Social Networking Website Development for Travellers - A Case Study

Social Networking Website Development for Travellers - A Case Study

Eastern Software Systems developed a social networking website in travel domain for its customer. The customer was a group of first generation entrepreneurs. They were travel enthusiasts who shared a common vision to offer technology enabled services to tourists and travelers. They wanted to build a niche social networking website in travel domain and capitalize on Internet based advertising.

This project proposed to empower millions of French speaking travellers to collaborate and communicate on travel related issues through a single website which has been missing from the landscape. The project required certain out of the box features important for travellers besides standard social networking web design. The client said "the site should narrate traveler's stories and help them make informed decisions. It is not about searching rooms"

ESS and Client decided to develop the website using open source technology on Web 2.0. After detailed discussions, it was decided to develop this social networking website on LAMP platform (Linux, Apache, MySql and PHP) platform on MVC architecture. AJAX, XML and Jquerry were used in certain functionalities to make the web site fast. The choice of open source technologies for development of social networking website reduced the budget as it eliminated the need to buy any software licence.

Development Methodology

The technology team prepared a detail feature list based on clients business objectives. This was analysed and converted into software specification. The SRS document was created and revised to make it as objective as possible before kick start of the project.

ESS team continually communicated with the client to discuss the developed features and gave demonstration of the working software. The team also was also proactive to the changes requested by the client during development. This collaborative approach for social networking website development in India allowed a rapid development and shorter time to market.

The website provided a platform that facilitates "viral" proliferation of information passed along from user to user. The features were developed keeping in mind the ease of use, trends and specific need of the travelers. Some of the features in the website are:

1. Traveller profile

2. Travelogue

3. Share, tag Photos and Videos

4. Share Tips and Tricks

5. Review Travel Destinations

6. Review & Rate Hotels, Tour operators, Shops, Restaurants,

7. Destination/travel based Groups and Communities

8. Integration with Google Maps

9. Recommendation on "To do" and "To See" at a specific destination.

10. Tagging & Tag cloud

The client was able to build a travel community through the website. He provided them with easy to use helpful tools to connect to each other and share their stories and media. Since this was a niche space, he was able to generate revenue leveraging on the rapidly growing traffic.

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