WAYN.COM - Press releases

WAYN showcases earthTV destinations in real-time

Mon, 28 Sep 2009 00:00:00 GMT

WAYN, the world's leading lifestyle and travel social network, has teamed up with global camera network earthTV. WAYN users can now plan even more life enhancing trips or share their meeting memories with real-time plug-ins to the hot cityscapes, chill out beaches and even the majestic mountains captured by earthTV.

earthTV is all about connecting people and video from its cameras and already reaches over 2 billion TV people worldwide through earthTV's global broadcasting clients. This, the biggest TV audience reach achieved by any European television company, is augmented by earthTV.com, the company's 24/7 online channels and its revolutionary earthTV-webTV Player which gives direct access to cool destinations, weather reports, shopping guides and great accommodation - everything that globe-hopping WAYN users need to plan their perfect reunion or meet up with the new friends they make on the WAYN site.

Thomas Hohenacker, CEO and founder of earthTV and its mother company Telcast GmbH in Munich, comments; 'WAYN, with its commitment to bringing people and friends together and building a worldwide community, is a perfect partner for earthTV which is built on universal amity and cultural insight. earthTV's global camera network is of quality one in the world and our new Player with its contemporary regional, national and international video on demand (VOD) is an ideal tool for WAYN users looking to hook up or virtually research some of the most exciting destinations our planet has to offer.'

WAYN has signed up to earthTV's LIVE streaming, best of clips and last 48 hours - all features that illustrate earthTV's Player ability to meet the ever changing needs of WAYN's vibrant networkers.

Peter Ward, WAYN's co-founder and co-CEO says; "WAYN is all about helping its members to gain inspiration for future trips and experiences with friends or people they meet on the site. By showcasing some of the world's leading destinations through earthTV's real-time camera views over captivating horizon's, we aim to inspire our members to visit these places and share their own travelling experiences with others"

To view the player go to Travel Guide and check out the destination pages.

About WAYN WAYN (Where Are You Now?) is the world's largest lifestyle and travel social networking community with over 15 million members worldwide. WAYN helps like-minded people plan, find, meet and share dreams, aspirations and experiences with others. Contacts Marta Datkiewicz, Marketing and PR Manager, Where Are You Now? Ltd

About earthTV www.earthTV.com is the most successful daily LIVE programme out of Europe, reaching over 2 billion Television viewers in 200 countries and regions - available in any language and station design, delivered LIVE every hour, 24 times per day. earthTV’s spectacular 90 seconds LIVE programming airs on more than 60 TV channels around the world, including CenterTV (Russia), CWTV (China), Al Arabiya (Middle East), France2 (France), Sky Travel (UK), N24 (Germany), SBS (Australia), The Weather Channel (USA) and NDTV (India). earthTV content is also available on selected mobile and 3G platforms, and on airport media. In January 2007 earthTV launched its new online platform www.earthTV.com.

Contacts Evelyn Dathe, PR & Marketing Manager, TELCAST Media Group GmbH, T +49 89 208 06 770, F +49 89 208 06 606, evelyn.dathe@telcast-group.tv or Stephen Roberts at Roberts Laurence, T: + 44 (0) 1780 460777, email robertslaurence@mac.com

Marta Datkiewicz Marketing and PR Manager Where Are You Now Ltd [WAYN] T + 44 (0) 7336 8088 , email marta@wayn.com

Paris in the Springtime Still Tops for Lovers

Sun, 26 Apr 2009 00:00:00 GMT

London has the Funniest Lovers

Londoners. Berliners and Muscovites are Least Romantic

Oslo Leaves Lovers Cold

Amsterdam Best for a Dirty Weekend

London, April 26, 2009: It is springtime in Europe, trees are in blossom, the birds are singing, love and lust is in the air. For those with the inclination, now is a great time to visit the major European cities with a lover or, to meet someone new, but which are the best cities to enjoy, experience, conduct and find love in its many different forms? Online travel community and social networking site WAYN commissioned a survey among more than 2000 travellers worldwide to discover what are the best cities in Europe for love in the springtime.

According to WAYN respondents the best European cities in which to enjoy a dirty weekend are Amsterdam followed by Paris, London, Barcelona and Venice. Paris however gets the vote for having the most romantic atmosphere ahead of Venice and Rome. Oslo received the least votes for romantic atmosphere followed by Krakow and Stockholm.

The French capital was also top choice for having the most intimate places and the best hotels and food for lovers. Confirming the city’s growing reputation as a gourmet capital, London came third in the food for lovers category, just behind Rome.

For those hoping to find love on their travels, the best seducers are to be found in Paris and the least shy in Amsterdam. London boasts the most humorous lovers followed by Dublin. London however also has the least romantic lovers along with Moscow and Berlin. WAYN’s British travellers voted Dublin tops for funny lovers and Amsterdam the city for best seducers.

WAYN’s survey found that Amsterdam is the best European city to enjoy kinky love but Barcelona is tops for those who like dirty dancing.

Said WAYN joint CEO and founder, Jerome Touze, “Whatever your age and whatever your relationship status this is a great time of the year to visit the great European capitals. Love is certainly in the air, people are laughing, smiling and there is just a huge feel good factor. Something we could all benefit from during these difficult times.”

WAYN Global Survey on Spring Romance in European Cities

Best for a Dirty Weekend
Amsterdam
Paris
London
Barcelona
Venice

Most Romantic Atmosphere
Paris
Venice
Rome

Best Intimate Places
Paris
Venice
Amsterdam

Best Food for Lovers
Paris
Rome
London

Best Hotels for Lovers
Paris
Amsterdam
Venice

Best Seducers
Paris
Amsterdam
Barcelona

Least Romantic Lovers
London
Moscow
Berlin

Most Humorous Lovers
London
Dublin
Rome

Least Shy Lovers
Amsterdam
London
Paris

Best for Kinky Love
Amsterdam

Best for Dirty Dancing
Barcelona

About www.wayn.com

WAYN.com (Where Are You Now?) is the world's largest travel and lifestyle focused social networking community website. The site operates in 193 countries and membership has grown from 45,000 users in March 2005 to over 15 million today. WAYN.com allows its members to keep track of their friends' whereabouts and make new friends based on where they are now, where they have been and where they're going. Services on WAYN.com include travel guide and trip planning tools, unlimited photo and video storage; interaction tools such as email, SMS and instant messenger, forums and travel related tools and products. Headquartered in London, UK, WAYN was founded by entrepreneurs Pete Ward, 30, and pal Jerome Touze, 29, who started the site in their spare time after returning home from a 'round-the-world' trip in 2003.

For further information: Ian Rumgay or Jane Owen, 01732 760451, 07803903602

Londoners Least Romantic in Europe but Good for a Laugh

Sun, 26 Apr 2009 00:00:00 GMT

Oslo Leaves Lovers Cold

Amsterdam Best for a Dirty Weekend

Paris in the Springtime Still Tops for Romance

London, April 26, 2009: It is springtime in Europe, trees are in blossom, the birds are singing, love and lust is in the air. For those with the inclination, now is a great time to visit the major European cities with a lover or, to meet someone new, but which are the best cities to enjoy, experience, conduct and find love in its many different forms? Lifestyle and travel social network WAYN.com, commissioned a survey among more than 2000 travellers worldwide to discover which are the best cities in Europe for love in the springtime.

For those hoping to find romance on their travels it may be best to avoid London which was voted as having the least romantic lovers along with Moscow and Berlin. On the other hand if having a laugh is a turn-on, the UK capital should be first choice as it was selected European city with the most humorous lovers. Irish capital Dublin was runner-up for laughing lovers. According to the survey, the best seducers are to be found in Paris and the least shy in Amsterdam. WAYN’s British travellers voted Dublin tops for funny lovers and Amsterdam the city for best seducers.

WAYN respondents say the best European cities in which to enjoy a dirty weekend are Amsterdam followed by Paris, London, Barcelona and Venice. Paris however gets the vote for having the most romantic atmosphere ahead of Venice and Rome. Oslo received the least votes for romantic atmosphere followed by Krakow and Stockholm.

The French capital was also top choice for having the most intimate places and the best hotels and food for lovers. Confirming the city’s growing reputation as a gourmet capital, London came third in the food for lovers category, just behind Rome.

WAYN’s survey found that Amsterdam is the best European city to enjoy kinky love but Barcelona is tops for those who like dirty dancing.

Commenting on the survey results, WAYN joint CEO and founder, Jerome Touze said, “I’m a Frenchman living in London and for me the British capital is certainly one of the romantic cities of Europe. Also, it is often said that the best way to charm someone is by making them laugh and if that’s the case perhaps Londoners are romantic after all.”

WAYN Global Survey on Spring Romance in European Cities

Best for a Dirty Weekend
Amsterdam
Paris
London
Barcelona
Venice

Most Romantic Atmosphere
Paris
Venice
Rome

Best Intimate Places
Paris
Venice
Amsterdam

Best Food for Lovers
Paris
Rome
London

Best Hotels for Lovers
Paris
Amsterdam
Venice

Best Seducers
Paris
Amsterdam
Barcelona

Least Romantic Lovers
London
Moscow
Berlin

Most Humorous Lovers
London
Dublin
Rome

Least Shy Lovers
Amsterdam
London
Paris

Best for Kinky Love
Amsterdam

Best for Dirty Dancing
Barcelona

About www.wayn.com

WAYN.com (Where Are You Now?) is the world's largest travel and lifestyle focused social networking community website. The site operates in 193 countries and membership has grown from 45,000 users in March 2005 to over 15 million today. WAYN.com allows its members to keep track of their friends' whereabouts and make new friends based on where they are now, where they have been and where they're going. Services on WAYN.com include travel guide and trip planning tools, unlimited photo and video storage; interaction tools such as email, SMS and instant messenger, forums and travel related tools and products. Headquartered in London, UK, WAYN was founded by entrepreneurs Pete Ward, 30, and pal Jerome Touze, 29, who started the site in their spare time after returning home from a 'round-the-world' trip in 2003.

For further information: Ian Rumgay or Jane Owen, 01732 760451, 07803903602

WAYN Celebrates 15 Million Milestone

Wed, 15 Apr 2009 00:00:00 GMT

World’s #1 Travel Community Site to Expand Remit

A British internet business has been achieving notable success in the American dominated social networking scene. WAYN (where are you now) which focuses on the travel sector has just reached a 15 million member milestone, outstripping established US giants such as TripAdvisor (10 million members).

Founded as a spare time hobby by London based entrepreneurs, Jerome Touze and Peter Ward in 2003, WAYN now has a global following with active members in 193 countries and attracts some 10,000 new users each day. Touze and Ward have announced they plan to build on that success by broadening WAYN’s remit beyond travel into a wider lifestyle arena.

Said Jerome Touze “Our 15 million membership confirms WAYN’s position as the world’s largest and fastest growing travel community and provides us with a solid base from which to expand and diversify. Travel will continue to be a key ingredient in our offering but with a wider lifestyle dimension the new site will provide a much richer content for existing members as well as attracting a new audience and offering new opportunities for our commercial partners. “

The “new WAYN” is scheduled to be unveiled late April 09.

About www.wayn.com WAYN.com (Where Are You Now?) is the world's largest travel and lifestyle focused social networking community website. The site operates in 193 countries and membership has grown from 45,000 users in March 2005 to over 14.5 million today. WAYN.com allows its members to keep track of their friends' whereabouts and make new friends based on where they are now, where they have been and where they're going. Services on WAYN.com include travel guide and trip planning tools, unlimited photo and video storage; interaction tools such as email, SMS and instant messenger, forums and travel related tools and products. Headquartered in London, UK, WAYN was founded by entrepreneurs Pete Ward, 30, and pal Jerome Touze, 29, who started the site in their spare time after returning home from a 'round-the-world' trip in 2003.

World Airport Border Control Survey Gives Heathrow Wooden Spoon for Long Passport Queues, Luggage Wait and Damaged Bags

Wed, 11 Feb 2009 00:00:00 GMT

JFK and LHR Tops for Security
US Passport Control the Rudest, UK One of the Friendliest
Travellers Support “Bare All” Security Scanners

London, February 12, 2009: WAYN.com (Where Are You Now?) the world’s largest online travel community and network with nearly 15m members, today announced the results of an international survey of more than 2250 travellers about passport control, baggage handling, customs and security issues at the world’s major international airports. There were mixed results for Heathrow airport which suffered more blows to its already battered image by being voted the airport with the longest passport queues, most likely to have your bags damaged and longest wait for luggage. On a more positive note London’s main airport was considered to be one of the best for security.

No Welcome in the US but a G’day Down Under US immigrations’ reputation for being less than welcoming was confirmed with 22 percent of all travellers putting the country top of the list of rudest passport control officials. India and Russia had the second and third rudest officials respectively. UK travellers had an even lower opinion of US passport control with 31 percent saying that they were the rudest. Australia passport control was voted most friendly by all travellers with the United Kingdom second and Canada third. Among UK respondents, British passport control officials were voted the most friendly with 30 percent of the national vote.

Waiting to be Allowed In Heathrow was considered to be the worst major international airport for long passport control queues by all travellers followed by JFK New York and Los Angeles which were second and third respectively. And, despite their resident status, British travellers also think that Heathrow is worst for waiting with 23 percent saying that the London airport had the longest passport control queues.

Amsterdam Schiphol was deemed to have the shortest passport control queues.

Baggage in the Hall? There were more brickbats for Heathrow’s tarnished reputation with the airport being voted the longest wait for baggage ahead of JFK and Los Angeles International (second and third respectively). The same trio also topped the list of major international airports most likely to damage baggage. A damning 23 percent of British travellers said Heathrow was most likely to damage bags.

Safety First New York’s JFK and London’s Heathrow were somewhat redeemed by being nominated tops for security with 18 and 15 percent of world travellers votes respectively. Heathrow was voted #1 for security by British travellers. JFK and Heathrow were also voted the major international airports where you were most likely to be frisked and have your bags searched. According to the WAYN survey Bangkok, followed by Amsterdam and Rome international airports, have the least thorough security.

See through Security Despite concerns about privacy and embarrassment it seems the world’s travel community is broadly in support of plans to introduce new airport security measures using body scanners that would show all anatomical features. Thirty-six percent of all travellers in the survey said that they would greatly improve security, 18 percent said that were less intrusive than a body search and 17 percent said that would shorten security queues. Twenty three percent said they will cause great embarrassment. In addition to privacy issues the other main concern voiced by travellers had to with health and whether they would be exposed to dangerous rays.

Said Jerome Touze, WAYN joint founder and joint CEO, “The results of this survey may be pretty damning in terms of Heathrow’s reputation for passenger service but I guess all travellers would agree security is much more important. In this respect Heathrow can be proud to be considered among the best in the world.

“Meanwhile competition among countries to attract tourists is becoming increasingly fierce. Our survey would suggest that the US customs and immigration need address their attitude towards visitors, simplify the form filling, generally be a lot more welcoming and better reflect the personality of the American people.”

WAYN Border Control Survey 2009 Results
Major International Airport with longest wait for bags: 1. London Heathrow 2. JFK New York 3. Los Angeles International

Major International Airport most likely to damage bags: 1. London Heathrow 2. JFK NewYork 3. Los Angeles International

Major International Airport most likely to have bags searched: 1. JFK New York 2. London Heathrow 3. Los Angeles International

Country with most complicated customs declaration form: 1. United States 2. India 3. Australia

Country with most complicated passport control registration form: 1. United States 2. India 3. Australia

Country with rudest passport control officials: 1. United States 2. India 3. Russia

Country with friendliest passport control officials: 1. Australia 2. United Kingdom 3. Canada

Major International Airport with longest passport queues: 1. London Heathrow, 2. JFK New York 3. Los Angeles International

Major International airport with shortest passport queues: 1.Amsterdam Schiphol 2. Singapore Changi 3. Frankfurt International

Major International Airport with most thorough security: 1. JFK New York 2. London Heathrow 3. Frankfurt International

Major International Airport with least thorough security: 1. Bangkok 2. Amsterdam Schiphol 3. Rome

Major International Airport most likely to have a body search: 1. JFK New York 2. London Heathrow 3. Los Angeles International

-------------------------------
About www.wayn.com

WAYN.com (Where Are You Now?) is the world's largest travel and lifestyle focused social networking community website. The site operates in 193 countries and membership has grown from 45,000 users in March 2005 to over 14 million today. WAYN.com allows its members to keep track of their friends' whereabouts and make new friends based on where they are now, where they have been and where they're going. Services on WAYN.com include travel guide and trip planning tools, unlimited photo and video storage; interaction tools such as email, SMS and instant messenger, forums and travel related tools and products. Headquartered in London, UK, WAYN was founded by entrepreneurs Pete Ward, 30, and pal Jerome Touze, 29, who started the site in their spare time after returning home from a 'round-the-world' trip in 2003.

For further Information Ian Rumgay, 01732 760451, 07803903602

Social Media Campaign Delivers Outstanding Results for JoburgTourism

Thu, 05 Feb 2009 00:00:00 GMT

World’s Travellers Have Low Opinion About 2012 Plan and Progress WAYN Provides Platform for Integrated Strategy Perceptions Shift to Make City a Top Destination of Choice

Johannesburg Tourism is enjoying the results of a highly successful social media campaign on the travel and lifestyle social networking community website WAYN.com (Where Are You Now) which has helped change perceptions and create endorsement for the City as a major international traveller destination.

The campaign which launched on November 17 had the multiple objectives of engaging travellers, addressing negative perceptions, building user generated content, driving site traffic and promoting brand awareness.

Using the strapline “Joburg - a world class African city”, the campaign celebrates the South African capital hosting Miss World and forthcoming international events like the Confederation Cup, Lions Tour and FIFA World Cup. In a first for both parties, Johannesburg Tourism and WAYN devised an all embracing strategy to reach and engage members and visitors. Key elements included member’s surveys; a holiday prize competition; newsfeeds about Miss World, banner ads; a newsletter and internal communications promoting the JoburgTourism profile to WAYN’s 14 million members across 193 countries.

Results to date have been highly impressive. Over seven weeks from November 17 the pre and post survey showed a significant change to highly positive perceptions of the City and it becoming a top destination of choice.

Mean while the increase in site traffic resulted in www.JoburgTourism.com jumping 150,000 places*; advertising generated 9.5 m. impressions and nearly half a million WAYN members acquired the JoburgTourism skin to their profile and generated 650 new traveller reviews and opinions.

Lindiwe Mahlangu, CEO of Johannesburg Tourism said: “These results have been outstanding and exceeded our very best expectations. We wanted to exploit and integrate the unique range of tools that the social media environment offers and deliver a real and tangible ROI. We set WAYN some tough objectives and I am delighted to say that they delivered on all fronts. We are especially pleased about how well the social medium worked in persuading people to re-assess their perceptions about Johannesburg and how user generated content can be leveraged to endorse our messages.

Said WAYN joint CEO and founder, Jerome Touze; “Johannesburg is fortunate to have one of the most innovative and forward thinking DMO’s in the industry. Johannesburg Tourism has demonstrated how imaginative use of social media such as WAYN can go way beyond simple brand awareness and how an integrated strategy can be used to deliver both marketing and sales objectives. Through their work Johannesburg Tourism is well on its way to placing South Africa’s capital on the premiere list of must visit destinations. This is a very exciting partnership and we look forward to developing more integrated and bespoke campaigns for Johannesburg as a world class destination”

*Alexa.com traffic rankings

ENDS

About www.Joburgtourism.com The Johannesburg Tourism Company is the official destination marketing organization of Johannesburg. It operates a convention bureau aimed at attracting major international events to be hosted in Johannesburg of which Miss World 2008 was a recent example. Previous major events include the World Summit of Sustainable Development in 2002, the Cricket World Cup in 2003 and a host of other major cultural, business and sport events. The Lions Tour and 2009 FIFA Confederation Cup will be hosted in July 2009 to be followed by the FIFA Soccer World Cup in 2010.

About www.wayn.com WAYN.com (Where Are You Now?) is the world's largest travel and lifestyle focused social networking community website. The site operates in 193 countries and membership has grown from 45,000 users in March 2005 to over 14.5 million today. WAYN.com allows its members to keep track of their friends' whereabouts and make new friends based on where they are now, where they have been and where they're going. Services on WAYN.com include travel guide and trip planning tools, unlimited photo and video storage; interaction tools such as email, SMS and instant messenger, forums and travel related tools and products. Headquartered in London, UK, WAYN was founded by entrepreneurs Pete Ward, 30, and pal Jerome Touze, 29, who started the site in their spare time after returning home from a 'round-the-world' trip in 2003.

Damning Report Threatens London Olympics £2 Billion Tourism Target

Thu, 18 Dec 2008 00:00:00 GMT

World’s Travellers Have Low Opinion About 2012 Plan and Progress High Costs and Terrorism the Biggest Deterrents for Visitors Londoners Need to be More Friendly

London, December 18, 2008: The 2012 London Olympics has been forecast to create a £2 billion bonanza for the city’s visitor business but tourism chiefs have their doubts and now, according to the findings of the biggest research project to-date on the subject, so it seems do the world’s travellers.

WAYN.com (Where Are You Now?), the world’s largest online travel community and network with nearly 15m members, has conducted the biggest survey of its kind among potential visitors to London to find out their opinions about the plans and progress for the Olympiad. The survey involved some 7500 travellers around the world, 22 percent of whom had previously visited a city when it was hosting the Olympics.

The survey’s report shows that there are widespread negative attitudes among travellers about London’s Olympics and an overall perception that these are going to be a second class Games. There are also key concerns about high costs and the threat of terrorism but London remains the right choice and the Games still have the potential to be a major visitor attraction.

Dismal Reading for Coe and Co

London has a big marketing job to do if it is to realise the full 2012 visitor potential and that £2 billion target. While just over half (52 percent) of WAYN respondents thought that London was going to do a good job in keeping them informed about plans and progress, current perceptions make dismal reading for Lord Coe and Co. From what they know now, the world’s travellers rated the London Olympics bad/very poor for; financial control (68 percent), on-time (72 percent), sports facilities (75 percent), spectator facilities (70 percent) and public support (73 percent) respectively.

Expectations Not So Great

Asked how they expect the overall quality of London 2012 visitor experience will compare with other summer Olympic Games, 29 percent said worse, 23 percent much worse, while 27 percent said they thought it would be a good experience. Only four percent said it would be better, and two percent, much better.

Never Mind the Quality What About the Cost?

Quality perceptions however may not be the main determinant as to whether 2012 is a tourism success story for London. According to 38 percent of respondents the main factor deterring travellers from visiting London during the Olympics will be high costs.

In addition, perhaps Londoners should think about dropping their reserved cool and be a little more welcoming. The visitor experience priority for London 2012 was to be friendlier, say 31 percent of respondents. Twenty-nine percent said keeping costs down while only eight percent said better public transport.

Terrorist Threat the Biggest Challenge

The ever present threat of terrorism was also considered to be the main visitor deterrent for 25 percent of travellers. Respondents echoed recent comments by the former Assistant Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police, Tarique Ghaffur, with 29 percent saying that terrorism was the biggest challenge to London’s delivery of an outstanding Games. This was followed by lack of public support (17 percent) and financial cutbacks (14 percent).

London Still the Right Choice and Worth It

However it is not all bad news for London. The Minister for the Olympics, Tessa Jowell, has been widely reported as saying that there would not have been a London bid to host the games “had we known what we know now”. The majority of the world travellers however disagree with some 67 percent saying that despite all the economic, political, logistical, security and social changes, London was still the right choice to host the Games in 2012. Fifty nine percent also think that the potential benefits the Olympics will bring to London justify the cost, now estimated to be in the region of £9 billion.

Travellers Prefer London to Paris

And, despite the “told you so” retort from some French commentators, 62 percent said that London would provide a better visitor experience than Paris for the 2012 Games. Visitor Attractions WAYN’s survey also shows the Olympics could still be a major tourist attraction for London. Concern in some quarters about whether the Games could be a turn-off for visitors appear to be unfounded, with only 16 percent of WAYN respondents saying that they would be less likely to visit during the 2012 Olympics. Conversely, 47 percent said that they could be more likely to visit the city. London’s traditional tourism assets continue to be a major draw with 26 percent of respondents saying that as well as sports, culture and history would be the biggest attraction for travellers visiting London during the 2012 Olympics.

Said WAYN Co Founder Jerome Touze, “recently there has been a lot of talk about what benefits the Olympics might or might not bring to London and the UK’s tourism industry and we thought it was time to ask potential visitors around the world what they thought. The response was tremendous with 7559 travellers participating in just a few days.

“Clearly there is a huge amount of interest in London’s Olympics Games and the event does have the potential to be the biggest visitor attraction ever. However if that potential is going to be converted into serious visitor numbers, London urgently needs to address the negative perceptions and key concerns highlighted by our survey. It may be that attitudes have been tainted by reports about costs and cutbacks but the risks associated with London 2012 being considered a second class event should not be taken lightly. Meanwhile there also needs to be reassurance about containing the threat of terrorism and about containing costs and last but not least a major charm offensive to show the friendly face of London.”

…Ends…

About www.wayn.com

WAYN.com (Where Are You Now?) is the world's largest travel and lifestyle focused social networking community website. The site operates in 193 countries and membership has grown from 45,000 users in March 2005 to over 14 million today. WAYN.com allows its members to keep track of their friends' whereabouts and make new friends based on where they are now, where they have been and where they're going. Top services on WAYN.com include travel guide and trip planning tools, unlimited photo and video storage; interaction tools such as email, SMS and instant messenger, forums and travel related tools and products. Headquartered in London, UK WAYN was founded by entrepreneurs Pete Ward, 30, and pal Jerome Touze, 29, who started the site in their spare time after returning home from a 'round-the-world' trip in 2003.

WAYN.com Launches A New Flight Alert and Weather Update Service.

Thu, 16 Oct 2008 00:00:00 GMT

WAYN.com (Where are you now?), the UK’s largest growing lifestyle and travel networking community, has launched a new flight alert and weather update service for members keeping them up to date via their mobile phone on departure day.

After logging a new trip, users opt to receive confirmation of their flight number and flight times on the day of travel, as well as information on boarding times, departure gates and whether their flight is delayed. And to help members know what to pack and to help them plan their itinerary, an additional opt-in service provides members with daily weather updates in the lead up to and during their trip.

Currently 30% of UK scheduled flights suffer a delay of more than 15 minutes*, leaving passengers with nothing to do but wait. Flight status alerts can give control back to the passenger as to how they spend that time. “Mobile is an excellent way of reaching passengers on their departure day to update them on the status of their flight. It can save wasted hours standing in a departure lounge if a flight is unexpectedly delayed.” comments Matt Jerwood, director of business development at WAYN.com.

“A few hours before the scheduled departure passengers receive an SMS message confirming the flight time. Approximately 30 minutes before departure a reminder of flight details and boarding information is sent. The service can also provide travellers with two exclusive location specific retail offers depending on where they are flying from.” Mantic Point, who provide white-label mobile concierge services to major travel industry brands, deliver the service. Mike Atherton, Managing Director of Mantic Point commented: “With these services WAYN members get their very own personal travel assistant, so keeping on top of their travel plans is now as simple as checking a text message.” WAYN.com add the flight status alert and weather updates to their portfolio of travel tools, which now include travel insurance, global SIM card, international SMS bundles and a mobile translator.

- ENDS –

*Sourced from http://www.flightontime.info/index.html - an average of 30% scheduled flights are delayed by more then 15 minutes and nearly 40% of charter flights are delayed by over 15 minutes.

For more information please contact:

Annika Erskine
+44 (0) 7336 8088
Annika.erskine@wayn.com

About www.wayn.com
WAYN.com (Where Are You Now?) is the world's largest travel and lifestyle focused social networking community website. The site operates in 193 countries and membership has grown from 45,000 users in March 2005 to over 14 million today. WAYN.com allows its members to keep track of their friends' whereabouts and make new friends based on where they are now, where they have been and where they’re going. Top services on WAYN.com include travel guide and trip planning tools, unlimited photo and video storage; interaction tools such as email, SMS and instant messenger, forums and travel related tools and products.

About Mantic Point www.manticpoint.com
Mantic Point provides white-label, mobile concierge services for leading travel brands. We help travel brands to connect with their customers when they're travelling ... creating a mobile dialogue that keeps travellers informed with content including flight updates, traffic updates, weather forecasts, snow reports, etc. We provide this information by SMS, or through a personalised, mobile web-site. Our expertise is understanding each traveller's profile to offer them the most relevant mobile content for their needs. With relevant content, travellers get a mobile experience they value and travel brands generate incremental ancillary revenue.

Social network Where Are You Now? (WAYN.com) launches location-based travel advertising.

Wed, 15 Oct 2008 00:00:00 GMT

WAYN.com (Where Are You Now?), the world’s biggest lifestyle and travel networking community, this week launches new mobile services for members providing flight departure updates and local weather conditions at destination. The offering is unique thanks to targeted retail offers within the departure airport.

WAYN users log their trips, and can then opt to receive SMS updates relating to their travel, by providing their flight number and flight times on the day of travel. The WAYN service will provide users with information on boarding times, departure gates and any flight delays. An additional service provides daily weather updates for destinations.

The service is delivered by Mantic Point, who are providing a white-label version of their StreamThru service. Mantic Point enables advertisers at departure airports to deliver targeted marketing to consumers in the departure hall. The service provides a maximum of two timely and relevant offers sent straight to the mobile phones of opted-in passengers. The service spans major UK airports and advertisers can target based on gender, reason for travel, departure airport, destination, date and time of travel.

WAYN.com add the mobile weather and flight status alerts service to their portfolio of travel tools, which now includes travel insurance, global SIM card, mobile language translator, flight booking, accommodation finder and travel concierge service. As with other WAYN travel tools, upgraded WAYN VIP members can receive the new flight service for free.

"Mobile is the best way of helping people based on their location” comments Matt Jerwood, director of business development at WAYN.com. “People like to know if their flight is on time, and also love to gloat to their peers about forthcoming good weather on their trips, as well as knowing what to pack. As the users provide their flight information we are able to match up a relevant retail offer to their location and timing, and we hope this will be truly engaging for consumer and retailer alike. This is our first foray into location based advertising, and we are extremely excited.”

Mike Atherton, managing director of Mantic Point, commented: “Our service really can make a difference to travellers by sending updates to their mobile phones about delays and cancellations. WAYN is the biggest community of travellers, and we’re excited at the prospect of adding to the useful tools they can use on WAYN. On top of that we also know how effective mobile advertising is at raising awareness and driving action. This is one of the first market activities aimed at marrying interested travellers with interesting product, based on location, timing and relevance.”

- Ends -

For more information please contact:

Annika Erskine +44 (0) 7336 8088 annika.erskine@wayn.com

About www.wayn.com WAYN.com (Where Are You Now?) is the world's largest travel and lifestyle focused social networking community website. The site operates in 193 countries and membership has grown from 45,000 users in March 2005 to over 13 million today. WAYN.com allows its members to keep track of their friends' whereabouts and make new friends based on where they are now, where they have been and where they’re going. Top services on WAYN.com include travel guide and trip planning tools, unlimited photo and video storage; interaction tools such as email, SMS and instant messenger, forums and travel related tools and products.

WAYN.com (Where Are You Now?) to Discuss Interactive Media in London at the European Social Networking Industry Conference Taking Place September 22-23, 2008

Mon, 22 Sep 2008 00:00:00 GMT

Ticonderoga Ventures, Inc. announces that Co-CEO’s of WAYN.com (Where Are You Now?) will be participating as speakers on September 22-23, 2008 at the next Social Networking Conference, taking place at the Millennium Gloucester Hotel Kensington and Conference Centre in London, UK.

How can companies benefit from using social media? What are the advantages of social media over other, more traditional forms of marketing? Co-CEO’s Jerome Touze and Peter Ward of WAYN.com (Where Are You Now?) will answer these questions and share how social media offerings such as social networks can provide companies with a new way to engage customers and attract new ones.

The European Social Networking Convention will focus on management and technology for the social networking and online personals industry in Europe. This includes internet, mobile, and enterprise social networking technologies.

Attendees of this event will be senior executives from the European social media, social networking and online personals industry. Also attending are software executives, marketing firms, European venture capitalists, entrepreneurs, E.U. mobile telecom business development managers and Euro mobile technology managers. An illustrated breakdown of delegates can be found on the website.

Additional topics include: European social network business development, web 2.0 to Europe, building mobile communities and social networks in the European Union, European mobile marketing, Euro internet marketing, Software for online Social Networking market, E.U. venture capital for social networking business and others.

The London event will have a final panel session with online personals executives to discuss and debate on the direction of the European marketplace and how it can be properly monetized.

About WAYN.com

WAYN.com (Where Are You Now?) is the world's largest travel and lifestyle focused social networking community website. The site operates in 193 countries and membership has grown from 45,000 users in March 2005 to over 13.51 million today. WAYN.com allows its members to keep track of their friends' whereabouts and make new friends based on where they are now, where they have been and where they’re going. Top services on WAYN.com include travel guide and trip planning tools, unlimited photo and video storage; interaction tools such as email, SMS and instant messenger, forums and travel related tools and products.

For more information on the European Social Networking Conference, please visit the website or contact:

Marketing and Logistics Representative Ticonderoga Ventures, Inc. T: USA +1 (212) 722-1744 x79 F: USA +1 (208) 728-6456 E-mail: info-15@socialnetworkingconference.com

Media Relations: Mark Brooks Online Personals Watch T: USA +1 (212) 444-1636

This press release may contain forward-looking statements, particularly as related to the business plans of the company, within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Sections 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and are subject to the safe harbor created by these sections. Actual results may differ materially from the company's expectations and estimates.

The Widgetisation of WAYN.com

Thu, 18 Sep 2008 00:00:00 GMT

Leading travel, location and lifestyle social networking site WAYN.com (Where Are You Now?) has developed a widget enabling third parties to gain access to their 13.5 million member global community.

The announcement was made this week at the e-Business Academy in Lillehammer, Norway.

Selected partners will now be able to deliver own-branded versions of WAYN’s location-based online community via widgets on their own sites.

The widget will enable third parties to deliver location-based search results, offering their users the ability to see who’s where, research locations, explore profiles, view photos, trips and reviews, all based on their whereabouts.

Social networking is known for strong user engagement, high repeat traffic and retention. By providing this fully customisable widget WAYN hopes to provide traditional websites with an opportunity to gain an instantly involved community, without having to build it themselves from scratch.

The aim is to help location-centric entities maximise the attraction of their offering through people and user generated content. Retailers such as flight operators and hotel sites will also be able to reduce drop-off and encourage their users to interact post-purchase.

On average, WAYN users spend 16 minutes on site per visit, return twice per month, and view approximately 30 pages per session. The standard ecommerce transactional site would receive around 5 page views per user and fewer repeat visits from consumers.

“We have the largest location-based social networking community in the world. Users log their trips, share experiences, find out who’s coming to their town, and meet new friends in far flung destinations they’re about to visit” comments Matt Jerwood, WAYN’s director of business development “By offering whitelabelling services we’re giving other forms of e-business the opportunity to gain from the strengths of social networking through the use of an add-on. We want to initiate partnerships which result in engagement on non-community sites and non-traditional distribution of the WAYN.com community via innovative and open minded companies.”

- Ends –

For more information please contact:

Annika Erskine
020 7336 8088
Annika.erskine@wayn.com

About WAYN.com WAYN.com (Where Are You Now?) is the world's largest travel and lifestyle focused social networking community website. The site operates in 193 countries and membership has grown from 45,000 users in March 2005 to 13.5 million today. WAYN.com allows its members to keep track of their friends' whereabouts and make new friends based on where they are now, where they have been and where they’re going. Top services on WAYN.com include travel guide and trip planning tools, unlimited photo and video storage; interaction tools such as email, SMS and instant messenger, forums and travel related tools and products.

Where Are You Now? (WAYN.com) releases ‘build-your-own’ travel community

Wed, 17 Sep 2008 00:00:00 GMT

Leading travel, location and lifestyle social networking site WAYN.com (Where Are You Now?) launches a third party whitelabel service allowing partners to plug into a 13.5 million member global community. The announcement is made this week at the e-Business Academy in Lillehammer, Norway.

WAYN revealed that selected partners will be able to deliver own-branded versions of WAYN’s unique location-based online community.

The whitelabelling proposition enables third parties to deliver location-based search results, offering their users the ability to see who’s where, research locations, explore profiles, view photos, trips and reviews, all based on their whereabouts.

Social networking is known for strong user engagement, high repeat traffic and retention; by providing this whitelabel opportunity WAYN looks to provide traditional websites with an opportunity to gain an instantly involved community, without building from scratch.

WAYN can offer options ranging from full whitelabel services, through to plug-in widgets to help other forms of e-business gain from the strengths of social networking.

The aim is to help location-centric entities maximise the attraction of their offering through people and user generated content. Retailers such as flight operators and hotel sites will also be able to reduce dropoff and encourage their users to interact post-purchase.

On average, WAYN users spend 16 minutes on site per visit, return twice per month on average, and view approximately 30 pages per session. The standard ecommerce transactional site would receive 5 page views per user and fewer repeat visits from consumers.

“We have the world’s biggest location based social network. People use WAYN to see who’s where, to ask strangers what to do in their city, to find out who’ll be coming to their town, and to socialise on a literally global scale” comments Matt Jerwood, WAYN’s director of business development “By opening up the WAYN service to others we aim to initiate partnerships which will result in engagement on non-community sites and non-traditional distribution of the community through innovative and open minded companies.”

Where Are You Now? Mobile!

Mon, 23 Jun 2008 00:00:00 GMT

Location based social networking community WAYN.com (‘Where Are You Now’) aims to help you make the most of your whereabouts thanks to the launch of its mobile service, giving users access to global people and places search from their pocket.

Users can check their messages, account, profile, research their locality, find people based on location, plus update their own status and whereabouts wherever they may be.

Matt Jerwood, director of business development at WAYN.com comments ‘Our name says it all. ‘Where Are You Now?’ should be available anytime, anywhere to allow people to make the most of where they are now; whenever ‘now’ is, and wherever ‘where’ is!”

Location based services are set to be core to WAYN’s offering and mobile is a natural next step, as they allow users to update their location and add trips on the move, find local services when travelling, and connect to other members in the same area in order to meet up or share experiences.

The site was recently ranked by Nielsen Netratings as the seventh most popular site accessed from a mobile phone in the UK, despite no mobile-specific version previously being available.

“Anyone coming to the site via their mobile phone will now be offered the new mobile version for a better experience” says Jerwood whose past mobile experience includes mobilisation of lastminute.com and Maxim magazine among others.

WAYN.com has 12 million users in 193 countries and has introduced a number of offline travel services for members including travel insurance, an international global SIM card, and a downloadable mobile translator in 17 different languages.

WAYN Mobile can be accessed from GPRS enabled handsets at http://m.wayn.com.

- Ends -

For more information please contact:

Annika Erskine
+44 (0) 7336 8088
Annika.erskine@wayn.com

About www.wayn.com
WAYN.com (Where Are You Now?) is the world's largest travel and lifestyle focused social networking community website. The site operates in 193 countries and membership has grown from 45,000 users in March 2005 to over 12 million today. WAYN.com allows its members to keep track of their friends' whereabouts and make new friends based on where they are now, where they have been and where they’re going. Top services on WAYN.com include travel guide and trip planning tools, unlimited photo and video storage; interaction tools such as email, SMS and instant messenger, forums and travel related tools and products.

UK Social Network Launches International Mobile SIM Card

Thu, 15 May 2008 00:00:00 GMT

British travel and lifestyle focused social network WAYN.com (Where Are You Now?) launches ‘pay as you go’ Mobile SIM card providing domestic level low cost international calls at home and abroad.

The network, provided by United Mobile, currently covers more than 110 countries worldwide and provides incoming calls for free in over 80.

Users can top-up online and are offered an ‘Auto Recharge’ system which enables them to budget top-up level and frequency before they travel.

The WAYN Global SIM replaces the regular SIM in any unlocked mobile phone thereby avoiding roaming charges and appealing to those travelling for either business or leisure.

WAYN.com partnered with United Mobile for the production of the travel tool, due to their expertise, competitive rates for international calling, and their continual network expansion. With 11.5m members in 193 countries, they wanted a globally accessible product.

“Travel communities like WAYN.com are the perfect match for the international SIM card. Our service allows customers to save mobile phone costs while travelling and with ‘pay as you go’, they have got maximum flexibility at all times.” stated Charles Fränkl, CEO of United Mobile.

Matt Jerwood, director of business development at WAYN.com commented, “WAYN Global SIM will give members flexibility to communicate more readily whilst at home and overseas. Knowing you can avoid roaming charges and get local call rates means you can call whomever you want, wherever you are. WAYN is about ‘Where you are NOW’. Providing members with easily accessible travel products and services is part of our strategy to offer a more social element to our global communications.”

The WAYN Global SIM furthers WAYN.com’s travel tools offerings, following the social network’s announcement last month that it holds representative status for providing competitive travel insurance to members..

The Global SIM is offered free to all WAYN VIP members and can be accessed from ‘My Account’ when logged into WAYN.

-Ends-

About WAYN.com
WAYN.com (Where Are You Now?) is the world's largest travel and lifestyle focused social networking community website. The site operates in 193 countries and membership has grown from 45,000 users in March 2005 to over 11 million today. WAYN.com allows its members to keep track of their friends' whereabouts and make new friends based on where they are now, where they have been and where they’re going. Top services on WAYN.com include travel guide and trip planning tools, unlimited photo and video storage; interaction tools such as email, SMS and instant messenger, forums and travel related tools and products.

About United Mobile
United Mobile offers to customers mobile calls worldwide at a reasonable price (from 25p per minute) and to receive calls in over 80 countries for free. With United Mobile users save up to 80% on their mobile calls abroad. With its international focus and worldwide network coverage, United Mobile is among the top international companies in the mobile communications industry. For more information, please visit www.united-mobile.com.

Contacts:
WAYN.com:
Annika Erskine
+44 (0) 20 8336 8088
Annika.erskine@wayn.com

United Mobile:
Sibylle Siegrist
Phone +41 43 204 28 63
sibylle.siegrist@united-mobile.com

UK Social Network set to launch travel insurance on Moneysupermarket.com

Tue, 22 Apr 2008 00:00:00 GMT

WAYN.com (Where Are You Now?) having recently announced the launch of their travel insurance product, has today confirmed that it intends to compete with leading travel insurance providers on top UK comparison site, moneysupermarket.com.

WAYN.com boasts over 1.9 million UK members and has been investing heavily in travel related tools to cement its position within the travel niche.

Purchasers of WAYN travel insurance on MoneySupermarket.com will be able to redeem a free one-month WAYN VIP membership.

WAYN has seen a huge increase in growth and popularity in recent months, largely due to opening up to the site to free interaction and introducing a number of new and innovative offerings which have increased the stickiness of the site.

Matt Jerwood, Director of Business Development commented: “We don’t think any other social network has done anything like this and it’s an exciting new step for us. As well as providing travel tips and forums for exchanging travel advice, we want to offer great services and encourage responsible travelling. Having WAYN Travel Insurance ranked highly on Moneysupermarket.com will show just how much we are dedicated to getting the best quality for the best prices.”

WAYN travel insurance is currently available via the Travel pages on WAYN.com and will be listed on Moneysupermarket.com in time for the summer.

- ENDS –

WAYN have teamed up with HotelClub to find the Best Hotels in the World

Tue, 08 Apr 2008 00:00:00 GMT

There's a $40k prize up-for-grabs for people who vote for their favourite hotel, and the most-popular 300 hotels will be published in an Insight Guides travel guide. WAYN are a global partner for the awards which are taking place in three main territories, UK+IE, Oceania and Asia.

Matt Jerwood, of WAYN Business Development, said "This is a great example of a community website and home of travel-based user generated content, helping a more traditional business drive a more traditional form of UGC, i.e. books on travellers' favourite hotels. It's pretty exciting and complimentary to match-up the different approaches, it's social publishing almost".

The survey will culminate in awards that will recognise the best of the best in various categories, and WAYN themselves will even be giving out the WAYN Best Hotel Bar in the World Award.

HotelClub are a part of the Orbitz family, and have been given their own WAYN Profile to drive votes to the awards, this can be found at http://hotelclub.wayn.com.

More info to be made available in due course.

Social Networking Gives Something Back

Fri, 07 Mar 2008 00:00:00 GMT

WAYN.com encourages members to travel responsibly

Leading British social network WAYN.com (Where Are You Now?) is offering its subscribers free Travel Insurance in a bid to encourage them to travel safely and responsibly and reduce their worries whilst travelling.

WAYN.com is the first Social Network to offer travel insurance to members; providing a tangible and on-theme product to users which has not yet been seen from a community website. WAYN are offering European Annual Multi Trip Insurance to their VIP Members for FREE.

Teaming up with Mondial Assistance, WAYN has been given ‘Appointed Representative’ Status to provide market-leading products for its members which will set a precedent for low pricing in the travel and insurance industries.

Bosses at WAYN.com, the world’s largest travel and lifestyle social network with a membership base of more than 11 million with over 6 million unique visitors per month, want to prove that social networking sites are able to make a real difference to people’s lives.

Matt Jerwood, Director of Business Development at WAYN.com said: “WAYN.com is a travel and lifestyle focused social network. Our users love travel and so we thought we should try to give a little back to those subscribing members who’ve helped to make WAYN such a vibrant community. What better way than to help reduce travel stress by providing them with high quality insurance, for free?

“The site is all about getting in touch with people, sharing travel advice and experiences, and planning trips. Therefore it makes perfect sense that we should offer our members travel insurance, it’s one of the key things for responsible travellers to ensure they have covered. It’s an exciting move for a social network to give such a tangible benefit to its members” WAYN’s VIP members now receive – on top of the upgrade features already on offer including enhanced account preferences, free SMS and priority online presence - an excellent insurance package* at no extra cost, which essentially doubles the value of membership.

By providing one of the lowest-price insurance offerings in the market, yet without compromising the quality of the offering; WAYN.com aim to feature at the top of results presented on leading search aggregators’ and price comparison websites, for both single-trip and multi-trip travel insurance products.

Access to this competitive insurance offering is available to everyone via WAYN.com, in addition to the site’s communication tools, international SMS, travel guide, trips log, travel tools, games and full search functionality. Those upgrading to the enhanced VIP account privileges will be able to claim European Annual Multi-trip travel insurance* for free through their My Account page.

WAYN insurance packages are now available across the UK, with single trip cover within Europe starting from under £6 and annual multi-trip cover throughout Europe from under £24 . WAYN insurance will then be rolled out across the WAYN global footprint in the months to follow, including Western Europe, North America and Australasia.

Mondial Assistance was selected as the preferred partner due to its ability to provide the best price and best levels of cover for both European and Worldwide policies; a great product offering, including the ability for WAYN users in multiple territories to benefit; the lowest feasible excess option; availability of backpacker cover and overall commitment to customer service.

Steve Hook, Director of Corporate & Travel for Mondial Assistance commented: “We are extremely excited to be partnering with WAYN.com and to be able to offer excellent value to members and non-members alike – insurance is something all travellers should be equipped with to protect them whilst on their travels. Partnering with WAYN enables us to reach a broad spectrum of travellers across the world.”

Traffic on WAYN.com has grown significantly since the website opened up its interaction model to all members with new registrations now up to 20,000 per day. The trend is set to continue, with the site having recently announced not only new product developments and a relaunched travel guide but also a number of strategic partnerships.

WAYN.com (Where Are You Now?) is an appointed representative of Mondial Assistance (UK) Limited which is Authorised and regulated by the Financial Services Authority.

-END-

Notes to Editors

About WAYN.com

WAYN.com (Where Are You Now?) offers a vibrant community by which users can keep in contact with people they meet all over the world, make new friends based on where they plan to go, and keep everyone back home informed of what they are doing. Users create profiles, log their past, present and future trips, and find other members based on location. Top services on WAYN.com apart from its global online forum, are photo storage, mailbox options, instant messenger, a travel guide, chatboards, and worldwide SMS.

WAYN) is now the world’s largest and fastest growing travel and lifestyle social networking community website with growth from 45,000 users in March 2005 to 11 million today throughout 193 countries.

Contact: Matt Jerwood, tel: 020 7336 8100, matt@wayn.com

About Mondial Assistance

Mondial Assistance in the UK is a leading provider of customer support services to the motor and travel industries, insurance companies and other blue chip organisations. As a member of the global Mondial Assistance Group, Mondial Assistance in the UK provides services to customers 24 hours a day, wherever they are all over the world.

Worldwide leader in assistance, travel insurance and personal services, today Mondial Assistance Group counts nearly 8,000 staff members speaking over 40 languages. They work throughout the world in collaboration with a network of 400,000 service providers and 240 correspondents. 250 million people, or 4% of the world population, benefit from the Group’s services, which it proposes on 5 continents in over 25 countries. The Group mainly operates under its three international brands: ELVIA, Mondial Assistance and World Access.

Mondial Assistance Group is a member of the Allianz Group through AGF and RAS International, each holding a 50% capital stake.www.mondial-assistance-group.com

For further press information please contact:

Justine Hoadley, Margot Tomkinson, Linda Pearson or Matt Rickard HSL

Tel: 020 8977 9132 or email mondialteam@harrisonsadler.com

WAYN.com (Where Are You Now?) confirms strong growth in unique visitors

Thu, 28 Feb 2008 00:00:00 GMT

With Facebook, MySpace and Bebo defending their stats this month, traffic continues to soar for the leading travel and lifestyle social network

Social networks focusing on niche verticals such as travel are showing signs of bucking the declining trend, and are demonstrating continued growth and interest in the Web 2.0 space. WAYN.com, the world's largest travel and lifestyle focused social network have announced a 185% rise in unique visitors globally this month, reaching an expected 6.3m visitors, up from 2.2m the same time last year. A recent analysis conducted by Nielsen NetRatings also confirmed a 25% increase year on year in the UK alone. The site boasts over 11 million members in over 193 different countries and is growing by up to 15,000 new members every day.

Whilst other networks are seeing shortfalls in growth, it seems that having a niche focus has enabled WAYN to sidestep the decline that many of the leading generalist social networks have experienced recently.

Alex Burmaster, European internet analyst at Nielsen Online comments: "The last few months have seen a plateauing in the popularity of the larger, more general, social networks and 2008 looks to be the year when the ‘next big thing’ around the corner, or more appropriately, the 'next little thing' around the corner, will be the niche social networks. This is where we are likely to see the greatest growth - networks based on a particular lifestyle or interest, such as music, wealth, business or travel – the latter through sites like WAYN."

WAYN has seen a huge increase in growth and popularity in recent months, largely due to it opening up to the site to free interaction and introducing a number of new and innovative offerings, which have increased the stickiness of the site.

Jerome Touze, co-founder and co-CEO commented: "We’ve invested a lot of time and effort into improving our product offering in recent months and by listening to our members, we’ve introduced a number of useful travel tools and on-site benefits that have led to a huge increase in user generated content and community interaction. We opened the site to a free interaction model last year, and this has clearly proved to be a great success with 6.3m unique visitors expected for February 08, up from 2.2m this time last year."

With more offerings on the way, and travel remaining one of the webs most successful and in-demand verticals, the WAYN team is strongly positioned to further consolidate its position as the leader in the online travel community space. Ambition to internationalise products along with huge potential to monetise the offering is already bearing fruit, with an ever-growing list of partners vying to take advantage of a high value, targeted and hard-to-reach demographic.

- ENDS –

WAYN announces exclusive deal with Tuxedo Money Solutions to introduce prepaid Lifestyle Card to VIP members

Wed, 06 Feb 2008 00:00:00 GMT

Members of the world’s largest travel and lifestyle social networking community, WAYN.com (Where Are You Now?), will be able to control and manage their cash more safely using a WAYN prepaid international MasterCard. The WAYN Lifestyle Card, launched in conjunction with Tuxedo Money Solutions - the leading prepaid card provider - will enable its 10.8 million members to manage their money online, by phone, and even via SMS.

The WAYN Lifestyle Card offers great value for money and significant savings over most high street bank cards and credit cards on exchange rates and foreign ATM charges when outside of the UK. This is where the card neatly fits with the WAYN core demographic of independent travellers, gap year students, family holiday makers, business travellers and explorers alike. The cards’ flexibility and the safety aspects are likely to prove a hit with the travelling set: the card is not linked to any bank account, it carries less fraud risk, can be topped-up remotely by friends and family in emergencies and is safer than carrying cash as the card can be blocked if it is lost or stolen.

The holder’s money is held off the card in an online "eccount" from where it can be safely moved on to the card as and when needed. Cardholders can also share money with friends and family in the UK or abroad, using the eccount service to transfer funds between different cards. The online system is designed for easy and safe card management and allows users to text instructions via mobile phone including "block" to lock your card, "unblock" to re-activate your funds and "lost" or "stolen" to stop all use. A free SMS facility can also be used to alert users when card balances are low and need topping-up.

The card launches to UK members in April with plans to roll out in international markets over the year. The card is simple to set up and easy to use to spend online, through chip-and-pin terminals and ATMs anywhere in the world. Tuxedo Money Solutions has proven success with co-branded prepaid card schemes. In 2007/8 it launched branded prepaid MasterCards with leading partners The Sun and the News of the World newspapers. Tuxedo Money Solutions was also recently announced as the winner of the Best Consumer Marketing Programme for one of its cards at the UK Card Awards 2008.

The growth of pre-paid cards across Europe has been dramatic with people realising the benefits of money management over credit card debt. WAYN will continue to provide its service only to the over-18s market but rather than focus on applicants with restricted access to credit facilities, WAYN’s goals are for minimising fees whilst overseas, fraud and risk reduction, and access to discounts and tangible benefits whilst travelling. The future development of the WAYN Card will render it more intelligent as it will come preloaded with WAYN member benefits including discounts on international brands, free or discounted entry to international clubs, events and attractions, and more.

VIP members of the popular networking site will receive the card for free as a benefit of their membership package. All other members will be able to apply for the card at £9.95 without the requisite credit checks and personal data requirements normally associated with standard credit card applications. Top ups can be more conveniently made in GBP, with US Dollar and Euro loading soon to follow.

Director of Business Development for WAYN.com, Matt Jerwood commented on the deal: “This is a social networking first and we are delighted to have partnered with the best firm in the market. WAYN is a travel-centric site, and so our aim was to provide our members with a Lifestyle Card that can save them money when they travel. We also wanted to provide a secure, safe and useful alternative to carrying Traveller’s Cheques.

“We hope to expand the WAYN Lifestyle Card into a suite of travel benefits, and by having offline extensions to such a successful online brand as WAYN means we can continue to assist the travelling member even when they’ve logged off!”

Simon Black, Sales Director for Tuxedo Money Solutions commented: “WAYN.com is a significant social network and we are delighted to be partnering with them, becoming market innovators in the Social Networking space. We look forward to introducing the benefits of prepaid to the members of the WAYN site.”

-ENDS-

About WAYN.com:
www.wayn.com
WAYN.com (Where Are You Now?) is the world's largest travel and lifestyle focused social networking community website. The site operates in over 200 countries and membership has grown from 45,000 users in March 2005 to over 10 million today. WAYN.com allows its members to keep track of their friends' whereabouts and make new friends based on where they are now, where they have been and share where they are going. Top services on WAYN.com include travel guide and trip planning tools, such as photo and video sharing; interaction tools such as email, SMS and instant messenger, and forums.

About Tuxedo Money Solutions
www.tuxedomoney.com
Award-winning Tuxedo Money Solutions was founded in 2006 and has grown to become one of the UKs leading prepaid card providers. In 2007 it launched Tuxedo Maestro and MasterCard prepaid cards and their unique eccount service, incorporating mobile phone functionality.

Tuxedo also offers businesses the opportunity to produce branded prepaid cards of their own and to integrate directly with them to offer seamless payment solutions. Tuxedos strengths lie in the technology that underpins the operation of its cards and the flexibility of marketing solutions it offers to its partnering brands. Mark Simon joined Tuxedo as CEO in June 2007 to lead Tuxedo in to the next exciting phase of development. A number of high profile card industry experts have recently joined Tuxedo to boost their strong management team.

Adventurists taking on new breed of adventure travel across India in tuk tuks

Wed, 09 Jan 2008 00:00:00 GMT

Rickshaw Run South India to Kathmandu sponsored by WAYN.com

Battered and bruised, overwhelmed, and mostly wearing seriously dirty clothes, the teams taking part in the WAYN sponsored Rickshaw Run are experiencing the seriously extreme end of self-driving across the whole of India and into the hills of Nepal in a wholly unsuitable 3-wheeled auto-rickshaw with an engine about as powerful as a standard kettle.

The teams started in Fort Kochi, southern India, on New Years Day and many have already covered more than 2000km on their way to the finish line in Kathmandu. Each team raises 1000 for charity, paid directly to the charities via justgiving.com. Now many are more than halfway and due to arrive in Kathmandu by this weekend after two weeks of mud, sweat, some tears and plenty of adventure straight from the top drawer.

So far updates from the teams taking part have revealed a shed load of major breakdowns, incredible road-side sights ranging from dead bodies to monkeys and elephants. There have also been a couple of injuries too. This adventure is extremely dangerous and the teams are responsible for all aspects of their journey. Two rickshaws have been rolled and teams have sustained minor injuries in their search for proper untamed adventure

The organisers The Adventurists - supply the vehicles at the start line and provide no back up or support on the road until the teams reach the end. The unimaginable terrain ranges from bad roads to no roads, and from arid plains to mountain passes and the often chaotic nature of Indias roads is one of the biggest challenges

WAYN.com bring the adventure to their 10 million worldwide members by tracking the teams progress online. Annika Erskine, Marketing Director commented: The teams have to sign away their lives for this race yet throw themselves into it with full relish, grins and pimping of vehicles. Its great to see people from all over get together for a valued charity such as Mercy Corps, helping people in a mad, crazy fashion, and ultimately showing our WAYN users a real insider view to the beauty of India!

Team Tikka-to-Ride from the UK sent an upbeat text about their progress: Our amazing machine is running like a dream. We're all great and lovin every moment -full of determination to make it to the end.

One of the teams that rolled their rickshaw, called Clacton-On-Sea Mystery Tours, from the UK, reported in their text update to the website: Good news is we are all ok. Bez was concerned for a hole in his jacket until i showed him the one in my arm!

Father and son team, Sam and Roger from the UK, wrote about the traffic and their recent toilet trip: Busy lunatic highway, fast in Mad Max sort of way. Went for quiet pooh in bushes but they were already occupied. Population!

All the text message updates from the teams taking part can be found at www.rickshawrun.com, or on WAYN.com, the worlds largest travel and lifestyle social network.

- Ends

For more information, hi-res images and interviews please contact:

Dan Wedgwood
Press Officer
The Adventurists
+44(0)7787521995
+44(0)1179541515
dan@theadventurists.com
info@rickshawrun.com

Annika Erskine
Marketing Manager
+44 (0)20 7336 8088
Annika.erskine@wayn.com

About WAYN
WAYN.com (Where Are You Now?) is the worlds largest travel and lifestyle focused social networking community website in the world. The site operates in over 200 countries and membership has grown from 45,000 users in March 2005 to over 10 million today.

WAYN.com allows its members to keep track of their friends whereabouts and make new friends based on where they are now, where they have been and where they are going.

Top services on WAYN.com include travel guide, trip planning tools and profiles, unlimited photo and video storage; interaction tools such as email, SMS and instant messenger, forums and many other travel services.

About the Adventurists
Let's face it 21st century life is dull. When did you last walk off the edge of the map when all your friends told you the earth was flat? We have been cheated of a life of adventure by the mere coincidence of our birth date. Our mission is to redress the balance.

A raft of adventures have been built in an urgent bid to save the world from the tyranny of boredom and the scourge that is backpacking... They will either make you wet yourself with excitement or fill you with rage and an urgent need to grab the nearest clipboard and blow a whistle of sensibleness...

We're also a big fan of the earth so our adventures give back by raising buckets of cash for awesome charities and their most excellent projects. We've set ourselves the goal of raising 1 million for awesome charities as a starting goal.