My travel is forever changed by Social Media. I now have a running battle with Robert Cole as to which one of us is following the other one (literally)!
A few weeks ago I was in Washington DC for the launch of a new project with a new client and a few days in advance, saw a notice on Tripit that Robert was traveling. So he was my first official “meetup” due to social media.
For those not familiar with Tripit.com, it is an amazingly useful tool that allows you to email your various and sundry itineraries to their plans@tripit.com email address (once you have your account set up of course) and they will extract the itinerary components out of it and put it into a trip file. Tripit also has an application on LinkedIn so you can alert those who follow you about your travel. You control what you feed to Tripit, so if for some reason (can you say clandestine M&A activities?) you don’t want anyone to know about a trip, you don’t have to send it to them.
You can also set up “friends”, hence my affiliation with Mr. Cole, and be alerted as to their upcoming travel plans. If you happen to be planning on travels to the same city, then voila! The meetup can occur.
TripIt was founded in San Francisco in October 2006 andlaunched in September 2007. The company has raised $6.1 million from investors that include O’Reilly AlphaTech Ventures (OATV), European Founders Fund and SabreHoldings. Greg Brockway is the President and co-founder.
Then last week I was invited to attend an analyst conference for global outsourcing firm NIIT in Boston. I have been playing around a bit with Foursquare on my iPhone and as I checked into the Boston Airport and to the Hilton, I saw a note from Robert commenting on how it was great to stay in a hotel where you could literally walk from the airport terminal. I actually laughed out loud. Twice in the space of three weeks I connect with the same person via social media, in two different cities using two different social media tools. What are the chances of that happening?
Foursquare is a relatively new on the scene, launched in January of 2009, but is growing like wildfire. It is amazing what $20+m in venture funding can accomplish. Last month they had 1.5 million unique visitors to their website and are #18 in the social media category on the mobile “app” download list published by topappcharts.com.
Foursquare is considered a “geo local” application and competes with the likes of Gowilla (paling in comparison with just a quarter of a million unique visitors to its website and #90 on the social media app download chart).
Here is a list of some of the other players in this space. Of course, to succeed, it is all about volume and about your ability to “go viral”.
Foursquare is moving out of the digital realm and cementing their viral success with “check in here” window clings for businesses that have a lot of Foursquare check-in activity. Smart.
The moral of the story is that I am not alone in the impact of social media on my travel.
Social media and geo local applications are changing travel on both a local level and for traditional travel on a global level.
If you don’t yet have a smart phone, get one. If you aren’t using at least some of the more popular applications such as foursquare and tripit, get on the bus. It is leaving with or without you.
Ladies and gentlemen of the jury. I am pleased to provide irrefutable evidence of stalking in the case of Cole v. Fitzgerald.
First, in each case she mentions, I was invited by third parties to visit the cities of Washington and Boston. My travel schedule was dictated by third parties, precluding any ability for me to adjust my travels to "follow" Ms. Fitzgerald.
Second, in both the Washington and Boston cases, my flights arrived first in each destination. Again, following my social media check-ins, Ms. Fitzgerald would mysteriously arrive at the airport.
Finally, in a veiled attempt to cover her blatantly obvious modus operandi, Ms. Fitzgerald threateningly stated that she was looking forward to seeing me in Phoenix for the PhoCusWright Conference – a trip that I have researched, but not yet booked due to potential scheduling conflicts with a consulting engagement.
At this point, I can only deduce that Ms. Fitzgerald has leveraged her deep travel industry contacts to track my travel searches across various online travel agencies, airlines and meta-search sites.
Based on the evidence presented by these scenarios, a reasonable person can only arrive at a single logical conclusion: Ms. Fitzgerald is the stalker.
Her motive is clear – retribution for my joking that I planned to infiltrate the clandestine Executive Girlfriend's Group she leads.
Sadly, given Ms. Fitzgerald's, immeasurable political influence and extensive network of contacts through the aforementioned Executive Girlfriend's Group, I have been unable to secure a restraining order against these stalking behaviors.
Coincidence? You be the judge… Beware the dark side of social media. Big sister may be watching… 🙂
Very very funny Robert. You missed your calling!
I am happy to grant you a lifetime "Men's Auxiliary" membership to EGG. Now I just have to figure out a benefits package……