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TripIt Adds Closeness Alerts - Do I Care?
Written by Allen Stern - January 22, 2008
TripIt, the tool that helps you manage your trips, is now adding a "closeness" function. Basically what this does is allow you to see other people who are taking trips that match where you will be. It's a good idea in theory but TripIt sells themselves on being a zip-in, zip-out service, not a social network. Now they are starting to move past their core strength - will this dissolve the brand equity they have built so far in the industry?
What was missing from the information provided to me was how the security works - will anyone be able to see my trip plans? If so, I certainly hope this is turned off by default. Otherwise immediately when someone submits their trip receipts to TripIt will others be able to see them?
And more importantly, do I really care about finding others who are in the same area that I don't know -- especially if it's a business trip? Now if they were hooking up singles looking to meet others on a trip where they could add to a calendar of sorts, that could be hot. Anywhoo, check out our previous TripIt coverage.
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Hi all, this is Scott from TripIt here. Just wanted to chime in and make it clear that your trip info in TripIt is NOT shared with the general public. On TripIt, you invite friends to connect with you, and only those people can see where you are going. So you have complete control over who gets to see your travel calendar. You can even make a trip 'private' which means even your TripIt friends won't be able to see it. We know it's critical that you have control over who sees your travel plans, so we've baked that control into TripIt in everything we do.
Finally, just want to point out that your TripIt friends only see the locations you're traveling to (and the dates). They don't automatically see your detailed itinerary with flight numbers, hotel names, etc. You have to take the extra step of sharing the itinerary with someone in order for them to see the full detail. We make you jump through that extra hoop just to make sure your travel info doesn't get into someone's hands unless you specifically request that.
Thanks for the update Scott - what is the default when I submit my receipts to you - is it that my friends can see my trips or not? meaning opt-in or out?
When you create a new trip by emailing a confirmation to TripIt, the default setting is to allow your TripIt friends to see your trip destination and dates (but not the details of the trip).
When you create a new trip manually on the TripIt site, you can select the privacy option when you first setup the trip.
I hope that helps!
thats a huge mistake.
I guess it wouldn't hurt if you guys have a button that lets me select if I want those email-in trips to be private or public (= allow my friends to see it).
This should be required - otherwise it's off by default.