Is Social Media Killing the Destination Travel Article?

[Kaleel Sakakeeny]

If HuffPostTravel can declare that the "Old Travel Show is Dead, Long Live the New York Travel Festival," then we might be right in declaring that "Travel Destination Articles Are Dying, Long Live Social Media Travel Content."

So, when a senior editor at Technorati  told me that, going forward, all travel-related content had to have a social media spin, had to be presented via a Social/New Media filter, I knew the travel content game had changed. No more colorful destination pieces?

And then I read about a Travel Trends Blogger Conference in New York this month, further proof of the nichification of travel content, and the trend toward travel trends.

And then this: Travel Writing is Dead from the nihilistic publication 3am Magazine.

No more straining for appropriate adjectives and stumbling over cliches.

Technorati, after all, has millions of unique visitors a month, and while the content site is not especially known for its travel articles, the Technorati Travel home page is petty vibrant with article Tweets typically running in the 20-50 range in any 24-36 hour period and many, many Facebook shares.

Personally, I had been noticing the movement away from high-page views for destination content (The 'Wow' of the Caribbean), and the increasingly high numbers of page views for travel articles with a travel news/trends/social media orientation. like "SocialMedia Powers Family Travel Tends". In many cases the disparity was dramatic.

It seems descriptions of blue waters, great dining experiences, famous landmarks, cozy inns, and distant places can be found almost anywhere in our totally Googleized world. Friends and friends of friends share images and tales on Facebook and Twitter and Instagram, and the many review sites.

But content on family travel trends or how new technologies will enrich travel or how airline booking sites can personalize their information and flex with a customer's specific travel needs, are more sought after.

For us, our "Is Socialgraphics Travel's Next Big Social Media Thing" simply generates more comments and engagement.

On the other hand, content on how a specific Caribbean island reaches out to its visitors and co-creates the island travel experience through social media works.

It's simply more relevant to today's traveling digital natives who are "in touch," and sharing useful, relevant information at every stage of their decision-making process and travel experience. They are co-creating travel, and today's travel content reflects that change from the passive travel article, to one that highlights the engaging, Social media dynamic of travel today.

[Allan Lynch]

Oh Kaleel, it's easy to offer to spring for dinner - we're rarely in the same country and never in the same city. :-)

I'm upbeat because I reconnected with a former market and think I have several new markets from the conference.

[Kaleel Sakakeeny]

Well, I hope you're right :) and I'm happy to spring for dinner!

Always a pleasure, Allan!

[Allan Lynch]

Kaleel - I have heard editors say they were buying when they weren't. These editors had a different story and all are securely employed. This is the fourth time I attended this conference and vibe was much much different.

But the problems so many writers have is they don't develop relationships with editors. I do and mine keep me working. I'm about to make my third trip to Europe this year. Oh, and my book publisher just surprised me with a royalty cheque that will pay three months' rent.

[Kaleel Sakakeeny]

Yes, Alan, good points. But, you know, I've heard editors say that before....then they were out of a job and in some cases asking me if I was hiring.
I bet you a dinner you'll never see 3-5,000 word travel article again. :). It makes for good pr in an audience of writers, but editors have less and less power, are less and less relevant. Thankfully, and no aspersions on their abilities,
. And I say thankfully, because the days of having to curry favor with an editor are gone, except for Pavlovian writers who still look to editors as mini-gods.
No, no bean counter or biz manager will give up the space for a long, often rambling travel article . It's too valuable real estate. And the 200 word article consistently does better relative to page counts, views, CTR's .
But you heard it. And maybe I'm a sceptic. But the dinner offer remains ;))

[Allan Lynch]

There is a big implosion due on the blogging front. I won't go into details in public, but it's a conversation centred around lack of ethics that started at a conference I attended last year. I am just back from another conference where this lack of ethics was a dinner topic with destination reps. And BBC have done a television program on it.

As for dying markets, it's sort of self-serving for social media companies to promote the idea that print is dead or dying. A lot of the decline in print advertising could have as much been due to the decline in the economy as changing desires by consumers. Some publications failed because non-media owners bought in just before the economy crashed and loaded them up with junk debt that they couldn't service. The housing market also crashed - that didn't signify that homelessness was the new chic.

Last week I heard three panels of editors speak about their growing needs and how longer-form writing was coming back. While they still need some shorter items for front of book and websites, these editors of top magazines (paying $1-$2 a word) were speaking of 2,-, 3,- and 5,000-word features! We almost fell off our seats. I told one editor I wasn't sure if I could write 3,000 words anymore. He laughed. On-line is here, but so is print. How any writer generates income is up to them and based on their knowledge area, their markets and how good a business person they are.

[Kaleel Sakakeeny]

You know, Marti, I wonder when they'll stop with the names: zoomers, boomers, bloggers, digital natives, generation x, mommy bloggers, WTH :)
But ok, the traveling blogger wants good, reliable, timely travel information about wherever. If he/she can't find it on any of the ways the travel world of information has been Googalized, I guess he or she might get it from a travel magazine or local paper....if any have real travel sections
But, those articles, IMHO, are great for branding. They remain unable to yield the kinds of analytics that travel destination managers seek: fhe relationship between the article are trips booked. Single YouTube video can tell you where the viewer lives, gender, age, length of time on the vid, comments, shares, and provides links to the seller. At the least, it provides data that can be used to target a travel message.
But to your point. Yes, a well written, service oriented travel article, no matter where it appears, is a joy. But travel writers need to ask, separate or beyond the press trip, would they even want to stay in the biz.
I miss youby the way :) .

[Marti Mayne]

I hear you, Kaleel, and I agree with you about social media driving the younger traveler, but I still think there is an audience (perhaps shrinking, but still there) who seeks destination information.  The "Zoomer" generation (active boomers) still happen to be among the largest group of travelers, and they still have an appetite for good old destination information.   I do think, too, that all travelers want a well-written article, so whether it's a blogger or a professional travel writer, the quality of the writing and the photography make a big difference to the reader too. 

[Kaleel Sakakeeny]

A provocative comment, Elyse, but one that I take exception to.
In truth, you have bought the " party line," the one that says, as you did, bloggers who work for nothing and dont write we'll, are choking the market for the legit travel writer. That begs the question.
There is less and less need for the "professional travel writer." Fewer and fewer legit outlets. Less and less need for the classic destination piece...the great beach or terrific chef at some hotel.
So, the professional travel writers ( and they include bloggers) have opted make money by selling sponsored links, travel news, technology, trends pieces, monetizing video, etc., and leaving the field for the blogger who works for nothing.
And what really makes this possible is what you referred to: the coveted press trip. That never, ever should have been the "holy grail " of travel writing. Most travel writers got into the biz to travel. A completely irrelevant criterion for entering a profession. To provide timely, relevant, useful, consumer-facing travel content, yes! But just because the writer loves traveling? Who doesn't?
So let the freebie blogger have his or her Caribbean trip. You should be concerned with how to monetize your content, and it won't come from the old master-servant relationship where you hope for a press trip and maybe pick up a few bucks.
Don't blame the blogger. Look beyond the press trip into the business of making content make money for you .

[Elyse Jessica Glickman]

I think this is indicative of a much bigger problem. Print journalists who normally work for some form of payment in general are being displaced by bloggers doing it for the posts and the freebies.  Though I have continued to travel write and be taken seriously by many savvy PR people, there are other instances where I have been passed over for a blogger for a spot on a press trip.  There is one blogger, for example, known as "the homeless person who travels" who goes from trip to trip and has made it on her ability to sell a colorful personality when the actual writing skills are lacking.  This person is one of many, particularly in L.A. Many legit and experienced writers are dropping out because the paid work is not there.  I think editors, publishers, publicists and planners have the power to save the profession by hiring the best writers for the job and consider their body of work, rather than the person who gets hits simply because they know how to talk a good story about themselves.