NEWTON, Mass., Dec. 21, 2010 /PRNewswire/ -- TripAdvisor®, the world's largest travel site*, today launched an integration with Facebook that instantly personalizes the site for each person who visits, surfacing trusted reviews from friends, most popular destinations among friends, and an interactive social map. The integration is the next step in making travel planning even more fun, relevant, and social for travelers.

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"Earlier this year, we thought, how cool would it be if travelers could automatically see travel reviews written by their friends while researching their vacations on TripAdvisor?  Fast forward to today and we're thrilled to have brought it to life with Facebook," said Steve Kaufer, founder and CEO of TripAdvisor. "More than half of TripAdvisor users have a Facebook account, and we wanted to make it easier for them to find the most relevant and social content quickly and share the experience with their friends. Today's launch is an evolution of TripAdvisor's social integrations with Facebook, from the Cities I've Visited app to the Trip Friends feature, and we look forward to seeing even more trips planned with friends on the site."

Social Travel Planning in an Instant

Now when travelers come to TripAdvisor.com, while logged into Facebook, they will see the activities their friends have shared first, helping them to make more informed decisions when planning their own trip.

There are three levels of travel inspiration with this integration. First, travelers can see a map on the homepage revealing where their friends have been, to inspire them to visit a new destination. Travelers can also visit a destination's tourism page on TripAdvisor to uncover all the valuable, insightful comments written by people they know.  And if travelers are researching a particular hotel, restaurant, or attraction, they will first see reviews written by their friends about that place. Through Facebook, people will also have the power to control how and which information is shared.

"TripAdvisor's integration with Facebook demonstrates the power of incorporating social context into online activities, as well as the enormous value of advice from trusted friends," said Ethan Beard, director of Facebook Developer Network.

Making "Trip Friends" Even Friendlier

When TripAdvisor unveiled the groundbreaking Trip Friends feature in June, it allowed travelers to connect to Facebook on TripAdvisor and see where their friends have visited and ask them questions about their trips. This latest integration takes the social experience of TripAdvisor one step further by allowing travelers to instantly see their friends' reviews and activities.

Travelers will only see the advice of their Facebook friends that permit TripAdvisor and Facebook to show their reviews on TripAdvisor.  Travelers that do not want access to their friends' travel advice, or don't want their reviews to be seen by their friends, can simply choose to opt-out of this feature.  

"The combination of the world's largest travel community and the world's largest social site represents a dynamic new vehicle that will help revolutionize the way travelers plan their trips," said Kaufer.

The new Facebook integration has begun rolling out and will be live to all .com users by the end of the day. To learn more, go to: www.tripadvisor.com/instantpersonalization.

About TripAdvisor

TripAdvisor® is the world's largest travel site, enabling travelers to plan and have the perfect trip. TripAdvisor offers trusted advice from real travelers and a wide variety of travel choices and planning features (including Flights search, TripAdvisor Mobile and TripAdvisor Trip Friends) with seamless links to booking tools.

TripAdvisor® Media Group, operated by TripAdvisor LLC, attracts more than 50 million unique monthly visitors* across 17 popular travel brands**. TripAdvisor-branded sites make up the largest travel community in the world, with more than 40 million unique monthly visitors***, 20 million members, and over 40 million reviews and opinions. The sites operate in 26 countries worldwide****, including China under daodao.com. TripAdvisor also operates TripAdvisor for Business, a dedicated division that provides the tourism industry access to TripAdvisor's millions of monthly visitors. The division includes Business Listings, which allows hoteliers to connect directly to millions of researching travelers, and Vacation Rentals, which helps property managers and individual home owners list their properties and showcase hotel alternatives.