Chapter Two:  Technology

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What is Web 2.0?  What is TripWolf?

 

04 Jul, 2008
The rules of marketing and PR have changed,

A point clearly made during a hard hitting your BusinessChannel interview..

Author of best seller The New Rules of Marketing & PR, a hand book for modern marketers around the globe, Scott gave fascinating insight into how Web 2.0 technologies have ended the old interruptive marketing styles. He says that these new tools have inspired change in the way that businesses talk with their customers.

Blogging, social media and other forms of online one-on-one conversations have become the hottest means of information exchange today.  And with the public becoming more cynical and shying away from the old top-down marketing approaches, demand for actual conversation has risen sharply. This has encouraged the kind of conversation that addresses the key issues that they care about.

According to Scott, those topics are primarily about solving the customer’s problems, and the companies that are sticking to that  are now getting a whole lot more bang for their marketing buck.

“A fundamental thing that people do is talk about their products. It’s this ego centric approach [to believe] that people care about your products,” Scott told yourBusinessChannel. “They don’t give a crap. What they care about is their own problems and finding answers to their own problems.”
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Reading Assignment:

Read Chapter Two 

Discussion Questions:

Complete the questions by typing them on your chapter two word document to be e-mailed to the instructor.  Each answer should be about two or three sentences.

1.      List the four major computer reservations systems and identify which airline they are associated with.  Note:  Most airlines do not own the systems anymore!

2.    What is "Web 2.0"? http://webdesign.about.com/od/web20/a/aa021306.htm 

3.      How could Web 2.0 be useful to a travel agency?  Why should a travel agency bother to educate themselves about this?

4.     You may not completely understand what Web 2.0 is....(many people don't!)...but it is quickly becoming a critical marketing tool for travel companies.  Read the following article and answer the questions after reading it.

        http://www.paulgraham.com/web20.html

        a.  In your best words..."what is AJAX"?

        b.  What does "democracy" have to do with Web 2.0?

        c.  After reading both articles...think about the implications for the travel industry.  Do you think the WAY in which travel is sold (online) may change?  If so....how?

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