through getting millions from all the world to contribute in creating some of the top projects-

The term "Crowdsourcing" is a mix of "crowd" and "outsourcing," first coined by Jeff Howe in a June 2006 Wired magazine article "The Rise of Crowdsourcing".*

Crowdsourcing can be used for emergency situations: fires in Moscow, earthquake in Japan, when people create the online databases of missing and found people, collect donations, posting helpful information etc

Oxford English Dictionary (OED) may provide one of the earliest examples of crowdsourcing. An open call was made to the community for contributions by volunteers to index all words in the English language and example quotations for each and every one of their usages. In the 70 year project, they received over 6 million submissions.

Facebook has used crowdsourcing since 2008 to create different language versions of its site. The company claims this method offers the advantage of providing site versions that are more compatible with local cultures.*

TripAdvisor History TripAdvisor Features

Founded in USA in February of 2000 Subsidiary of Expedia.com World’s largest travel site Also offers business service that

providing tourism industry access to TA’s millions of monthly visitors

TripAdvisor Media Group offers travel suppliers adverts and CPC marketing platforms

19 Business partners including Orbitz, Expedia, Travelocity, Priceline, & more

Traveler reviews Flight and accommodation search w/

fees estimator, Top Values Index, Restaurants, Gas Tank Getaways, Quick Guides, Traveler Network, Video, Content Distribution, Saves, Maps, Inside Pages, goLists, Checkrate, Tripwatch, and MORE!

Works in conjunction with 3rd party applications for “Cities I’ve Visited”, “Local Picks”, & “Travelpod’s Traveler IQ Challenge”

Two MAIN factors (concerning TripAdvisor):

1. Very high number of users, the content generators

45m+ travel reviews/opinions

1m+ businesses

89k+ cities, 495k+ hotels, 145k+ attractions, 689k restaurants, &

7m+ candid traveler photos

50m+ unique monthly visitors

1. Quality of the reviews itself

In order to become No.1 travel site, TripAdvisor worked on BOTH

High quality of the site and easy to use interface Advantage of being a pioneer on crowdsourcing, especially on

crowdsourcing concerning trips brought TA much favorable PR Word of Mouth as a key success factor Investors behind TA: Buying 18 different travel related sites to bring

more traffic to TA (aquisitions began in 2007) Building up agreements with

different travel companies Affilliate programs to build up

traffic on TA Sponsoring Mega Global Air

Checking reviews by the crowd itself

• The most important tool and additionaly improved (our slide improvements)

Real Images + Videos

• shared by various users shows guarantees real life expectations and not

marketing work.

Checking the reviews by TA-officials

• Enforced after September 2010; 420 hospitality operators considered to

take TA to US court

Checking the social graph of posters

• Checking the profile on facebook and business associates on LinkedIN

CONCLUSION: The quality of a ranking depends mainly on

the number of posts; the quality of a single post is

uncertain

Creation

Prediction

Organization

Invention

Users can generate content to relay confidence and belief in a service or location, or to air grievances of disappointments in the service choice. If the reader reads good reviews they are likely to purchase the product since there is an established faith other people have for a certain level of quality. Bad reviews warn others of the lackluster and upsetting experiences. Influence on the criteria selection.

GeneratedContent

OwnershipService

Ranking Guide

Popularity index incorporates traveler ratings to determine traveler satisfaction. Calculated by an algorithm, it dynamically ranks hotels, restaurants and things to do worldwide. This is based on the popularity of the aforementioned, as measured by both the quantity and quality of the content written about the hotel on TripAdvisor, as well as written reviews elsewhere across the Web.

Users can join in on the blogging fun. They have a lot to share with other users such as travel trends and news, company culture, frequently asked questions, and amazing member photos/videos. Here we can see how crowdsourcing also includes employees of the company, who are logged in as users, since they are also included in the blogs and can participate (not all of them). They help to create new content and the other users can organize this information and comment about it.

Create Organize

Predict Trends

Relations with Influencers

TA built relationships with Digg users, who tell stories about traveling, hotel, restaurants, things to do, among other popular categories. These users are familiar with the said themes and are beginning to “digg” TA articles. In regards to tripadvisor/wordpress, there is a Digg icon for sharing some posts that are on this page. From this there is a prediction of trends created by users that share, vote, and post their comments.

Fan us on Facebook

Watch us on Youtube

Follow us on Twitter

It is already being used for many crowdsourcing efforts. The best way

to use it is to create a hashtag, explain what you are trying to

accomplish, and have your followers tweet away. TA in Twitter is helping

travelers to plan and to ensure they

have the perfect trip. Using microblogging they can have a one-

on-one relationship with their followers by generating interaction

with them in real time, providing a unique experience for the user.

A Facebook Page is a great way to use crowdsourcing for building

brands, calling people to action, and/or building ideas. TA page is a

place where they invite all travelers to join in on the travel conversation.

In order to ensure all users feel

safe, have fun and are able to gain access to useful travel information,

they ask that posted comments, videos and images are both

relevant and respectful to their community.

Video blogging is becoming increasingly popular, especially now

that smartphones have better video cameras. Using uploads in YouTube

is great because then you can also receive video responses. TA uses

this mean as such a channel. You

can subscribe to the TA video blog and be notified when there are new

videos. Also, all videos about the company and its core business,

provide a reciprocal relationship based on the comments viewers

make.

Rating reviews - This aids you and Tripadvisor to work in synergy and is rewarding for both sides. Also, you contribute the most relevant, fresh ideas in your reviews. If there is a “problem with the review” you can specify if it violates the guidelines, if it is suspicious, or if it was posted to wrong location.

Help Center Forums, such as TripAdvisor Support and Owners Forums, are friendly and interactive discussion areas where members can ask for and share their opinions, advice, and experiences as travelers

TripAdvisor – Marketing Tool and Crowdsourcing

1. Go to the Owner’s Center: As a registered owner, simply click “Manage Your Listing “ at the top of the page.

2. Upgrade to Business Listings: Get started by providing the information necessary.

3. Create a special offer to promote your property: Post a deal to attract new guests and stand out from the competition.

4. Travelers see your listing and contact you directly: Your offer will draw more travelers to your TA listing where they see your phone #, email, and web address.

5. You get direct bookings: By speaking with your customers directly, you save money and create a good customer experience from moment they book.

TripAdvisor is one of the best examples of crowdsourcing working to create the leading travel destination

The Long Tail in action - In the past, people would pick hotels on limited personal recommendations or go with the "safe" choice of big brands. Crowdsourcing allows users to pick the hotel that suits their exact preference (singles, seniors, honeymooners ... etc) as chosen by thousands of others.

• Best proof of Long Tail is – 3 of the top 5 hotels in the world are not 5 star hotels (http://www.tripadvisor.com/TravelersChoice-Hotels)

Financially, TripAdvisor is a great asset for Expedia -Its profits are tremendous. In 2010, TripAdvisor's third-party revenue grew 48% to $314.5 million with a margin of 82.5% compared to 29% for the sector.

The future looks great for TripAdvisor, with the new spinoff planned by Expedia, and with adding new services such as rail, TripAdvisor looks like going from strength to strength.