Tribal finds its travel voice

It’s not every day that an online community with more than three million members posts the equivalent of a want ad for travel partners.

Then again, Tribal Voice, the Scotts Valley, CA, software developer, isn’t your everyday kind of company. And it’s not trying to find an everyday kind of partner, either.

“We want someone who is very committed to the idea of an online community and sees the value in it,” says Beth Nagengast, director of corporate marketing at Tribal Voice. “Someone who wants to manage a community just like a host manages a talk show. Someone to set the mood, to set the tone, for a travel section.”

That’s not all. Nagengast is willing to entertain the idea of giving the software needed to create this community away-for free. (Annual licenses normally cost anywhere from $50 for up to ten users to $6495 for 1000 participants.)

The reason behind the giveaway? Tribal Voice is eager to develop a travel community as soon as possible. None of its 4,000-some forums is overtly travel-themed, and its online presence, it believes, remains incomplete without the travel community’s representation. Put differently, Tribal Voice’s village has grown organically since the company’s inception four years ago; now it’s time to do some farming.

“One of the things that we know about the Internet is that it’s no longer people browsing for information. It’s people communicating in real time, exchanging information with each other,” observes Kathy Johnson, the company’s director of product marketing.

For example, if a user is planning a vacation to Italy, wouldn’t it be better to ask a question about the destination in real time to someone who is already there? It’s more effective and faster than browsing a static Web page in search of the information.

Tribal Voice’s solution is called PowWow. The PC-based lient/server software incorporates a laundry list of ophisticated ommunications features, like instant essaging, integrated voice chat, buddy lists, real-time point-to-point communications, collaborative whiteboards, guided Web tours and file sharing. PowWow itself is a free download; Tribal Voice makes its money from host licenses.

If you’re wondering why you haven’t heard of Tribal Voice, there are two good reasons. As the brainchild of John McAfee, the eccentric multimillionaire who founded what is now known as Network Associates, the company has kept a decidedly low profile, positioning its PowWow software as an alternative to what it calls “vendor-dictated” chat.

And, despite a recent $10 million infusion of venture capital, Tribal Voice only last month began charging users for its host licenses. There are only 11 employees in its headquarters and another 30 in a Woodland Park, CO, office. Joseph Esposito, Encyclopaedia Brittanica’s former chief executive, is leading the startup project.

All of which still leaves an important question unanswered: how does an interactive travel company stand to benefit from an arrangement with Tribal Voice? If you’re a content developer, for instance, and you delegate a staff member to supervise an electronic community, how does your company profit?

In the short term, a deal with Tribal Voice would seem like a drain on resources. The care and feeding of an online community can be backbreaking work, needless to say. However, with about 150,000 people using PowWow at a given time-all users must log into Tribal Voice’s server before chatting-and the largest interest groups drawing more than 200 participants at one time, it’s not difficult to see the potential.

Add to that seasoned management and the promise of dramatic growth-despite its modest size, Tribal Voice is positioning itself as a rival to America Online’s ever popular chat functions-and it’s easy to be left with the impression that doing business with Tribal Voice could pay out big dividends in a relatively short amount of time.

Christopher Elliott is the author of Scammed: How to Save Your Money and Find Better Service in a World of Schemes, Swindles, and Shady Deals. Critics have called it “eye-opening” and “inspiring” — it’ll “grab your attention and won’t let go.” Order your copy now on Amazon, Barnes & Noble or iTunes.

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