Facebook for Travelers
Facebook has really taken off, given it’s unique platform and the benefits over other social networking sites like MySpace it’s not really a surprise nor is it that it is quickly becoming a favorite of travelers. Almost everyone wants to keep in touch with the people they meet while traveling and while there are a number of travel specific social networking sites Facebook has a lot to offer.
Although many have complained about it, it is the applications you can add to your Facebook profile that make it so fun and useful beyond just adding your friends.
Facebook is yet another designed to connect friends although unlike the MySpace popularity contest Facebook prefers that you actually know your friends. When you add a friend it will ask you how you know the person, are they related, a schoolmate, co worker, teammate, partner? Or for travelers, did you travel together and if so where to?
And like the others you enter the standard stuff to be shown in your profile like, age, relationship status, religion, favorites, etc.
The Applications browser says there are 61 travel related applications, how many are good is another story.
The most used application is the obligatory map of countries visited imaginatively called “Where I’ve Been“. But it’s not just where you’ve been but also your home country and where you want to go.There are heaps of other apps that do exactly the same thing but this one is the best and the most used and it’s always more fun to use apps that your friends also use.
You can also do pretty much the same thing with a Cities I’ve Visited map of which there are also a number available.
Trips is the next most useful, it allows you to enter your itinerary for an upcoming, a trip you are on or even past trips. You can add any friends who might me going with you and it creates a map of your route in Google Maps for you. While your gone or when you get back you can also upload photos to your trip data.
There are also apps for planning to help you find flights, calculate currency conversions, keep a travel diary, announce your favorite destinations. And lets not forget you can also upload videos of your travels and more.
For up and coming travelers there are countdown tools to tell you exactly how many seconds are left until you embark on your big adventure. With a bit of imagination I’m sure there are many others apps that could be used for travel purposes too.
And for wannabes or veterans alike there is one of my personal favorites, The Traveler IQ Challenge, how well do you really know the world and how do you compare to your fellow friends, travelers and Facebook members?
One things is for sure Facebook definitely has the goods for travelers whether it be for personal use, friends or keeping worried parents in the know.
[tags]Facebook, MySpace, Social, Networking, Travel, Fun, Friends[/tags]
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Hey i missed the traveler IQ challenge in my post (linked to above). I’ll probably have to update it.
But you forgot the Hostels application, which could really become a valuable research tool for all travelers.
Hey Dan,
The site I work for, Travellerspoint, just launched a travel mapping application. It’s most similar to Trips but has the added benefit of connecting the dots, which highlights journeys a bit better (or so we think:)). Be interested to see what you think:
http://www.facebook.com/apps/application.php?id=2583332131
Cheers,
Eric
With all those Social Networking Sites popping up left and right, it’s pretty tough to keep up with the right ones. When you just subscribed in one, another one is there already, claiming it will be the one of the future. What to do? It’s so time consuming to keep up and maintain everything. An aggregating standard would be great, something, where you put in your particulars once and just tick which sites to update with it. This aggregator/robot would than go there and interpret all the fields for you and off you go. Maybe I read too much science fiction…..
[...] checks out apps in the handy Facebook for Travelers posted at TheLostGlobe. [...]
Yeah, I agree Chris. It definitely becomes too much to handle sometimes! I’ve recently started focussing on just 3: Facebook, StumbleUpon and Newsvine. Each one serves a different purpose, and Facebook is the best for just keeping in touch with friends. But I enjoy using the others as a way of finding cool new sites.
However, if you are looking for a social network focused on backpacking, hiking, climbing, biking and camping, check out http://www.hikersjournal.org
It’s an online community of outdoor entusiasts sharing past adventures and planning their next.