V-Flyer

News release here

Appears to be a bit of a mash up between Dopplr and Trip Advisor, with a large dose of social networking and the typical marketing gloss that you'd expect.

Doesn't appear to tread on V-Flyer's toes, as it's a far more generic look at travel with the focus on destinations. Apart from the little Virgin Atlantic logo in the bottom corner, it doesn't really get specific about VAA at all.

Thanks Pete, I'll give that a go - before signing up I checked whether they had any dodgy plans for UGC, but looks not so no Facebook nonsense!

An interesting site.

I agree that it doen't appear to tread on V-Flyer's toes, in fact I wonder what VS will get out of it.

Given that they have clearly thrown an awful lot more time, effort, resources and money into this than they have into their Facebook site (and VS.com!!); I wonder what they are hoping to achieve. [?]

Nick

Well that was a bit underwhelming to say the least, I went in with an open mind and came away with an empty one as well, seemed to suck the life force out of me, I think I will pass on that one.

quote:Originally posted by Nottingham Nick
An interesting site.

I agree that it doen't appear to tread on V-Flyer's toes, in fact I wonder what VS will get out of it.

Given that they have clearly thrown an awful lot more time, effort, resources and money into this than they have into their Facebook site (and VS.com!!); I wonder what they are hoping to achieve. [?]

Nick


Bear in mind the FB project and vtravelled.com come from very different teams within VS, and whilst vtravelled is (we suspect) a pet project of Steve Ridgeway's which has had a healthy budget thrown at it, the Facebook VS page exists *because* it requires no additional budget.

Now, quite what VS's goal is with vtravelled, I am unsure. I am guessing that they want to get in on the wildfire popularity of sites like Facebook, Bebo, Dopplr, etc, and figure this kind of funky social interaction is the way to own their slice of it. Whether it works will very much depend on whether travellers adopt it in numbers, and (more importantly) use it.

At the moment I'm not seeing the 'killer app' part of vtravelled that would make me want to add trips and, having tried to add a 'trip pod', I got a little confused as to what I was doing, and why I was doing it. It's early days though, so I'm prepared to give it another shot when I've got a little more time, as I guess Facebook must have been confusing the first time someone saw it...

Pete

Tried several times to get on line when it was first available, site was overwhelmed I guess because it kept hanging. Had a look at it now and am not worried that it may take from what we offer but as Pete says it is very early days.

I like it. I can show off my pictures to everyone, whether they like it or not! Woooo!

I have now given up on this site, after a couple of pretty fruitless visits.

Steve Ridgway says- 'vtravelled is a unique proposition for travellers who want to celebrate and share their travel experiences with like minded people. We knew we could fill a large gap in the market by creating a community which shared and discussed travel positively and creatively.'

I think it is a bit of a white elephant!

Is anyone using it much?

Nick

quote:Originally posted by Nottingham Nick
I have now given up on this site, after a couple of pretty fruitless visits.

Steve Ridgway says- 'vtravelled is a unique proposition for travellers who want to celebrate and share their travel experiences with like minded people. We knew we could fill a large gap in the market by creating a community which shared and discussed travel positively and creatively.'

I think it is a bit of a white elephant!

Is anyone using it much?

Nick



Agreed !

Have tried it but find it pretty hopeless (i.e. difficult to use/navigate and information (IF and WHEN found) easier to obtain from other readily available sources.)

I find all I need on V-Flyer, on VS website or VS Facebook page.

HG

Agree Nick, tried to 'get it' when it first launched, but couldn't, thought it might be better once it got going. Went back to it a couple of weeks ago and I just found it rubbish to be honest, can't see what benefit anyone can get from it.

Also agree with you Nick. I don't see the point of it.

It also doesn't work properly using Safari in Windows either.

Regards