The travel research and planning site Uptake.com has launched a new Travel Q&A feature, allowing users to login via Facebook and get recommendations, photos and other input from friends on potential travel destinations.

Uptake's New Travel Q&A Feature

What makes Uptake’s approach different, and maybe even better, than other social travel sites such as Gogobot.com is that Uptake accesses all your friends’ information about a particular destination, not just check-ins and places people have lived. You’ll get access to friends’ photos, comments and status updates about your destinations of interest, which results in much more information being shared. And as we all know, the more information the better when trying to plan a trip.

To try Uptake’s new Travel Q&A feature for yourself, visit Uptake.com, log in, and let the sharing begin!

TravelMuse is excited to take part in the EyeforTravel, Social Media Strategies for Travel USA 2009 conference to be held in San Francisco, March 10 to 11 at the Hotel Nikko.

We’ll be making a short presentation and participating on a panel focusing on Social Media Marketing: Why a Holistic Approach Pays Dividends, alongside Jeff Hanson (Marriott International), Jeremy Jameson (Southwest Airlines) and Juston Parker (Parker Hospitality Group).

Last year we attended the conference and came away armed with lots of ideas, so we’re looking forward to this year. The conference is aimed at travel marketers who want to learn more about social media and how to generate leads, drive traffic, boost conversions and ultimately grow sales.

•    Learn how to measure and monetize your social media campaigns

•    Discover how to profit from mega-sites like YouTube, Facebook and Bebo

•    Create a social media strategy that leverages your marketing spend

•    Align your search strategy with your social media campaigns

•    Find out how the semantic Web will impact your business

•    Reach out to specific audiences on niche social media sites

•    Target the business traveler through social networks

•    Appeal to the next generation by utilizing online networks and mobile technology

There’s a wide range of leading industry experts from new and established companies presenting, including OTAs (Orbitz and Priceline), social networks (LinkedIn and Bebo), hotels (InterContinental Hotels and Joie de Vivre) and more (Disney, Lonely Planet, Mobissimo, UpTake etc.).

To find out more and register, go to: http://events.eyefortravel.com/social-media/agenda.asp.

To receive a 20 percent discount on your conference pass, send an e-mail to Helen Raff (helen@eyefortravel.com) and tell her that TravelMuse referred you!

Hope to see you there!