A start-up on a mission to crowdsource user generated content may have to ‘let go a bit with quality’

What if UGC was aggregated into a single platform to make discovery easy? That is what Tripoto is aiming for

Anirudh Gupta, the co-founder of Tripoto, a platform that let’s other people discover travel content that has been shared online, has a point.

“Travel content right now in the form of blogs or user generated content is scattered around web, making it very difficult to find,” he says. “By aggregating that content on a single platform [what Tripoto aims to do] and then making its discovery easy definitely makes sense.”

The business Gupta has launched is banking on the growing trend for travellers to share content via social media. A survey in 2013 by Red Rocket Media reveals that:

•       42% of shared content on Facebook is travel-related

•       55% are influenced by online searches

•       63% are influenced by others’ testimonials

•       A third of travellers would create content if they thought it would benefit their friends/family

•       Gamification would motivate 10% of travellers to create content after their vacation

 “Although travel is the most shared content on social media platforms, there is no way for other people to consume this travel content. The information just gets lost in newsfeeds,” he says.

It’s very early days for the company, which is still trying to work out the revenue model, but Gupta believes that Tripoto fulfils a real need. That the firm hasn’t yet defined a revenue model could be considered a little worrying. But Gupta says going forward, they expect to earn commission on leads generated for, say, guides or independent businesses that register on the site.

Right now, however, Tripoto is focused on increasing the amount of content on the platform and ensuring it’s of a decent quality. Once this is achieved “we’ll focus on fine-tuning revenue models,” he says.

Finding a balance

Finding and aggregating content is proving a challenge, but the startup is running a huge outreach programme to attract travellers and bloggers to the site. Today, the team approves every trip that comes onto Tripoto, but in the future the plan is to move to a rating system. It is also currently working on integrating with third party tools so that its content flows more easily around the web.  

Gupta believes UGC is the future because people no longer want to rely on a brand or a single source of content to plan travel. While TripAdvisor has gone a long way on this front, there is still room for other players in the market. “People are looking for a different user experience and a real narrative, a place or experience they have had,” he says. Bart van Poll, the co-founder of  Spotted by Locals agrees. “TripAdvisor is great for hotels but if you want to drill down into smaller niche spots it’s hard to find a reliable recommendation,” he says.

While Spotted by Locals’ places huge emphasis on well-written quality content, Gupta believes there needs to be a balance. His point is that if you only focus on high quality content, then you just become like a digital magazine. “Great content takes effort and most people don’t want to put in that effort,” says Gupta.

At the moment, however, Tripoto is moderating tightly. But as things progress, Gupta says they’ll loosen up and let people share more freely. The site will include a crowdsourced mechanism to ensure that the best, most popular content comes out on top. “Our aim is to get travel content from a large number of users and this will mean letting go a little bit on quality,” he says. 

Essentially though Tripoto is aiming for a site that looks beautiful, is useful and connects like-minded people to share stories. So if you to cycle round the Baltics or go back packing in Africa, Tripoto will help connect you to the right people to help you plan your trip.

Looking ahead, the firm is currently working on a mobile app which it expects to release in the next three to four months. It is also looking at opportunities around gamification, which research shows could motivate 10% of travellers to create content post vacation.