Tripl, a new social startup that launched back in December of 2011, has just undergone a mini-pivot (if you will). The service once tried to link friends (and friends of friends) who might be traveling (or living) in the same area, but after a stay at the DreamIt accelerator in New York, the company has refocused a bit. Instead of trying to connect people, Tripl now builds a beautiful infographic of you and your friends’ travel history, complete with fun facts, imagery, and maps.
By combining information from your social networks, including Facebook and foursquare, Tripl builds out a comprehensive beautiful picture of where you’re going, where you’ve been, who you travel with, and throws in a few images to boot. But on top of that, you still have the option of keeping up with your friends’ whereabouts, too.
A section of the site offers up a travel log for your friends, with mini blurbs about where they’re headed coupled with pictures and/or maps. From there, you can “love” their travel plans, or make a comment, possibly trying to connect.
Now, I’ll be the first one to tell you that the last thing we need is another social network, but there really isn’t a go-to way to keep up with friends’ travel. Sure, you might notice it on Facebook or foursquare, but the idea behind Tripl is that you now have a direct line to this type of information, rather than haphazardly stumbling upon it.
As part of the pivot, Tripl is working hard to scale features in the right way. That said, the ability to post upcoming trips has been suspended, but will return shortly and it’ll look better than ever. The team is also working on pulling from other networks, like Instagram, and has plans to launch an iOS app in the coming weeks.
Tripl is a social platform that connects people through travel using big data. We believe its not about what you know, but WHO you know that can impact your upcoming trip. Our goal is to keep users engaged in travel 365 days a year even when you are not on the road.
Austin, TX
Seattle, WA
San Diego, CA
Menlo Park, CA
San Francisco, CA
Berlin, Germany
