NYC hotel with its own social network

There are lots of hotels that like to think they are offering not just a place to sleep but "a lifestyle" too. Generally speaking, you shouldn't believe them. These are normally the sort of places who also try to sell you their branded CD of forgettable chill-out tunes.

However, one place that could have a legitimate claim on the idea is the Pod Hotel in NYC. During your stay they won't just provide fresh towels and free wifi, they'll sort you out with a social life too. Just dial room service and...

Ok, not quite. No telephones involved. It's all on the net, of course. Yes, you've guessed it, the Pod Hotel has its very own social network.

It's a rather basic affair, more like a simple forum, but it's proving very popular. When guests make a reservation, they are given the option to join the forum. There they'll find a section for each month of the year, subdivided into four categories: Eat With Me; Drink With Me; Shop With Me; Go Out With Me. If you're going to be in town that month, you can start your own post - inviting others to meet up with you - or you can respond to an invite that's already there. Site statistics show that, so far, 1776 users have contributed 251 threads and 564 posts.

I like the idea. It's perfect for travellers who are past bunking up in huge hostel dorms and yet miss the social experience of shared accommodation. It's also perfect for a city like NYC, which can be a lonely place for a solo traveller.

That's not to say you have to be on your own to use it. Couples and groups of friends are getting in on the idea too, often making plans with other guests before they've even set foot on NY soil.

All good, although you could argue that people should be more willing to start an occasional spontaneous chat in a hallway, without feeling the need to exchange emails first.

The network has earned the Pod Hotel the nickname “The Facebook Hotel”, based on the generation they are targeting and how they are targeting them.

"Get a feel for Pod culture," announces the website. Easy now, Pod Hotel. I like your style, but watch yourself or you could be selling mood CDs before you know it.

Going unplugged

Right, that's it. I'm burning all my social-networking passwords and logging off.

Ok, not really. (Plus, that "click if you forgot your password" button makes such drama impossible.) But this is how I felt after reading a great piece by Make Travel Fair's Stephen Chapman entitled Unplug, Enjoy The Journey & The Experience Of Travelling. As the name suggests, it encourages people to turn off their computers, forget the pressure of finding the "best" places in town, and rediscover the simple joy of unplanned wandering, or, as the Australian Aborigines say, "going walkabout".

The internet is, undoubtedly, an incredible tool for travellers - helping to enhance experiences on so many levels. I'm continually advocating the use of travel networking to make contact with locals. Often, a quick search and an email exchange is all it takes to get a fast-track straight into a side of the country you may never otherwise see.

However, the net is not the only medium for achieving this. You can gain a lot just through simply keeping an open mind and putting your ear to the ground. Heavens, you can even go so old school as to ask people for tips in person. No online forums, no emails, no Tweeting.

Although I still love social networking, I do occasionally feel bogged down. The internet has become both my blessing and my curse. Last week I went to Uruguay and was shamefully concerned over whether my rural, beachside hostel had wifi. (It did. So many do these days). A second rush of guilt followed when I was sitting inside typing when the sun was shining and all the other backpackers were heading to the beach or on various excursions.

Yet it's this that enables me to do what I do and work remotely. I meet a lot of travellers doing the same thing - writers, the occasional professional poker player, and even the odd trader. It's something we'll all be seeing more and more. But although this way of life has many good points it also makes it even harder to draw the line and switch off.

Any what about those who are travelling to take "time out" on a gap year or a career break? With more and more now packing their laptops, "getting away from it all" is not what it was.

I talked with a backpacker the other day about her pre-email travels in Asia. "I used to have to go to the poste restante every month or so. The feeling of getting a letter had so much more impact. It felt so special. I just never get the same buzz from Facebook."

Where to network with millionaires

If you've never managed to get a sought-after* invite to the elite travel network A Small World, here's a solution. Newly launched network Affluence.org doesn't require a recommendation from another well-established member. Instead you can sign up yourself with zero prior connections. And it's free.

There's only one small hurdle: you must have a demonstrable minimum household net worth of US$3 million, or an annual household income of at least $300,000. Or, if you come in a little shy of the required millions, you can also gain entry by getting invites from five others that qualify.

But, before you start calling all your millionaire friends, is it really worth it? The site lists the benefits as follows:

• Interact with other affluent people from around the world
• Receive free access to a dedicated Affluence Concierge
• Attend the most exclusive parties and events in the world
• Receive priority access to the world's most exclusive nightclubs, hotels, and restaurants
• Find other millionaires, billionaires, and socially elite people to network with.

Choosing your friends based on their bank balance? Nice. I wonder if Affluence members can "poke" each other, Facebook style, or if this has been replaced by the virtual airkiss?

Perhaps the site will appeal to ASmallWorld members that complain the network had lost exclusivity since becoming overrun with estate agents, WAG wannabes and expats.

* As for A Small World membership still being "sought after", I'm not so sure. The name seems to be being banded around almost as much as Facebook in expat circles. It's now dropped into conversation as if it no longer needs explanation. "Yeah, I'm looking for apartments in the usual places, you know, Craigslist and ASmallWorld," a backpacker told me the other day.

** Photo from WikiImages/David Shakebone

The world goes mad for Twestival

I didn't make it to Twestival last night. My internet connection went down so I didn't have means of contacting other attendees or, crucially, knowing where it was. (It looks like there are some drawbacks of internet-based festivals.)

For those who missed the build-up, Twestival was a multinational event taking place for users of social-networking site, Twitter. It seems it was quite a success, with 175 events worldwide.

Some of the most extensive coverage of the event came from the Twitter-obsessed Guardian. The point they made repeatedly was that - aside from raising money for Charity: water - the events were all about getting people away from their screens and interacting in person.

In San Francisco, co-founder Biz Stone said he was pleased that users were coming together to do something positive, rather than simply socialise with each other over the net.

Meanwhile, London co-organiser Tom Malcolm said he was amazed by the turnout. "On Facebook people tend to know someone else before adding them as a friend," he said. "On Twitter you meet people you wouldn't necessarily meet in real life."

However, these events were limited in only being able to allow attendees to meet users in their own city, thus giving a very narrow indication of the network's global reach on a personal level.

Predictably, the positive coverage (written by active Twitter users Jemima Kiss and Bobbie Johnson) was shortly followed by plenty of mockery from the naysayers. Unfortunately for these critics, most of their arguments fell flat because they simply didn't know what they were talking about.

Example one:
"I know who my mates are – I see them down the pub on a Friday night, I dont need to be kept informed of what the fat f****** are up to all week as well. Oh Richies up a ladder? Great. Daves stuck in traffic? Cosmic. Kevs having steak for dinner? Whoppee!"

Wrong. It's not just about leaving status updates. It's about interaction. For every status update, there are many more conversations going on and a mountain of information being shared. It's also not just about chatting with your mates - it's about expanding connections and "meeting" new people. If you only interact with people you know in the real world, you'll have a very limited experience.

Example two:

"Twitter is a load of people talking about themselves. It's the cult of the individual. Me! Me! Me!"

Wrong. Well, partially wrong. This does go on and some people do use it just as a platform to broadcast news about themselves. However, there's a lot of people helping each other out too. If you join, you'll soon learn to RT ("retweet" - ie pass on other people's news as well as your own).

Example three

"Is coming onto a website and having a conversation so Web 1.0? On Twitter, noone can ever point out you're an idiot."

Wrong. This person thinks Twitter is just for signing in, leaving a note and signing out. D'oh.

Example four:

"Argh! Twitter. Twestival. And I hate the world a little bit more"

Not wrong, not right: This person doesn't claim to know what they are talking about and they doesn't want to know. This is just pure, unadulterated cynicism - which, admittedly, made me laugh.

This may sound like I'm a huge Twitter fan, defending it vehemently, but I only recently signed up myself. I'm still finding my feet and making up my mind on it. I agree that spending too much time online is not a good thing, and agree that one of the pictures on the Guardian site could be a still from Nathan Barley. However, I'm also discovering that dipping in and out can actually increase productivity and forge lots of real-life contacts. Ask a question there and get it answered instantly: no phone calls, no waiting for email responses. It's certainly a good professional tool and it can come in handy for travel too, as Benji Lanyado found out on his TwiTrip in Paris.

If you still don't get it, read this great introductory guide to Twitter from a New York Times tech writer who gradually came round to the idea.

However, there's only one way you'll really be able to "get it" and make up your mind. And that's by trying it.

Google Latitude takes local knowledge too far

The other day I was having a bar-room chat about coincidental run-ins. I mean those times when you randomly bump into someone on the other side of the world, or someone you haven't seen for many years. I've had a fair few of these and they never fail to blow my mind.

"And for all the people that you do run into," I said to my drinking buddy, "imagine all those you just miss. If you'd been five minutes earlier, you would have walked straight into an old colleague. Or we could be sitting here in this bar and one of our long-lost university friends could be having a drink three doors down."

It seems that just as we got all dreamy eyed and lost in our own imaginations, along came Google. Again. Not content with having the world's web habits, email accounts, videos and world mapping sown up, now they've gone and bought up fate.

Google Latitude is a new application that you can download on to your mobile and track/stalk your friends, family and exes. If they opt in, their profile pics will appear all over your Google map (as above - although maybe not quite as goofy).

Google suggests advantages of using Latitude on the site, such as “only heading to a party when you see that several of your friends have arrived”. But what if everyone's doing it? Imagine a whole crowd of potential partygoers sitting at home looking at the iPhones all night, waiting to take someone else's lead.

Google Latitude is currently available in 27 countries, which could make it great for frequent travellers. In theory. However, I think I'd prefer to let people know my location as and when I want to - via Facebook, Twitter or Dopplr. Latitude is one networking trend I can probably resist.

Facebook: Delete 10 friends, get a free Whopper

Fast-food chain Burger King has created "Whopper Sacrifice", a Facebook application that will give you a coupon for a free hamburger if you delete 10 people from your friends list.

Is social networking getting nasty? Or just moving with the times? As people's "friends" lists move into quadruple figures, an occasional friends cull could soon be common practice. On Friday, I met a hostel owner here in Buenos Aires who claims to have 2,000 "friends". "I'd say I actually know about 1,000 of them," he said. The rest are just people - or, in some cases, places, events or attractions - he has said 'yes' to without a second thought.

Personally I draw the line at adding places or events, as I have no desire to be bombarded with marketing messages. However, I do have a couple of people on my friends list that I talked to for a few minutes in a hostel. "Are you on Facebook?" is now just as common a question as "Where are you from?".

Admittedly, the site is a great resource when travelling, especially for helping you keep in touch with everyone back home and the people you meet on the road. Having been in my current hostel for nearly a month, I've got to know some of the other guests well. These are people I'd like to stay in contact with and catch up with again if our travel itineraries cross. Without Facebook, it's hard to remember every other backpacker's plans: who will be back in Buenos Aires later in the year, who you've tentatively arranged to meet in Uruguay in late summer etc etc.

However, some travellers are going even further and using the site to help make their plans. I've recently come across two Buenos-Aires-themed Facebook groups: one for people looking for a housemate and another for people who were in the city for Christmas and New Year. For this sort of thing, I'd say there are better places to look than Facebook (such as Couchsurfing forums or Craigslist), but it looks as though the site is becoming a one-stop shop for many users.

I'm sure I have some Facebook friends who would neither notice or be offended if I sacrificed them for a Whopper. Although in my case, unless veggie version is an option, I'm more likely to be the sacrificed one.

Then again, looking at the above picture - a Japanese Terriaki Whopper taken from Wiki Images - is it really worth the effort?