The Travel Insights 100 and Twitter

http://atravelerslibrary.com/2009/09/18/travel-insights-100-twitter/



Today we are reading poll results.


Since we read anything that inspires and informs travel, it seems appropriate to read what the Travel Insights 100–travel writers and bloggers, including moi--have to say.


The Travel Insights 100, officially launched yesterday. Participants have permission to discuss the results of a poll regarding Twitter, but only if you (yes, I’m talkin’ to you) promise that you will join the discussion of Twitter. Members of Travel Insight 100 are travel writers, travel industry professionals, advisors and analysts, and travel bloggers. Questions did not draw 100 answers because the travel writers were, well, traveling–or maybe writing. Okay, here are just a few of the things that I found most interesting in this poll.


First, since 97% of the respondents are on twitter, and 56% checked Twitter more than four times a day, it is safe to say that this is a very social-networking-kind-of-group. And as I drilled down into the replies to other questions, I began to get a picture of why these travel writers and travel professionals find twitter important and useful.


When deciding what they would tweet, the answers varied widely. To me this underscores one of the most endearing qualities of Twitter–the many different voices. The most important consideration to this group was being of interest to their followers, and next came caution about how they were representing themselves or their business. 1/3 talked travel only, and 28% said they tweeted “whatever came into their mind.”


When asked how they decide who to follow, NO ONE said they follow only those that they know. Twitter is a place to break new ground and find out about new things. Less than 1/4 follow only those who are tweeting about travel. Many, many comments stressed that this group checks out the people who follow them and are “picky” about who they follow. They are looking for intelligent people with interesting posts.


Simultaneous with the news of T.I. 100 being announced on Twitter, a new tool, TweepML started making the rounds which allows people to follow all of the T.I.100 at one click.


However, if you want these picky people to pick you, here are some clues. They like people who find a mix of professional or business tweets with personal. Top no-nos are sending so many tweets that you flood my account or spend all your time tweeting self-promotion. In a related vein, being “too corporate” is looked down upon. Do try to be clever because this crew does not like “mundane.”


The travel experts suggested so many links to articles about Twitter and travel, that I think I’ll save that list for another day.


Now, your turn. Are you on Twitter? If so, how do you decide who to follow? How do you decide what to tweet? Do you get travel info from Twitter? Let’s talk.


P.S. I am writing this on the 17th, and I just noticed that my French word of the day is editeur, meaning ‘publisher.’ How appropriate.