Explore Brand Republic

Times launches phone blogging for travellers

by Jacquie Bowser, Brand Republic 06-Nov-07, 11:05

LONDON - Times Online has launched a new service for its travel blogging community, allowing users to submit their contribution through speech, which is converted immediately into text.

The SpinVox service will be available as part of the website's 'Your World' section, where bloggers post their travel experiences and read those posted by others.

Users can dial +44 151 266 5764 from anywhere in the world to voice their travel stories, tips and recommendations, which will then be converted to text and posted directly onto the website.

The cost of a call from a fixed landline will be charged at national call rates and users have a maximum of two minutes to complete their contribution.

Times Media hopes the new service will make it easier for users to fill the site with their news and views about the places they have visited. The best contributions will then be considered for publication each week within The Times and The Sunday Times travel sections.

Zach Leonard, digital media publisher at Times Media, said: "Times Media is the first national newspaper group in the world to employ SpinVox and is a further demonstration of Times Media's dedication to our commercial campaigns and our desire to make them a success.

"The voice post is evocative of a golden age of foreign journalism when correspondents filed their stories by telephone from the far reaches of the globe. The development also reinforces our commitment to user-generated content."

Comments

nathan guerra - 06/11/2007

I really like the idea, but writing and speaking are totally different ways of communicating. People don't direct as much conscious thought into what they say, as what they write. Will people actually be able to handle sitting down and listening to what people have spoken down a phone line?

Jonathan Simnett - 23/11/2007

The great thing about the SpinVox service is that it allows people to `speak in the moment` - transmitting their immediate impressions, thoughts and emotions about places they have visited. This gives Your World readers a true feel for what other readers have experienced. There is no associated issue of `people actually being able to handle sitting down and listening to what people have spoken down a phone line` as the majority of the voice to text conversion is carried out by automated speech technologies through the SpinVox D2 Voice Message Conversion System.