Michelin Guide Goes Web 2.0

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What's more, she adds, though users could reach restaurant ratings via the site, the information was difficult to find. A major redesign was in order.

A Plum Assignment

The revamped ViaMichelin site includes satellite images of the earth provided by Microsoft (MSFT). The maps are also more interactive than before, providing real-time traffic information and weather. The social networking aspect, which places reviews front and center, was created by Plum, a Silicon Valley startup that is itself still in beta testing.

Founded by seasoned technology entrepreneurs Hans Peter Brondmo, a Norwegian native, and U.S.-born Margaret Olson, Plum specializes in technology that promotes a social way of sharing and saving information on the Net. The company, which raised seed money from Microsoft co-founder and billionaire Paul Allen, counts U.S. retailer Sears Roebuck among its other clients. Sears is using Plum's technology to help its customers manage home renovations, while the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Media Lab is using it to string together various media found on the Internet to tell stories.

In the case of ViaMichelin, Plum's technology lets visitors to the site contribute their own restaurant reviews and create their own digital trip planner and travel journal. They can drop in text, links, photos, or videos from anywhere on the Net and choose to share the information only with friends and family or open it to the public. Travel journals open to the public will show up any time someone looks up information for that destination on ViaMichelin's Web site.

Building Communities of Like-Minded Travelers

The idea is that people will discover things off the beaten track and will be able to augment the information in the official guide. To create a travel journal or review a restaurant, people will have to register on the ViaMichelin site, but only a minimal amount of personal information is currently required.

There are plans to add more questions to better build communities of like-minded people on the site, says Latxague. For example, people who like trendy restaurants and boutique hotels are more likely to pay attention to the review of someone else who notes similar preferences. The goal of the new applications is "to get users engaged, [have them] become advocates, and have advocacy turned into addition," says Brondmo.

Michelin is betting the revamped Web site can help it make lots more money without hurting its other business. "People are always saying the Internet will kill paper, but in our case it is not true at all," says Naret, the head of the printed guides.

The parent company recently learned just how complementary its businesses can be. When it launched a new paper guide in Tokyo in November, the Japanese stood in line outside bookstores to get copies, Naret says. The first printing of the guide sold out in 24 hours, and all told Michelin sold 300,000 copies within five weeks. Since then its brand recognition has become so strong that the parent company has launched a new advertising campaign featuring the guide's famous red cover. The tag line: "Now that you've tried our restaurants, maybe you should try our tires."

Michelin's managers can only hope the new Web 2.0 ViaMichelin site creates the same kind of buzz in cyberspace.

Schenker is a BusinessWeek correspondent in Paris.