Announcing a new social network for small tour operators and niche agents

As mentioned last year, I have been looking at ways that I can blog in an environment that is less about me and more about you. As a result of that thinking I have, today, launched a new social network - Small Fish Big Ocean

What is Small Fish Big Ocean?

Small Fish Big Ocean is part blog / part social network. The aim is to bring together mainly small tour operators and niche agents and form a community of those interested in travel ecommerce in those sectors.

Technically, the system used has:

• Blogs
• Forums
• Video / Audio
• Profile pages
• Widgets and other neat tools

What am I going to blog about?

I am going to write 4 posts a month (one a week). Each month I am going to choose a single theme. My blog posts will be more “practical” in nature than the ones on Musings (which are more news or strategy focussed)

• In the first week I will write a blog post introducing the theme - and giving a web based reading list for further study.
• In the second week I will set everyone (who wants to!) a task to complete on their own website (or in their own business). The forums will be there to support people through this process
• In the third week I will write a blog post covering some advanced thoughts on the theme…. hopefully by then everyone will have read their reading lists and done their homework (!)….. so we can talk more knowledgeably about the topic.
• In the forth week the intention is to have a community event about the theme. This could be a live chat or video conference or something. Frankly, I am going to see how this goes. All sorts of issues with this like - who is going to be on it? What timezone? etc…

Of course, you could just join the community and talk about what you like in the forums…. and not worry about what I blog about….

Anything else on SFBO worth knowing about?

One of the forums has been set aside as a “clinic”. For those brave enough to post their travel ecommerce questions publicly, I will be happy to answer (and provide free consultancy advice). Hopefully the real benefit to the clinic will be that other people apart from me will answer!

For those of you who can’t afford my rates (!) it may be an interesting route. I can do website reviews if you ask in the clinic….. or if you just want to “give a bit of PR” to your new travel website or startup ….. you could ask me what I think of it!

What does this mean to this Musings blog that I know people like to read?

It will continue in its current form. Specifically this means:

• I will continue to post as often as I can (4-5 times per week)
• I will write about industry issues facing larger companies specifically travel ecommerce and usability (smaller company issues will be in SFBO)
• It will continue to be my own view on things….
• There may be less “how to” guides…. as these may be placed on my new blog…. it depends on what it is that I am writing about

So - please go and visit our new social network….. Small Fish Big Ocean ….. even better, please sign up for a profile! (its free!)

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