SACHA GOODSON WAS pretty sure this wasn't in the guidebook. The Atlanta-based project manager was on a vacation in Prague recently, hunting down a must-see teahouse in a corner of the city she didn't even know existed. Through a shady square and down a dark alley, she finally found it tucked away behind an imposing set of double doors; inside she discovered a friendly crowd of locals and a tea selection so good she brought some home as souvenirs. So who exactly gave Goodson this inside tip on an unseen corner of the Czech Republic? A Facebook friend.
If Facebook users have anything to say about it, the days of your travel agent, guidebook and (uh-oh...) travel writer could be numbered. Indeed, while many of us are still using the site to waste time at work or keep tabs on our exes, a small but savvy group of travelers are increasingly turning their online networks into a travel think tank. Some are just using the basic "wall post," where they can broadcast news of their upcoming trip—and call for recommendations—to their entire network with just a few keystrokes. Then there's Facebook Questions, one of the site's newest additions, which lets people post any type of query and get answers from their own friends, as well as from the Facebook universe at large. (Recent post: "What are the best places to go in Hawaii?") And other companies are beginning to get in on the act; review sites like TripAdvisor.com and Yelp.com, for instance, allow users to share content on the social-networking behemoth and find out what their Facebook friends think of various trip operators, hotels and restaurants across the globe.
Of course, you don't need Facebook—or even a computer—to get travel advice. Vacationers have been polling their friends for recommendations since the first Neanderthal took a little getaway to the cave next door. But the rise of social media means that rather than calling a couple of buddies for tips, travelers can now blast their question to hundreds of potential sources. What's more, say advocates, the option to ask friends and neighbors makes vacationers less dependent on travel pros, who may have a financial stake in where they go, or anonymous review sites, which sometimes include ringer reviews written by companies themselves. "It's definitely going to change the dynamics of travel," says travel-industry marketing and technology consultant Robert Cole.
But while travelers' social networks might be great for sharing YouTube videos, witty status updates and little blue thumbs of approval, that doesn't necessarily make them top-shelf sources for travel advice. Facebook, of course, has no control over the advice its users dole out. But the ability to reach out to so many people at once can make the already fraught dynamics of asking friends for advice even stickier. What, for instance, happens when a contact follows up to ask what you thought of that recommendation you ignored—or worse, hated? What's more, as any Facebook user knows, the idea that you actually have anything in common with (or even know) all your "friends" on the site is questionable; take Goodson's Prague adventure. Her advice came not from an actual friend, or even a friend of a friend, but from a high school classmate's girlfriend's cousin—whom she's never met.
WITH FACEBOOK'S MIND-BENDING 500 million users (that's nearly twice the population of the U.S.), it's no shock that the travel industry has spent the past several years trying to tap into the site's social-networking power. Some agencies and planners have simply put up company profiles for people to "fan," while the more ambitious have tried creating travel-specific applications that can be used on the site. Gowalla.com, for instance, lets people build their own travel itineraries to share with friends, while Facebookers who are willing to tell their network each time they check into certain hotels can earn lodging loyalty points from Topguest.com.
Traveler review site TripAdvisor has been toying with ways to connect members with their Facebook friends ever since its own stab at creating a social-networking site flamed out in 2008. ("It was ahead of its time," says Adam Medros, the site's VP of products.) The company started by allowing people to post reviews on Facebook and, in some cases, search for their friends' reviews on TripAdvisor. This past summer it added a new feature that helps people hunt down the biggest globetrotters in their Facebook network. The app allows people searching for, say, Jamaica, to see a list of Facebook contacts who have been to the island and automatically send a message to them. It also gives people the option to post a notice on their wall announcing their upcoming trip and asking for advice. So far, says Medros, more than 60 percent of people who have tried it have gotten a response, since unlike online reviewers with no connection to the traveler, Facebook friends "aren't likely to blow off the question."
The best part of connecting with friends for advice, say vacationers, is getting tips from people who know exactly what you like. For Sheldon Scott, a restaurant manager from Washington, D.C., that means leaving the fanny pack–wearing tourists behind and tracking down the spots where the fashionistas and cool kids play. Scott's recent Facebook wall post about an upcoming vacation in Buenos Aires unleashed an avalanche of advice and ended up shaping his entire trip, from where he stayed (an apartment in the chic Recoleta neighborhood) to where he ate (a little Italian place tucked away in the Museo Evita) and drank (local bar scenes like Million and Carnal). And on the rare occasions when he did go off-list, Scott first ran his selections by his Facebook advisers for a green light; he says, "I can trust any one of my friends' recommendations
