In a world of unwritten rules, one would never attempt to eat sushi with a fork or show up to a job interview wearing a costume unless you happen to be applying for a position as a clown (or wanting to be clowned).
One particular travel site, however, is taking a different approach than the rest of the players in an elite group of meta search engines in the online travel space. Mobissimo has embraced social networking and personalization tools to a degree that far exceeds its competitors (Kayak, Sidestep and Farecast).
I checked out Mobissimo’s Share Space called MobiShare (available directly on a tab on Mobissimo’s home page). Powered by Plum, this area of the site allows visitors to create a space to share all their travel-related urls, images, videos, notes or documents. It’s like a scrapbook of travel ideas. With MobiShare you can create shared folders where friends can contribute and anyone on the site can comment on the content or discover new places to visit. MobiShare adds to Mobissimo’s MobiFriends travel community where you can meet travelers from around the world and share the fares you find on Mobissimo.
Other than including a “Deals” section on their sites, true meta search engines have been known to keep a minimalist’s approach in design so that the main focus is on their bread and butter – search. However, with travelers taking fewer trips this year, consumers want to make sure they’re getting the most out of every trip so Mobissimo’s strategy to differentiate by adding a fully integrated social networking component may well pay off.
Historically, Kayak/Sidestep and Farecast (with much greater funding) have had stronger overall U.S. traffic growth than Mobissimo, whereas Mobissimo has had stronger international brand awareness. As a result, Mobissimo’s social networking initiative to grow organically within its own ecosystem may also prove to be a good sticking point for its worldwide user base, keeping visitors engaged longer and driving incremental customer acquisition.
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4 Responses
I have always wanted on site that allowed search and the ability to track and record my travels. I will check it out.
I’ve enjoyed watching Mobissimo’s recent innovations within meta-search, first with MobiFriends and now with MobiShare. Time will tell whether travelers embrace the new features, but I agree with your point that, if successful, these changes could reduce traffic acquisition costs by increasing word of mouth and SEO.
Regardless, I think Mobissimo’s lean and scrappy approach to becoming a formidable player in travel search is refreshing and commendable.
I love the idea of a “scrapbook” for travel ideas/urls/etc. I will have to check it out. Mobissimo is smart…one must never overlook the power of social networking on the web.
Good insight, I definately think it is a good step forward and natural progression. The Mobishare functioanlity is very cool. But I can’t help wondering that they can still take this further. Travel is such a passion for so many and with such deep knowledge and experiences inherent and organically expanding in tools such as this - how do we push further and create real fun and engagaing “knowledge tools” out of not only tool such as this, but many of the other “social” travel networks? I