TravelBlogger est un site communautaire de voyageurs autour du monde. Ian MacKenzie nous parle de TravelBlogger et de sa vision du Travel 2.0 et de la dynamique des échanges avec les internautes-voyageurs.

Cet interview remet un peu les choses en place. La techno, le travel 2.0, etc et etc, c'est bien, mais il semble que la base pour construire et animer un site communautaire c'est bien la passion du voyage....

Ian, can you tell some information about you?

Sure, I'm a writer, backpacker and web designer from Vancouver, BC. I had never been on a plane until I was 17, when my friend and I decided one day to visit our other friend in Los Angeles. I guess you could say I caught the travel bug. Since then I've backpacked across Canada, Europe, Australia, and Southeast Asia.

You work for a social networking travel site, Travelblogger. Can you tell us the story and some facts about it?

Well in the summer of 2003, my friend and I were on our cross Canada trip and doing what all travellers do to keep their family updated back home -- we were sending big long emails. After returning, we decided to collect all the emails and photos into a website. This took hours and hours to build from scratch. And that's when I thought it would be cool to create a site that builds your trip for you. From that idea came TravelBlogger.com

Can you give us some outline about your goals with Travelblogger?

When we launched in early 2005, we certainly had high expectations for the site. (This was before the whole "blogging" phenomenon really caught on). We wanted the site to be fun and useful for travellers on the road, and I think we've succeeded. Sure, there are some people who want to make a million dollars on social networking sites, but our intention has always been to develop the site because we love to travel, not for aspirations of fame and fortune.

Who uses Travelblogger? Any special profile and country for Travelblogger group & community users?

I think our service appeals to backpackers and travelers who don't really know much about HTML or building a website, but want an easy way to share their travel journals, photos, and their experience with their friends and family. I believe the majority of our members are from the United States, but we also have a lot from Canada and the UK.

What are the main advantages to use Travelblogger?

TravelBlogger is website developed by travellers, for travellers. In fact, Sean and I have used the site on our subsequent trips and found it incredibly helpful. It's different than other blogging websites because we've built our software specifically for travel blogs. For instance, each trip is arranged in its own blog, with entries for each. Photo albums can be viewed on their own, or linked directly to travel blogs, and people can leave comments both on each photo and each blog. Soon we are also adding exciting features such as video and google mapping, which will allow our users to share their trip in a much richer format.

The Internet is going faster and we talk now about Web 2.0 and Travel 2.0. What do you think about this evolution in the tourism & hotel market place? Word-of-mouth marketing and User Generated Content are the big trends for Travel 2.0?

I think in the past, websites were a fairly static, one-way type of communication. Web 2.0 is really just a phrase to describe what is happening now that "regular people" (those who do not know HTML or
coding) can participate more easily by adding their voice. This takes the form of blogging, reviews, videos, and other ways. Hotels and travel service providers are now at the mercy of what other people post about them, and so the challenge for them is to please as many people as they can, and hope they spread the word. This is turn helps other travelers make more informed decisions about their plans.

We see important impact of news technologies (RSS, AJAX, podcast, blog, socialnetworking tools, Google mashup,Vidéo etc), what is your point of view?

I believe all these technologies are useful, but only until the point that they become a burden. The problem today is there are so many social networking sites, blogs, podcasts, and reviews that it can be hard to find and extract any valuable information. With the huge amount of user generated content we need sophisticated filters to allow us to sort through the noise. Then we can really harness the value that everyone is generating online.

What are your personal taste for:

Travel: Backpacking

Travel destination: I really enjoyed Southeast Asia




You have the micro

If you're interested in joining TravelBlogger, feel free to head over to our site! We're glad to have you join our community, and Sean and I are here to answer any questions or give any advice you need for your trip.

I also wanted to mention I publish a sister publication to TravelBlogger, which is called Brave New Traveler
(www.bravenewtraveler.com) It's a travel magazine dedicated to exploring the new world of travel, from tips on travel writing and photography, interviews with other travelers, environmental advice, cultural articles, and more.

Thanks for the interview!

Ian