TripAdvisor has unveiled a major upgrade to its Facebook Trip Friends service, creating what is essentially a mini-Facebook within the user review giant's site.
The series of improvements come six months after launching the first incarnation of Trip Friends, allowing users to ask questions about a destination or hotel to their Facebook friends from within TripAdvisor.
The new functionality announced today by TripAdvisor is being touted as another significant step along the way to fully integrating social and travel, according to TripAdvisor chief executive Steve Kaufer.
"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."
So what have the duo done?
First of all, any TripAdvisor user logged into Facebook at the same time will be greeted with a massively overhauled main screen, showing details of any activity from their Facebook friends.
This includes a map with markers on destinations, also indicating whether a friend has picked it as a favourite.
Destination pages supplied by tourist boards are also streamed into the main profile page of a user whenever a location is selected by the user or if a friend has visited.
Users looking to find reviews of any hotel, restaurant, activity or other destination service will see reviews from their friends first, ahead of the millions of others contained on the TripAdvisor system.
The existing ask-a-friend service will remain a core part of the Trip Friends, although TripAdvisor says now the system will update instantly with messages from friends on Facebook.
TripAdvisor is trying to head off concerns of privacy of data early, stressing that users control exactly what is shared through the system via their Facebook profiles.
Kaufer says around half of TripAdvisor's registered members have a Facebook account, so "we wanted to make it easier for them to find the most relevant and social content quickly and share the experience with their friends".
The homepage will look something like this: