Getting the message out

We sent out our 80,000th post or 'tweet' today - using the Social Medium 'Twitter'. That's around one and a half million words sent out, just using one service on the internet.

People now spend a quarter of their internet time using Social Media (Facebook, Twitter etc), so it has become a very important business tool, especially for the tourism industry.

Social Media empowers a business to update 'on call' notices, comments and events, where as in the past it required a website designer and the expenses that go along with that. As a website designer myself, I think social media is great for the small to medium business, as it gives them  back some control over their own marketing, internet presence, and react immediately to sudden changes.

Social Media influence is not just how many tweets you send, or how many pictures you post, or how many friends you have, or how many you follow (however, those factors do get taken into account) - it's how many people take notice, and how many people react to your comments.

The recognised 'scoring' service for Social Media and Twitter Influence is 'Klout'. It's a great little tool that anyone can use to improve their own presence, but also to 'weed out' those who say they are social media 'gurus' or 'consultants'.

Here is a table showing the influence of some Social Media users in the Whitsundays, and their Klout scores:

User	Klout	Reach	Amp	Network
Whitsundays Online (Roam Media)	66	349	51	67
QLD Armchair Guide	59	2000	42	60
Whitsundays Jetski Tours	48	2000	29	55
Tourism Whitsundays	37	200	16	42
FollowMeAussie	14	1000	10	10
Fantasea Cruises	10	63	10	10
ChannelWhitsunday.com (John Nayler)	10	3	10	10
Evoke Social Media (Kelli Medford)	no data	no data	no data	no data
Julia Gillard PM	69	18000	66	63
GWP Studio (Greg Wilson)	68	53000	56	73
Queensland Online (Roam Media)	61	176	48	64
The QLD Premier	54	1000	32	61
Tourism QLD	48	616	24	53

The Klout Score is the measurement of overall online influence.
Reach is the size of your engaged audience.
Amplification is the likelihood that your content will be acted upon.
Network Influence is the influence level of your engaged audience.


It is interesting to note that Klout says our posts (Whitsundays Online) within Social Media have more influence than:
all (except 5) US Congressmen,
all Non-profit organizations in the world,
all in QLD Tourism industry, (QLD Armchair Guide has by far the best reach),
the QLD Premier.

We almost have the same  influence as Australia's most influential Tweeter, Greg Wilson, and the Australian Prime Minister, Julia Gillard.

Thank you to our very, very loyal followers and friends.