TripSay is a new travel social network that is currently in a private beta (the first 25 Rev2 readers who e-mail info@tripsay.com with “Rev2″ in the subject line will get be able to obtain an invitation.) Based in Finald, the service targets frequent travellers and enthusiasts alike who can share their experiences, plan their trips, group with their friends and make new ones, and do a number of things that are related to travel.
The signup proccess is a little different from most services, in that as opposed to just entering traditional things like your name and where you live, you’re asked to put on a scale what kind of a traveller you are and rate some of the places you’ve been to. It uses this information to recommend places and contribute to the system, gaining you points (each place you rate is worth some points, and the idea is to have a social competition/leaderboard around it.)
Apart from having a general traveller’s profile, you can also search and create groups with and for similar interests, and aggregate activity within TripSay and the whole network. Going under the ‘map’ tab lets you discover new places through its Flash-based interface, and as you’d guess, each place has its own page complete with pictures and everything.
TripSay is an interesting play, but I think there are number of travel social networks that are already at it and doing a far better job — which is owed mostly, of course, to their users. In such, Yahoo! Travel is one that I use frequently, and the Yahoo! brand being unanimous, one which some of my friends are on. I think travel is a more “personal” and “self-fulfilling” thing as opposed to something social, and this where TripSay will face its biggest challenge.
