Vacations Blog

Curious how travel bloggers and travel-interested Twitterers are using Twitter? I was, so I looked at the usage patterns of the 112 Twitter members of the T-List.

About the T-List Twitterati

First, some background. On 4/8, with the help of Guido van den Elshout of HappyHotelier, we created the T-list account (http://www.twitter.com/tlist) on Twitter that would represent a list of travel-interested bloggers and Twitterers. We created a list of the T-List Twitterati based on the original T-List concept pioneered by Kevin May, Mathieu Ouellet, Jens Threanhart, and HappyHotelier.

If you don’t know what the T-List is, what Twitter is, or what the T-List Twitterati is, start by reading our post on T-List does Twitter. Then check out TravelTwit, a cool Facebook like aggregator created by Chris Clarke (@Chrispitality) to see all the feeds of the T-List bloggers. BTW, if you want to join the T-List on Twitter, just Follow T-List and we’ll add you.

So how does the T-List Twitterati use Twitter?

During the past 10 days, triggered by a post by Louis Gray, the blogosphere had been vibrating with various methods of characterizing the use of Twitter by its many users. But first, a few disclaimers:

• Disclaimer 1: Lies, damned lies, and statistics. There is just not a lot of data available: just followers, uptakes, and followed for a given point in time. We collected this data around 4/29 or so.
• Disclaimer 2: Do not take this stuff too seriously or risk the charge of self-reflective narcissism. On the other hand, if you find this stuff interesting, then you are truly in the social media echo chamber!

Chart 1: Number of Followers by Twitterer

A small number of active Twitterers that have most of these followers. Here are a few statistics to illustrate this:

• The total count of followers in the entire list is 71,802. (Note: if 1 person follows 70 accounts, he would be counted 70 times in this number)
• JasonCalacanis, founder of Mahalo, has 22843 followers, or 32% of the total on the Twitterati T-List!
• The top 10 accounts have 79% of the followers.
• The top 20 accounts have 86% of the followers.

Leaderboard 1: Top 20 Twitterers by Followers

Excluding JasonCalacanis, here are the top 20 Twitterers as ranked by followers:

Twitter Name – Followers – URL

1. jakemarsh 13132 http://thejakemarsh.com/
2. bloggersblog 7741 http://www.bloggersblog.com/
3. musaaykac 4664 http://www.seotops.com/
4. tradingnothing 3173 http://www.tradingnothing.com/
5. jetblue 1844 http://www.jetblue.com/
6. jrosell 1315 http://www.sistemakiwi.com/
7. southwestair 880 http://www.southwest.com/
8. hostelcolonial 714 http://hostelbuenosaires.blogspot.com/
9. sheilas 673 http://blogs.bootsnall.com/Seafarer/
10. morrisey 663 http://www.blogdeviajes.com.ar/
11. travelrants 591 http://www.travel-rants.com/
12. shirleyjohn 582 http://livingthelifeofmydreams.blogspot.com/
13. elliottng 520 http://www.uptake.com/blog
14. Glennia 478 http://glenniacampbell.typepad.com/
15. chris2x 468 http://amateurtraveler.com/
16. parkylondon 396 http://www.thisweekinlondon.co.uk/
17. tarabrown 396 http://tarabrown.pbwiki.com/
18. leannecook 385 http://tripsforless.gop1d.com/
19. reckon 363 http://reckonwordwide.com/
20. everywheretrip 321 http://everything-everywhere.com/

Chart 2: Number of Updates by Twitterer

Updates are less skewed toward the top 10, and for the T-List Twitterati might be a better indication of who is active on Twitter and for how long.

Leaderboard 2: Top 20 Twitterers by Updates

1. sheilas 3715 http://blogs.bootsnall.com/Seafarer/
2. agcblog 2630 http://agcblog.wordpress.com/
3. mvdkooi 2588
4. morrisey 2430 http://www.blogdeviajes.com.ar/
5. hostelcolonial 2049 http://hostelbuenosaires.blogspot.com/
6. nerdseyeview 1877 http://www.nerdseyeview.com/
7. bloggersblog 1557 http://www.bloggersblog.com/
8. whiteraven13 1425
9. albertbarra 1378 http://www.albertbarra.com/
10. chris2x 1258 http://amateurtraveler.com/
11. parkylondon 1221 http://www.thisweekinlondon.co.uk/
12. Glennia 1220 http://glenniacampbell.typepad.com/
13. darrindickey 1195 http://blog.brandingfire.com/
14. reckon 1119 http://reckonwordwide.com/
15. everywheretrip 1087 http://everything-everywhere.com/
16. nyt_travel 1087 http://www.nytimes.com/travel
17. latimestravel 892 http://travel.latimes.com/
18. tarabrown 871 http://tarabrown.pbwiki.com/
19. akasylvia 869 http://backspace.blog.me.uk/
20. elliottng 809 http://www.uptake.com/blog

Twitter Noise Factor: Who is Tweeting the Most?

Last week, Louis Gray suggested a metric of Twitter Noise, as defined as a ratio of Updates/Followers. Cleverly named to generate buzz and interest, the Louis Gray metric was not actually designed to criticize those most “noisy” but to highlight that people use Twitter. No different for the T-List.

• Median Twitter Noise Factor is 1.63, or 1.6 updates per follower.
• Top 20 people are updating at a 12.5 Twitter Noise Factor, or about 7.6X times the median

Twitter Quotient

Sarah Perez of sarahintampa suggested another way to classify Twitter users and applied it to Louis’ original post. I did the Twitter Noise analysis for the China Twitterati, Louis also shared with me another tool called Twitter Quotient that also allows you to check your Twitter Noise quotient. Here’s mine:

Here’s the complete T-List Twitterati ranked by Followers:

UPDATE: note: if your URL is missing, add it to your Twitter account and leave a comment on this blog and I’ll add it!