Planning Your Vacation Online
Using Social Networks To Plan Your Next Vacation
With new social networks springing up every day, and more and more people spending time on these sites, there are, need we say it, more ways to use social networking sites than ever before. Some people use them to reconnect, some people to keep in touch, some people to play games, and some people to stay up on the latest news and trends. No matter how you normally use social networks, the fact is there are probably several ways to use them that you haven’t even thought of yet, for example— planning your next vacation.
Bet you didn’t see that one coming. But really, there are several ways to make planning your next vacation not only easier, but more time efficient and less expensive as well.
Let’s start with picking a destination. The easiest thing you can do is use your social networks to simply ask for suggestions. This is the equivalent of asking a travel agent for destination suggestions, except your responses will be from trusted friends and/or, at the very least, acquaintances who you know are not trying to sell you something because it will get them a better commission. This approach works especially well if you’re trying to decide between a few specific locations. By broadcasting the choices to your friends, you will get responses from people who have actually experienced the locations, and can tell you the pros and cons from firsthand experience. And all in a matter of minutes, which sure beats calling 200+ people to see where they’ve been and what advice they have.
You can also find great travel deals through social networking sites. For example, Jet Blue and Southwest are good examples of airlines using Twitter to extend great travel deals to their followers. Many times, twitter followers of these airlines will be the first to know about special $99 promotions and other deals. This will allow you to book your flight for a cheaper price if you start looking for these deals in advance, so you can save the extra money for souvenirs or a nice dinner on your trip.
If you are planning a trip for a larger group, consider using wikis to keep the planning process flowing smoothly. A wiki is a space which allows people in different locations to collaborate on the internet to have conversations as well as share documents and Websites. Wikidot and Wetpaint are good examples of these. Google docs and Google wave are also very effective, and Google wave even has a “voting” feature so different members of your party can offer suggestions and the rest of the group can vote and comment on them.
Finally, you can use location-based social networking sites to gather advice on activities and destinations ahead of time. In addition, you could use these networks when you’re actually at your destination to find people you know who might be visiting or live there permanently.
However you use them, there is no doubt that social networks can be a great planning tool, as they integrate technology which gathers all of your friends, helpful reviews and location based technology, all for the purpose of helping you out.
