Google at a Crossroads with Wave Technology
We stared writing these blogs on technology as a journey into the crossroads of marketing and communications. For some time, we have seen that the world is at a breakthrough point in transformation. Technology and its application are leaping forward almost at the speed of thought. We wrote about the crossroads for search, advertising, marketing, destination marketing, travel distribution and the Internet.
In our blog newweb, we noted that there was a critical mass of technology and, more importantly a critical mass of knowledge about technology and how to build on it. It’s the critical mass of knowledge that is exciting. Knowledge is what will drive the success of Google Wave. It is interesting to see that Google recognises this. By demonstrating Google Wave to application developers and inviting them to be creative, Google is hoping to accelerate the evolution of Google Wave technology.
Many believe Google Wave (and the Wave Protocol), already indicates the end of the email era wave2replaceemail. But is it more! Have we finally reached the point where the entire premise of the computer business, the operating systems, is at a crossroads? Well, Goggle would like to think so and Microsoft would prefer not to.
What is certain is that the Internet is becoming a full platform for computing in a way that the PC was. The next step forward is collaborative working and networking computers. The possibilities can hardly be imagined. Google Wave is an advanced set of protocols, robot web services and applications for networking. But its success as a platform will depend on the applications and our knowledge of how to use it effectively.
Google Wave resources
Easy link to this blog http://tr.im/waveblog
AXSES short definition - http://tr.im/wavedefined
A more technical definition http://tr.im/wavetechnology
Google Wave Demo in small chucks - http://tr.im/bytesizewave
- or you can view an 80-min. video http://wave.google.com
Questions and Answers http://tr.im/waveFAQ
How the Wave works – very technical - http://tr.im/howdoeswavework
Will Wave replace email? - http://tr.im/wave2replaceemail
Related ideas on technology
The Next web - linked data: by Tim Berners
Email and Google Friends Connect
Social Media For Tourism & Travel Marketing
Keep up with Technology for Travel and Tourism: http://axses.com/travelwatchnews.cfm
Showing posts with label travelSearch. Show all posts
Showing posts with label travelSearch. Show all posts
Monday, 15 June 2009
Saturday, 16 May 2009
How to use Facebook for tourism and travel marketing
A frank discussion of how Facebook operates and what its terms and condition imply. The article illustrates how Facebook is positioned relative to search engines and what may be in store!. It illustrates how to use FaceBook to boost your position on the search engines and drive more travelers to your website. How to use Facebook pages, discussions, groups and events for tourism and travel marketing. There are strategic Tips on how Facebook can help you reach out to new social groups and market your hotel, activity or tourism destination.
Links to the best social media marketing resources and technology on the net.
http://arcres.com/facebook-travel-marketing.cfm
A frank discussion of how Facebook operates and what its terms and condition imply. The article illustrates how Facebook is positioned relative to search engines and what may be in store!. It illustrates how to use FaceBook to boost your position on the search engines and drive more travelers to your website. How to use Facebook pages, discussions, groups and events for tourism and travel marketing. There are strategic Tips on how Facebook can help you reach out to new social groups and market your hotel, activity or tourism destination.
Links to the best social media marketing resources and technology on the net.
http://arcres.com/facebook-travel-marketing.cfm
Thursday, 2 April 2009
New Order
The New Order of the Web
The web is becoming a platform for participation, rather than a medium for delivery. It is a paradigm shift in thinking, communications, connection, engagement and expression. It seems to have a life of its own as it morphs into a new order, changing how we work, engage and communicate.
The first generation of the Internet was about delivering information. In that arena, a cohesive focus became how to organize and search for information. Search became the driving force of the Internet. Soon, web applications expanded to include information processing, with applications like e-commerce and travel bookings. Later came expert systems, where smart processes analysed behavior and delivered tailored results (see htp://RealHolidays.com). Information became packaged with process to create knowledge services.
I wrote some time ago about ‘search at a crossroads’. That crossroads is here now. Searching is no longer just about finding content. It is about information, its source and its relationship to your own personal network. It is about knowledge.
The new crossroads is the evolution of the Internet. Unlike the previous incarnations, it is not here by grand design, but by evolution itself. The web has morphed into a huge ‘small world network’, connecting services, applications, people, places, ideas and knowledge in unforeseen ways. Adam Smith once spoke about “the invisible hand that guides the market.” The Internet’s invisible hand is evolution, not the balance of demand and supply.
Peter Hershberg, Managing Partner of Reprise Media, points out that YouTube, Twitter and Facebook all started out with simple objectives and have evolved to something much more:
“YouTube started as a service that allowed people to post videos, but has since become the de facto place people turn to when they want to find video content on any subject imaginable. Twitter started as a way to issue personal status updates to your friends, but is morphing into a search engine that allows you to tap into the ‘now’ - what's going on now? What's the groundswell of sentiment around a topic? Facebook began as a way to see more information about people you were going to school with. Now, it's become a way for friends to share interests by becoming Fans of brands and lifestyles and posting articles, opinions and information”.
This evolution has created a network, never conceived and still not defined. It is a work in progress. But it is clear that form, function, process and context have changed and all parts are merging almost at the speed of thought.
Web design and marketing, once about ensuring that people could find your website, is now also about your website finding people. It’s about reaching out to people where they already are, i.e., participating in a personal social network. It’s about adding value by interacting with these networks of people in a meaningful way.
There are over 400,000 independent developers building Facebook applications to harness this. One is Oodle, who helped Facebook with their marketplace classified ads application. I used it recently to list my house for rent and within a week I could have rented it twice.
In another example – I used a knowledge service, to find the professional help we needed. It was a database of Internet professionals classified by skills and experience. There are users’ reviews and ratings of services and skills to help you select the right person or team. But I wanted to know more about the person behind the professional. The system did not help me with that, so I turned to Facebook and LinkedIn to see who their friends were and what they liked. I don’t think Facebook founder, Mark Zuckerberg, ever thought of that use originally. We still don’t know how it might be used in the future.
At AXSES, we have built our arcRes.com Travel Platform into a Facebook application. It allows arcRes users to publish specials as well as rates and web content to Facebook. All this information on Facebook, as well as the ability to get holiday quotes and to book, is managed from the arcRes admin system, which also manages information on the user’s website and a network of other marketing channels. Facebook is a different type of channel – one where meaningful participation and shared knowledge is the driving force.
Knowledge is an evolutionary force. It evolves personally and socially at community, global and spiritual levels. When Ford built the first car in America, German engineers were separately developing a similar invention. The world of knowledge evolves as we do. Along with it, the knowledge highway, media, publishing, communications and marketing are changing.
See the man who developed the web (Sir Tim Berners-Lee) talk about this http://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/484
Our resources of who uses what and how on Social Media: see
http://arcres.com/Social-media-travel-marketing.cfm
Jeff Besos (Amazon), a really fun and very useful analogy of the internet.
The web is becoming a platform for participation, rather than a medium for delivery. It is a paradigm shift in thinking, communications, connection, engagement and expression. It seems to have a life of its own as it morphs into a new order, changing how we work, engage and communicate.
The first generation of the Internet was about delivering information. In that arena, a cohesive focus became how to organize and search for information. Search became the driving force of the Internet. Soon, web applications expanded to include information processing, with applications like e-commerce and travel bookings. Later came expert systems, where smart processes analysed behavior and delivered tailored results (see htp://RealHolidays.com). Information became packaged with process to create knowledge services.
I wrote some time ago about ‘search at a crossroads’. That crossroads is here now. Searching is no longer just about finding content. It is about information, its source and its relationship to your own personal network. It is about knowledge.
The new crossroads is the evolution of the Internet. Unlike the previous incarnations, it is not here by grand design, but by evolution itself. The web has morphed into a huge ‘small world network’, connecting services, applications, people, places, ideas and knowledge in unforeseen ways. Adam Smith once spoke about “the invisible hand that guides the market.” The Internet’s invisible hand is evolution, not the balance of demand and supply.
Peter Hershberg, Managing Partner of Reprise Media, points out that YouTube, Twitter and Facebook all started out with simple objectives and have evolved to something much more:
“YouTube started as a service that allowed people to post videos, but has since become the de facto place people turn to when they want to find video content on any subject imaginable. Twitter started as a way to issue personal status updates to your friends, but is morphing into a search engine that allows you to tap into the ‘now’ - what's going on now? What's the groundswell of sentiment around a topic? Facebook began as a way to see more information about people you were going to school with. Now, it's become a way for friends to share interests by becoming Fans of brands and lifestyles and posting articles, opinions and information”.
This evolution has created a network, never conceived and still not defined. It is a work in progress. But it is clear that form, function, process and context have changed and all parts are merging almost at the speed of thought.
Web design and marketing, once about ensuring that people could find your website, is now also about your website finding people. It’s about reaching out to people where they already are, i.e., participating in a personal social network. It’s about adding value by interacting with these networks of people in a meaningful way.
There are over 400,000 independent developers building Facebook applications to harness this. One is Oodle, who helped Facebook with their marketplace classified ads application. I used it recently to list my house for rent and within a week I could have rented it twice.
In another example – I used a knowledge service, to find the professional help we needed. It was a database of Internet professionals classified by skills and experience. There are users’ reviews and ratings of services and skills to help you select the right person or team. But I wanted to know more about the person behind the professional. The system did not help me with that, so I turned to Facebook and LinkedIn to see who their friends were and what they liked. I don’t think Facebook founder, Mark Zuckerberg, ever thought of that use originally. We still don’t know how it might be used in the future.
At AXSES, we have built our arcRes.com Travel Platform into a Facebook application. It allows arcRes users to publish specials as well as rates and web content to Facebook. All this information on Facebook, as well as the ability to get holiday quotes and to book, is managed from the arcRes admin system, which also manages information on the user’s website and a network of other marketing channels. Facebook is a different type of channel – one where meaningful participation and shared knowledge is the driving force.
Knowledge is an evolutionary force. It evolves personally and socially at community, global and spiritual levels. When Ford built the first car in America, German engineers were separately developing a similar invention. The world of knowledge evolves as we do. Along with it, the knowledge highway, media, publishing, communications and marketing are changing.
See the man who developed the web (Sir Tim Berners-Lee) talk about this http://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/484
Our resources of who uses what and how on Social Media: see
http://arcres.com/Social-media-travel-marketing.cfm
Jeff Besos (Amazon), a really fun and very useful analogy of the internet.
Sunday, 6 April 2008
TravelSearch-Crossroads
Have search engines lost their opportunity to be a major player in the future of travel. What will happen if Google acquires Expedia. Will Search engines offer bookings!
Its clear that Global Distribution Systems, Social Networking, local knowledge, vertical search are a threat to the traditional search options.
Meta search travel sites like Kayak, offer better search for travel. Social networks and consumer sites like Tripadvisor, are improving the travel experience by offering relevant unbiased advise. Much favored over paid search results.
Social networking sites like TripAdvisor (acquired by Expedia), IgoUGo (acquired by Travelocity) are taking searches away from traditional search engines.
Kayak now receives more than 6 million unique visitors a month. Expedia has caught Googles attention but for now seems not to be a takeover target!. They are moving instead to create more social media and community content. Already, about 50% of travelers use some sort of online social media site to research their plans, says Rob Torres, Google’s managing director for Travel
The erosion of search in favour of these sites is with good reason. The travel technology platform has developed far beyond the capabilities of generic search.
Travelers need to know details on costs and features that are specific to their own unique requirements.
Travel Search engines like Kayak, sidestep (acquired by Kayak) do this. Underlying is a travel platform, including bookings and quotation systems like; http://arcres.com, and integrated solutions like http://BookingsFranchise.com
Traditional search engines, just don’t deliver these precise results. Try looking for a hotel near Bridgetown in Barbados in the price range of $250 to $500. Google will give you a lot of results, mostly links to booking sites. You need to go to a booking or quotation site like http://BookingsBarbados.com for this. Try searching for Barbados 5 star hotels, chances are that Sandy Lane voted one of the Top ten Hotels in the world will not be in the top lists. As the search engines move further down the road to paid clicks, search results become even more eroded, less relevant and still imprecise.
In addition to these trends, their is a growing list of specialty local sites like AXSES' own BookingsStlucia.com, Barbados Bookings and reservations center and Realholidays.com trip planning. These sites put users in contact with Hotels directly. More and more travelers want to contact their host. They feel they have better communications with a hotel as apposed to a meta site dealing with thousands of properties and thousands more travelers. The smaller regional sites also provide better on the location information, giving local knowledge and advise. Sites like http://realholidays.com, help travelers put together their own, made to measure itinerary, with options that may not be found anywhere else. Like star gazing with Leo, bring your own wine, he supplies the telescope and the story of the stars. You will not find that on Expedia or Kayak
"Seeking information and looking for perspective--like-minded experience and judgments--are currently trumping the straightforward hunt for the best price", says Douglas Quinby, senior director of research at PhoCusWright.
What we need is more consolidation through advanced information engineering. The future web will be about bringing services and technology together in a powerful information delivery system.
MORE ABOUT THE FUTURE OF THE INTERNET NEXT!!!
Links
Latest Book Published in 2016 - Marketing Hotels and tourism Online #WEBSITE
Connecting You With Your Intimate Bot (semantic web3.0)
The Gap In Google's Defenses (virtical search)
Travel Web Sites Get Personal
Its clear that Global Distribution Systems, Social Networking, local knowledge, vertical search are a threat to the traditional search options.
Meta search travel sites like Kayak, offer better search for travel. Social networks and consumer sites like Tripadvisor, are improving the travel experience by offering relevant unbiased advise. Much favored over paid search results.
Social networking sites like TripAdvisor (acquired by Expedia), IgoUGo (acquired by Travelocity) are taking searches away from traditional search engines.
Kayak now receives more than 6 million unique visitors a month. Expedia has caught Googles attention but for now seems not to be a takeover target!. They are moving instead to create more social media and community content. Already, about 50% of travelers use some sort of online social media site to research their plans, says Rob Torres, Google’s managing director for Travel
The erosion of search in favour of these sites is with good reason. The travel technology platform has developed far beyond the capabilities of generic search.
Travelers need to know details on costs and features that are specific to their own unique requirements.
Travel Search engines like Kayak, sidestep (acquired by Kayak) do this. Underlying is a travel platform, including bookings and quotation systems like; http://arcres.com, and integrated solutions like http://BookingsFranchise.com
Traditional search engines, just don’t deliver these precise results. Try looking for a hotel near Bridgetown in Barbados in the price range of $250 to $500. Google will give you a lot of results, mostly links to booking sites. You need to go to a booking or quotation site like http://BookingsBarbados.com for this. Try searching for Barbados 5 star hotels, chances are that Sandy Lane voted one of the Top ten Hotels in the world will not be in the top lists. As the search engines move further down the road to paid clicks, search results become even more eroded, less relevant and still imprecise.
In addition to these trends, their is a growing list of specialty local sites like AXSES' own BookingsStlucia.com, Barbados Bookings and reservations center and Realholidays.com trip planning. These sites put users in contact with Hotels directly. More and more travelers want to contact their host. They feel they have better communications with a hotel as apposed to a meta site dealing with thousands of properties and thousands more travelers. The smaller regional sites also provide better on the location information, giving local knowledge and advise. Sites like http://realholidays.com, help travelers put together their own, made to measure itinerary, with options that may not be found anywhere else. Like star gazing with Leo, bring your own wine, he supplies the telescope and the story of the stars. You will not find that on Expedia or Kayak
"Seeking information and looking for perspective--like-minded experience and judgments--are currently trumping the straightforward hunt for the best price", says Douglas Quinby, senior director of research at PhoCusWright.
What we need is more consolidation through advanced information engineering. The future web will be about bringing services and technology together in a powerful information delivery system.
MORE ABOUT THE FUTURE OF THE INTERNET NEXT!!!
Links
Latest Book Published in 2016 - Marketing Hotels and tourism Online #WEBSITE
Connecting You With Your Intimate Bot (semantic web3.0)
The Gap In Google's Defenses (virtical search)
Travel Web Sites Get Personal
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