Travel Trends – Facebook Places, United, Google Maps Mobile

Facebook Places: The New TripAdvisor or Another Social Wasteland? - Following our post on the launch of Facebook Places (10 Things You Need To Know About Facebook Places), we have been eagerly searching for and reading other takes on the new social service.  One that caught our eye was from the team at Jaunted: Will Facebook Places Become a Source for Travel Tips?

Jaunted makes the case like this:  Facebook Places will be a initial success (due to shear volume), but what happens when you receive 452 location updates per day?  And no rewards ala Foursquare.  Plus, will Foursquare devotes move their geosocial network to Facebook?  Or, will they stick with Foursquare...knowing that there network is more active and niche.

Will the early adopters of Foursquare help make Facebook Places a success?  Time will tell.

http://www.jaunted.com/

Will the new United Brand Make Everyone Happy? - A few months ago, we hoped that the 'new' United logo was only a press release placeholder (Travel Trends – Mobile KC, iPad Check In, The New United), but alas, it looks like the Comic Sans of airlines logos is already half way down the runway.  According to this very thorough Chicago Tribune article, loyalists on both sides are fighting to save their respective brands.  Personally, we are in the tulip camp, but we would rather have excellent customer service instead of a historic logo.

Favorite quote from the piece: 'Let's face it. That globe is just boring.'

http://www.chicagotribune.com/

More Than 100 Million Users per Month Use Google Maps Mobile - Let's repeat that once more.  More than 100 million mobile consumers use Google Maps each month.  After you are done reading this sentence, go to Google Maps and ensure your listing is correct.

http://google-latlong.blogspot.com/

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Troy Thompson, a self-described technopologist, is a respected blogger, consultant and thought-leader in the Tourism / Travel industry. Owner and consultant at Travel 2.0 Consulting, Troy has been providing unique interactive and marketing solutions to a variety of clients for more than a decade.

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