Another birthday... Now Tnooz has hit the terrible twos

Another birthday… Now Tnooz has hit the terrible twos

Tnooz celebrates its second birthday today – thank you, thank you… please buy any of the team or Nodes a drink some day.

In some respects the second 12 months has been more challenging than the first – making sure we capitalised on the significant impact we made on the market in the first year (without losing the momentum and edge) but also reaching into new areas of the industry and expanding our products.

We always said the challenges of growing a fledgling media startup would be better approached in a more efficient and valuable way when viewed as opportunities, something only possible if the right mindset (determination, hard work, passion) is maintained throughout.

At the editorial end of what we do, Tnooz is privileged to have some of the best, committed reporters, contributing Nodes and guest writers in the industry, adding to the service every single day.

We picked our area of focus wisely.

It is no coincidence that the very subject we write about, travel tech, continues to be at the forefront of how the industry is evolving – whether it’s changes to how travel is distributed and the role of the GDSs, to the entry of significant players from outside the industry (that would be Google, you might have heard of them) and how people search, book and manage their travel experience on devices other than a traditional computer.

Whether the industry likes it or not, technology underpins so much of how the sector operates in 2011.

And while it is valid (and we cover this, too) to debate the idea that technology has hit the personal touch of selling travel (in some respects, a shame and rather ironic, given that travel is a very human activity), tech is not going away.

Far from it.

Coordinating this frenzied activity of editorial is often exhausting, but the result is far more satisfying for the team and valuable to the readership than any of us probably could have imagined.

Traffic to the website and enthusiasm by the industry to dive in and work with us on other products alongside existing web advertising, indicates to us that we’re doing something right (and probably wrong, too, we’re not that big-headed after all and always learn from any mistakes).

Fortunately, behind the scenes (although a bit more public nowadays!), Tnooz is supported by a great team, working with more commercial partners and industry associations every week, making sure the site ticks over properly and all the other things a startup needs to do every single day to, well, not just survive but also flourish.

We are glad to say that Tnooz is pointing very firmly towards the latter rather than worrying about the former.

As we hit the terrible twos (a phrase used in the UK – probably elsewhere – to describe naughty infants), there will probably be tantrums along the way (hello PRs) and a few things that do not work quite right, but Tnooz is growing up fast and is now an established part of the media landscape, both the travel business and wider technology press.

At this rate, we might even be toilet trained and sleeping through the night by the time Tnooz hits three.

In the meantime, we have been trawling through the stats since we (breathed a happy sigh of relief and) reached our first 12 months of operations in September 2010 – so here are some of the highlights since then…

Top ten articles by traffic:

Top ten by number of comments:

This was also the year we launched Tnooz webinars:

…and Tnooz THacks:

Stuart says:

September 25, 2011 at 7:21 am

Looking forward to more bolshy, stubborn and utterly irrational posts with a few dummy spits thrown in for good measure.

Nice work.

Stuart says:

September 25, 2011 at 7:54 am

I’ll second that and raise the ante with a *manly handshake* on your new design.

RobertKCole says:

September 25, 2011 at 1:32 pm

Public Service Announcement:

Please do not offer any members of the Tnooz team or Nodes alcohol…

It is a lot like breaking the rules with Gremlins – see http://j.mp/phVSlj

As a matter of fact, the same Gremlin rules also apply to Tnooz/Nodes:

1: Never get them wet
2: Never expose them to sunlight
3: Never feed them after midnight

You have been warned.

Charlotte Davies says:

September 25, 2011 at 1:39 pm

Happy birthday Tnooz. I happen to think you are very mature and intelligent for your age! It bodes well for the future. It’s been a pleasure to see Tnooz grow and I wait, as always, for the next big discussion brought to us by you. Breaking news consistently and getting an intelligent (for the most part) community talking, that’s not an easy job, but Tnooz has managed it, globally! I like the tweaks to the web site and I like what Tnooz stands for. Simple as that. Keep up the good work please.

Drinks on me to Tnooz journos and nodes at the next London Travelmassive event. Have noted @RupertCole’s warning, but willing to risk it none the less.
Charlotte

Dennis Schaal says:

September 25, 2011 at 4:53 pm

Charlotte: Thanks for the nice words about Tnooz. Thankfully, though, Robert Cole’s mischief hasn’t reached Rupert proportions yet. I say that dryly:)

Heddi says:

September 27, 2011 at 3:26 pm

Happy birthday to you, squashed tomatoes and stew, bread and butter in the gutter, happy birthday to you. Hip hip hooray. (sorry – couldn’t resist). Terrible 2′s = keep all sharp objects out the way and toddler proof Tnooz. Happy 2′s from the myTab.co team…we think you’re brilliant xxx

Odile says:

September 27, 2011 at 5:29 pm

Congrats!! Very nice title…
I am a new reader and I love your site already: very unique.
Emotion is the big challenge of the the terrible twos so I look forward to the upcoming year !
Will try to be a guest writer myself and disrupt things if I can