Alastair McKenzie on Web 2.0 - British Guild of Travel Writers

I noticed a news story last week about Virgin Atlantic who have a remarkably good track record for listening and responding quickly to the 'conversation'. They moved swiftly to investigate members of staff who allegedly posted damaging comments onFacebook. ("Swiftly" is the key word here. Remember an untruth can be halfway around the world before the truth has even got its pants on... and Facebook has over 10.5 million users in the UK alone.)

But most, I suspect, are not.

Where is the 'conversation'? It's online of course. On what's known as Web 2.0 - the home of blogs, wikis, forums, social media networks and review sites, whose influence istwice that of television and eight times that of print media.

It's where consumers talk about travel products. What? You think the purchasing decision on a PGL or Mark Warner family holiday is more influenced by the beautifully crafted Sunday Telegraph feature written by one of our members, than what the kids' mates have posted on Bebo or Spaces ?

What should travel companies be doing? Drop the traditional clippings service that concentrates on the mainstream media - they mostly only tell you good news anyway. Start focusing on the 'long tail' of online travel media. At the very least, set up some Google Alerts with your company name and other key identifiers in them, search TripAdvisor for your company name daily, buy some online brand management software or services to monitor the conversation, and/or hire a PR company with an online brand manager or pyjama man.

What should BGTW members be doing? Not panicking. There is always going to be a role for good authoritative writing (it stands out amidst the dross) but we should always exploit the advantage we have over amateurs - direct access to the travel industry. We should be using Web 2.0 tools, like blogging, commenting (on other blog posts) andtwittering, to promote our work and our areas of expertise... and we should be writing for as many websites as we can.

Alastair McKenzie

Ndebele craftswoman, by Sue Dobson

(Click photo to enlarge)

"For habitual travellers to Greece the Peloponnese also offers something of a time machine. Fifteen or twenty years you could still see old men going to their fields on donkey back, old women clad in black preparing vegetables on their doorsteps, main roads blocked by flocks of goats, olives being picked with no more aid than a triangular wooden ladder and a big stick, tractors made from converted lawnmowers, and village shops seemingly unchanged since the 1940s. In the Peloponnese you still can."

Andrew Bostock, Greece: The Peloponnese, (Bradt).

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