Posts tagged users

Hello Trazzlers—

Over the past weeks, we’ve received quite a few questions about the different types of trips on the site—and even more queries about who writes our trips—so I thought I’d take a minute to explain how it all comes together.

Most of the trips on Trazzler.com were written by freelancers based all around the world. We focused on weekend destinations around big cities and dream trips all over the globe.

Then, in September, we opened up trip publishing to writers who applied and looked to recruit a new crop of freelancers and community managers. (Speaking of which, we are on the verge of announcing another round of freelance writers… thanks for hanging in there—we finally received some of our initial funding, albeit a bit behind schedule.)

To be honest, we weren’t quite sure what kind of response we would get and whether users would embrace our (admittedly quirky) style and slant. You most certainly did—we still can’t believe how good your submissions are and how many places in the world that never make it into traditional travel publications are popping up on Trazzler every single day.

Back to the trips… When you sign up to write for Trazzler and submit a trip, it is by default published as a “user trip.” We then read through these trips and determine—one by one—which trips become Trazzler trips and go into the public tripstream. If necessary, we also find a photo for the trip at this time. Incidentally, when we make a trip a “Trazzler Trip,” we automatically have this writer on our radar for future freelance opportunities.

User Trips and Trazzler Trips: a breakdown

User trips appear in the user’s “My Trips” area and also at the bottom of the country and tag listings and search results. User trips are preceded by the username and either display the map of the location or the user’s photo.

Trazzler trips appear in the tripstream—the procession of trips that you can move through by clicking “add to wishlist” and “skip to next.” Trazzler trips display the writer’s full name and a photo credit. They are also displayed with a photo thumbnail in the country and tag listings and search results and always rise to the top of these lists.

We’re eager to get your feedback on this setup. What do you think?

What is our criteria for choosing Trazzler trips? First off, we believe that when someone takes the time to write about his favorite spot or a place that she can’t get out of her mind, it is meaningful and valuable—whether we choose it as a Trazzler trip or not. We’ve read countless user trips that we sincerely hope that people will find and read, but that for one reason or another (see below) we couldn’t make Trazzler trips.

Reasons a trip might not get published as a Trazzler Trip:

The place/activity:
—too similar to another Trazzler trip
—too broad or generic
—too conventional
—an event or place that might not stand the test of time

The style or writing:
—too long (over 120-140 words)
—too many exclamation points or superlatives
—too many hyperbolic adjectives: amazing, incredible, breathtaking, awesome
—rampant misspellings or questionable grammar
—chronically mixed metaphors
—run on sentences

The focus:
—smacks of shilling
—reads like a tourist brochure—no special angle, no hook
—includes extraneous info that is not related to the trip
—too many reasons not to go there/too negative
—too much first person (some is fine, too much biography make it harder to place the reader in the moment)
—offensive, exploitative, destructive, violent, or mean-spirited

See our writing guide and FAQ for more information and guidelines. And feel free to ignore the above guidelines if you prefer to just do your own thing and share your trips with friends, family, and fellow trazzlers.

More soon. In the meantime, why not check out some writing that will inspire you to dive into the falling autumn leaves (and add the tag “fall” to any of your own autumnal ruminations):

http://www.trazzler.com/trips/tags/fall

I, for one, plan to get outside this weekend (to the Sierra de Guadarrama—I promise to write a trip), change out my city air for pine-scented mountain air, play in the snow, and enjoy my first election-free moments in a long, long time.
—Megan

Hello Trazzlers—

Welcome to our first monthly Trazzler newsletter.

The past month has been a whirlwind for us. We opened up publishing to users and writers; recruited writers and community managers; published hundreds of outstanding user-submitted trips; worked with more pilot bloggers; and launched Trazzler on the Facebook Platform.

The response from writers has surpassed our wildest dreams with hundreds and hundreds of trips pouring in from every corner of the globe. We’ve loved every minute of reading your beautiful, wonderful, weird, creative, poetic, and poignant trips. Every day we get more, so keep checking back, sending us feedback, and—please—keep writing.

A Little About Who We Are
Trazzler is not a front for a big evil corporation—we’re a mom and pop turned global. Our small team is comprised of people from San Francisco, Florida, Madrid, Paris, Slovakia, Bangalore, Australia…
Moms, brothers, cousins, significant others, former coworkers, former significant others, and friends from kindergarten have all been tapped to pitch in. What you see on Trazzler.com is the culmination of many years of experience and countless hours of dreaming, scheming, planning, and hard work. And this is just the beginning.

Why Trazzler is Different
So many other travel sites are essentially reference books with logistical information, tourist bureau propaganda, or an unedited, overwhelming morass of useful and useless information. Guidebooks rely on just a handful of undercompensated writers to do it all. At Trazzler, you’ll find what slips through the cracks everywhere else—those secret places that you might only tell your friends about… those defining travel moments that reside in your memory long after you have returned home.

Our Commitment to Writers
The vast majority of Trazzler Trips were written by a crack group of freelancers from all over the world. We will continue to commit a significant percentage of our budget to writing and editing, because we firmly believe that the success of Trazzler hinges on quality and creativity. In the next few weeks, we’ll be hiring more writers (freelancers and community managers). We are also hatching plans to reward the best user trips. Sign up to write trips: http://trazzler.com/about/write-for-trazzler

To Trazzle: I Trazzle, You Trazzle, He/She Trazzles…
Each Trazzler Trip transports you to a very specific place and moment. Real human beings are behind each and every trip, carefully choosing the photo, writing the copy, and editing it. As you trazzle—clicking “skip to next” or “add to wishlist”—you decide what appeals to you and what doesn’t. Trazzler is a savvy friend who will get to know your Travel Personality over time.* Use it as “virtual teleportation” (as Biz Stone imagined when the idea was hatched), travel therapy, a game, an escapist fantasy, or—we also hope—as a tool to learn about new ways to travel to one-of-a-kind spots and an outlet for your travel ruminations.

Trazzler on Facebook
In July, Trazzler was awarded a fbFund grant to take what we are doing on Trazzler.com to the Facebook platform. Last week we launched our Facebook application and would love for you to check it out and send us your thoughts. Send trips to Facebook friends, see where your friends want to go, tell your friends where you want to go, plan trips together:
http://apps.facebook.com/trazzler/

For the time being, your Trazzler.com Wishlist and Facebook Wishlist are separate. This will change soon as we bring your Facebook friends to Trazzler.com and sync accounts via Facebook Connect.

This Month’s Trip Challenge: Mom and Pop
This is a tough time for the scrappy family-owned businesses that we know and love. So this month, we would like to pay homage to our favorite mom-and-pop places by writing about them. Why not submit a few trips about your favorite local joints and let others know about them by adding the tag “mom and pop”?

Mom and pop trips: http://trazzler.com/trips/tags/mom-and-pop

September/October: Best New Trips
It’s agonizing to pick just a handful. We have received hundreds and hundreds of really top-notch trips. But here are just a few that caught our eye this month:

#9672 Jellyfishing (Without the Sting) at Jellyfish Lake in Palau http://www.trazzler.com/trips/jellyfish-lake-in-palau
Writer: Christopher Yurkanin

#211 Trekking to the Foot of the Franz Josef Glacier in New Zealand http://www.trazzler.com/trips/franz-josef-glacier-in-new-zealand
Writer: Barbara Weibel

#4265 Sitting Trackside for Roller Derby in Raleigh, North Carolina http://www.trazzler.com/trips/roller-derby-in-raleigh-north-carolina
Writer: Tina Jett

#1006 Eating a Highwayman’s Feast at an Historic Pub in Hampstead, London http://www.trazzler.com/trips/spaniards-inn-hampstead-london
Writer: Tim Chester


September/October: Favorite Sentence/Metaphor
“If Sanibel is the prom queen of Gulf Coast islands, think of Pine
Island as her mangrove-encrusted tomboy little sister.”

#419 Feasting on a Fresh Crab Omelet in Matlacha, Florida
http://www.trazzler.com/trips/perfect-cup-in-matlacha-florida
Writer: Cathy Salustri

September/October: Favorite Photo from a Flickr Photographer
#9865 Watching the Sunrise from the Charles Bridge in Prague
http://trazzler.com/trips/charles-bridge-prague
Photographer: David Smith, http://www.flickr.com/photos/smithdm3/
Writer: Amanda


September/October: Favorite User-Submitted Photo
#6228 Living Like the Garifuna in Cayos Cochinos, Honduras
http://www.trazzler.com/trips/garfuna-villiage-honduras
Writer and Photographer: Kirsten Hubbard


September/October: Featured Blogger
Jim Early at the North Carolina Barbecue Society travels in his own
backyard, spending countless hours researching the best old-school
barbecue in his state. He’s a fascinating guy who is passionate
about his “obsession” and is working hard to preserve this North
Carolina tradition. I’ll be blogging about him and our other
bloggers in a few days. In the meantime, check out his trips (more
coming soon) and sites.

http://www.trazzler.com/trips/users/ncbbqsociety
http://www.ncbbqsociety.com and http://www.jimearly.com

Where Do We Go From Here?

* Make the website social with Facebook Connect.
* We want to get better at personalizing your tripstream. With
thousands of trips to choose from, we want to show you those that
most closely match your preferences. This month, we had vegans
getting repeatedly visually bludgeoned by a photo of salamis and
outdoorsy types getting a pretty sleazy Vegas trip. That’s not what
we want… The solution: make that algorithm geekier.
* Do something clever with the places you’ve been.

That’s it for now. Throughout the month we’ll be blogging here about
trips, news, and Trazzler ephemera.

Keep Trazzling!

Megan Cytron and the Trazzler Team
http://www.trazzler.com/trips/users/megancytron