The Mediamatic Travel project was launched at the end of 2009. A DIY-Travel Agency that presented itself through three different channels: a global online network, a glossy travel catalogue and an exhibition at the Mediamatic Bank in Amsterdam. It was meant to utilize embedded tourism to achieve a global sensory network for creative innovation. This translates to connecting cultural enthusiasts and professionals and promote collaboration between them.
In a perfect world Mediamatic Travel would be a self sustaining network by now. The editors functions would be limited to revising new content, helping users with difficulties and the such. Sadly this is not the case: we are still fighting for a healthy influx of interested visitors every day. And as we feel that Mediamatic Travel has a huge untapped potential, we have to resort to more drastic actions: in comes Facebook.
We need people who have strong feelings about the project and reflect that through communicating their positive experiences to the outside world. By word of mouth this could attract others who could be essential additions to our network. Someones network value does not end with her immediate acquaintances. Those acquaintances in turn influence other people, and so on recursively until potentially the entire network is reached. In Facebook this happens very literally. When someone clicks the like button this action is visible in the news feed of all his or her friends. Which could lead them to check out our page and also like it. Potentially this could go on and on.
We are well aware that having 10.000 Facebook likes does not mean our site succeeding. There is of course a very big difference between networking and networking. Having a friend click on the like-button just out of sheer politeness will not help our success in the long term. We do however hope to create a broader awareness of our site through the networks of people who are close to us. Facebook offers us an easy way of getting our message out there and possibly getting into contact with future members of our network
Sounds good right. Well like always there is a counter argument that is equally strong.The matter of quality control. There is a certain highbrow appeal that the Mediamatic Travel site needs to uphold. Our target group are people interested and professionally active in the Arts who want to meet people with similar interests. We are a platform that can be used as a means to meet people and possibly start new collaborations. Using Facebook as an extension to our network means including people that are not as culturally adept and might not fit in. This could result in disappointing encounters and a decreasing motivation to put yourself out there by the members who are so crucial to us. Opening up our network could mean to a reapplication of our network to suit a new goal.
But as you might have noticed the Facebook page has been online for over a week now. We decided that the future rewards will outweigh the potential changes. This is based on the conception that broadening our user base is essential if we want to move forward. We as the editorial team will be in charge of balancing the changes that will or will not be made against the original goals of our website.