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The thought occurred during a recent vacation I took: if I tried to show my friends and family my vacation photos after the trip it would be a classic sitcom gr

by jsolson 12y ago

The thought occurred during a recent vacation I took: if I tried to show my friends and family my vacation photos after the trip it would be a classic sitcom groan moment, but by posting during the trip I get past their defenses. Their need to compulsively 'like' things kicks in, and they unwittingly view the whole trip anyway.

px1999 12y ago
The medium is the message - it's the context that changes the meaning. Sitting everyone down for pictures is almost gloating; but when you remove the obligations, people's desires to be nice, helpful and curious kick in so they take a look and click like. But yeah, I'm surprised that companies involved in travel aren't all over social media. My only guess is that it might be difficult to change the messaging from "travel is exciting" to "travel with Xyz travels pty ltd is exciting" because of the industry's commoditization.
- toyg 12y ago
  Some travel-related companies are "all over social media". Tripadvisor had some success with their FB apps showing "cities I've visited" etc. To be honest, it's just that social media already does most of the job for them, for free (travelers post pictures on their own, nowadays even tagging the location or establishment), so why push it?
  - omouse 12y ago
    Because you want people to link directly to the trip or vacation or hotel or airline that they used. People usually don't mention it, they mention the destination.
    - MattHeard 12y ago
      I've found that a lot of people are using Facebook to share airline deals with each other.
- jsolson 12y ago
  I actually think it has more to do with dosing the time out over a week. I'll happily commit a few minutes a few times a day to looking at some cool photos. Ask me to sit down for an hour? Sorry, I have to return some videotapes.
  - thaumasiotes 12y ago
    It's more than that. If I demand to show you my vacation slides, I'm taking your time on my schedule. If I put pictures up on facebook, you can browse them at your own leisure, and there's no demand on my part involved.
coldtea 12y ago
Sounds like its something they don't really want to see, and that you have to trick them (even innocently as here) about it. So why even show it to them in the first place?

by jsolson 12y ago

px1999 12y ago

The medium is the message - it's the context that changes the meaning. Sitting everyone down for pictures is almost gloating; but when you remove the obligations, people's desires to be nice, helpful and curious kick in so they take a look and click like. But yeah, I'm surprised that companies involved in travel aren't all over social media. My only guess is that it might be difficult to change the messaging from "travel is exciting" to "travel with Xyz travels pty ltd is exciting" because of the industry's commoditization.

toyg 12y ago
Some travel-related companies are "all over social media". Tripadvisor had some success with their FB apps showing "cities I've visited" etc. To be honest, it's just that social media already does most of the job for them, for free (travelers post pictures on their own, nowadays even tagging the location or establishment), so why push it?
- omouse 12y ago
  Because you want people to link directly to the trip or vacation or hotel or airline that they used. People usually don't mention it, they mention the destination.
  - MattHeard 12y ago
    I've found that a lot of people are using Facebook to share airline deals with each other.
jsolson 12y ago
I actually think it has more to do with dosing the time out over a week. I'll happily commit a few minutes a few times a day to looking at some cool photos. Ask me to sit down for an hour? Sorry, I have to return some videotapes.
- thaumasiotes 12y ago
  It's more than that. If I demand to show you my vacation slides, I'm taking your time on my schedule. If I put pictures up on facebook, you can browse them at your own leisure, and there's no demand on my part involved.

coldtea 12y ago

Sounds like its something they don't really want to see, and that you have to trick them (even innocently as here) about it. So why even show it to them in the first place?