GoAbroad Archive

GoAbroad is a traveler social network that launched at the end of 2007 and is very well crafted. As you can see from the list at the end of this column, we have covered many travel social networks. GoAbroad is up there with the best of them. GoAbroad helps you keep track of where in the world you have traveled to by allowing you to create a travel log (i.e. blog/journal) with your trip information. You can share your trips with others including photos and text. I assume GoAbroad will eventually offer the ability to import and/or link to video.

There’s a Google Maps mashup so you can find other GoAbroad members who have visited the locations you are interested in. There is also an option to create a group after you find other like-minded travelers. There are also resource pages for selected locations to help you before you arrive. A scrapbook (similar to bookmarks) allows you to mark pages that interest you for later viewing.

The social network seems to focus on students but anyone can join. In my testing, most of the profiles I looked at seemed like the people were not currently in school. One of the interesting parts of GoAbroad is that you can post a resume which will allow "advisors" to contact you about employment while in the countries you will travel to. When you open an account on GoAbroad, you can select whether you are a traveler or an advisor.

I’ve always wondered why Travelzoo and FlyerTalk haven’t created social networks like GoAbroad. They could have easily owned the space considering how popular both services are.

Check out our other travel social network reviews: TripSay, TravelMob, SoSauce, Driftr, TripAdvisor, TripIt and TripLife.