Triptease, a new travel review platform which aims to harness the popularity of photo-sharing via social media, has launched today as a website and iPad app.
Travel review photo-sharing app Triptease launches
Triptease, a new travel review platform which aims to harness the popularity of photo-sharing via social media, has launched today as a website and iPad app.
The site offers travel reviews in an image-led, highly shareable format, where users can create content similar to a piece of editorial in a glossy magazine and share it with like-minded travellers.
The platform’s creators say the site is built to ensure the highest quality reviews get precedence – users can find and follow each other, using a similar mechanism to Twitter, and tap into a ‘people like us’ mentality.
The review process involves people uploading a favourite photo, adding some text and using one of six design templates to instantly create a travel memory. Users can then click through from the site to book the reviewed location.
Alasdair Snow, co-founder and product manager at Triptease, said that while existing travel reviews are faceless and text-driven, their new site focuses on images and linking users to their social media profiles.
“What we do is we try to create a sort of platform that lets people create travel reviews that are worth sharing, so we decided to have photos as part of reviews,” Snow told Travolution.
For those who don’t have photos or whose images are not good enough, Snow said that their site has been given pictures by high-profile photographers, which users can then use in their review.
Triptease encourages users to give their real names, with Snow saying: “Of course some people will make up a name but we also try to promote people linking their account to their social media profiles.”
Later down the line, Triptease plans to add an icon to verified accounts belonging to users with travel expertise, or who have vested interests in the travel industry.
Commenting on their decision to launch an iPad app first, rather than one for the iPhone, Snow acknowledged that their choice “wasn’t a particularly common one”, adding that they didn’t envisage their site being the kind of thing people access for quick snippets on the go.
“We want to be a part of the planning stage, and so the iPad is a perfect medium to convey what we do,” said Snow. “It’s a great viewing platform for images. It’s also the medium with the highest purchasing figures.”
