Vacation homes and social media worth a million dollars

by Tom Johansmeyer on

Did someone mention a travel slump? Second Porch, up in Portland, Oregon, must not have received the memo.

Damned memos.

The new company just picked up $1 million in A-round financing (an early round, for those not of the finance world) which was led by the Oregon Angel Fund. Translation: a few people are making a seven-figure bet on a travel company in a shitty market. And I think it’s pure genius. Now is the time to make a play in the travel market, as there’s nowhere to go but up. Also, Second Porch has a nice social media connection which is not only all the rage with the kids right now (and the Baby Boomers and everyone else, for that matter) but has demonstrated continued potential for the travel and tourism industry.

The premise behind Second Porch is straightforward: these guys want to harness the power of social media to make it easier for you to book a vacation home. The company has put together a free Facebook application – a portal into the vacation home rental process. End-user ease, however, is only part of the plan. Second Porch CEO Brent Hieggelke says, “The typical Facebook personal network comprised of ‘friends of friends’ reaches almost 17,000 people, all of whom can be vouched for by a friend in common. For a homeowner, this is an obvious opportunity to find prospective guests to rent to with a higher level of comfort and peace of mind.”

Right now, Second Porch has only 1,100 fans and 2,450 users … but give it time. A million dollars buys a lot of friends.

Salt Lake City uses Facebook contest to get you psyched

by Tom Johansmeyer on

The #1 Fan Sweepstakes for the Salt Lake City CVB’s Facebook fan page kicked off on January 15, 2010 and runs until February 12, 2010. The goal is to get the number of fans pumped up to 5,000, while giving potential visitors information about everything Utah: from skiing to genealogy to Mormonism to convention business. Already, the number of fans has almost doubled — from 1,200 to 2,200 — indicating that the new Facebook push is working.

This is a trend that’s becoming increasingly common: travel companies and destinations are turning to Facebook to promote themselves and attract tourists. Recently, JetBlue and the Mexican Council for the Promotion of Tourism kicked off Facebook programs to attract interest and (hopefully) generate the sort of interest that will help them overcome the severe travel industry slump that we’ve been coping with for more than a year now. For Salt Lake City, which has been executing an aggressive media campaign, the move into social media isn’t at all surprising.

According to Inside Facebook, the #1 Fan Sweepstakes isn’t the first push that the Salt Lake City CVB has made on Facebook. Rather, it reflects the lessons learned from previous efforts. Says Shawn Stinson, Director of Communications for the CVB, “We started with a number of different Facebook fan pages: ski, visit, genealogy, meetings, and that didn’t work. It was too littered. So we went to simply Visit Salt Lake.” The straightforward approach is anchored in this new initiative. According to Stinson, “This contest in particular is being used to drive an increase in our fan base because we are looking to distribute more and more information via Facebook.”

The grand prize is a ski trip for two that is packed with extras beyond airfare and lodging: ski passes and a FLIP video camera are included, and the winner is expected to shoot video for a blog about the trip. Other prizes include a set of Dynastar skis and bindings, a two-day Ski Salt Lake pass valid at any of the four resorts in Salt Lake and 20 Ski Salt Lake belt buckles and t-shirts.

Are you a fan of Gadling on Facebook yet?

Social network jokes result in 13 Virgin Atlantic employees being fired

by Scott Carmichael on

13 Virgin Atlantic cabin crew members have found themselves in hot water (and without a job) after they posted inappropriate jokes about their employer on social networking site Facebook.

The jokes involved the crew members calling passengers “chavs” (the British equivalent of the US Redneck) and making jokes about faulty engines that had to be replaced 4 times a year. Other jokes claimed that Virgin Atlantic planes were full of cockroaches.

The Facebook group was setup by crew members based out of Gatwick airport. When Virgin Atlantic discovered the Facebook group, all 13 members were fired and the Facebook group was removed.

While the punishment may seem a little harsh, Virgin Atlantic is in a very competitive market, where jokes like this could cost a significant amount of money.

Virgin Atlantic has a more friendly (and official) Facebook page, with close to 7000 friends as well as links to their hottest deals and some video footage from a Virgin Atlantic cameo in the newest Bond movie.

Guess who else has been naughty in the air?