DOWNTEMPO Blog

I was browsing the Lonely Planet Thorn Tree message boards (the most popular independent travel message boards online), and I was checking out their homepage design. When scrolling down the Thorn Tree homepage, this tag cloud popped out at me:

A unique set of “popular tags”

Evidently some of the Thorn Tree users have learned how to game their tag cloud. And the Lonely Planet staff maintaining the Thorn Tree site have somehow missed this hilarious collection of tags… not to mention the fact that there are hardly any relevant tags being displayed besides the humorous ones.

What can you learn from this experience?

1. Don’t add features without knowing WHY.

This Tag Cloud feature was probably added as part of a misguided effort to add standard Web 2.0 functionality, without having a strong use case to back up the feature. Instead of just dropping extra features into your product plans, have your site functionality be driven by user stories which fulfill the goals of your target audience.

2. Be actively involved with your product and your community.

You’ve got to live the product. This means being in close touch with your community, using the product on a daily basis, and actively participating in the site. You should spot trends like these as they’re emerging, and address them. It certainly appears that the Thorn Tree users did… months ago. Where is the Chief Community Officer at Lonely Planet?

3. Keep shipping new features, iterating, and evolving.

The Thorn Tree could definitely benefit from a continued evolution of the site. (From my perspective as an occasional user, they seem to go large updates rather than little ones.) Little-used (or abused) features like the Tag Cloud should get removed, and new features need to be added. There is a tremendous amount of momentum and activity on the Thorn Tree message boards, and adding a series of user-inspired features could go along way towards ensuring that the Thorn Tree continues to be the main discussion forum for independent travelers.