This is the 6,000th article in Tnooz - not bad going, we think, for a reasonably small editorial team that has only been on the scene for just over two and a half years.
We are incredibly proud of what we have achieved and what we do every single day, whether it's the news-gathering from two of the best travel tech journos around (Dennis Schaal and Linda Fox) to the wonderful contributions of our often noisy (that's a compliment!) yet incredibly smart and experienced Nodes.
Anyway, for fear of being accused of navel-gazing............
Rather than produce the usual type of article to mark such an occasion, such as a list of the most popular articles within the 6,000 so far, etc, etc, thought we would share instead a recent email exchange with someone trying to get their service into Tnooz.
A thoroughly pleasant chap was highlighting a new mobile application for people to share their thoughts about things that they encounter as they go about their daily lives.
Not particularly travel-related (although it was pitched that way), but the idea is that users wander around with their iPhone and can see what others are saying in real-time about, well, anything - politics, food, state of the transport system, etc.
We suggested:
"Just sounds like Twitter, right?".
The reply:
"In a lot of ways, yes. However the focus is geographic."
We wrote back:
"Only useful if lots if people are using it though, surely? And why would I want to use yet another social network when I can use short-form messaging on Twitter or FB, based on location. And FB tells me who is nearby, right?"
Our pitcher was not giving up just yet.
"Yep, totally agree, there are so many apps out there but I like the simplicity of this one. I like the interface. I like the way its extremely 'right now', 'right here'. Its spread very quickly and the CEO knows people will class any location based social app as 'just another' but this one works. For me anyway and for the award givers and tech press. Rare to see the techs getting behind something so quickly. Chance to be conversation starters can't be missed as long as we try it before we post to see if it's a go-er."
We replied:
"Hahahaaa. That's funny. 'Rare to see the techs getting behind something so quickly'. Other than Quora, Color, et al, of course ;)?"
The slightly disconsolate response:
"Very good point! Well made. I'm a sucker for tech but I'm realistic. Try the app, I'll stand by your view. If you think there's no USP for travel tech I'll accept that."
This is the kind of head-to-head we have with people every single day. Now there's a reasonably good chance that we may well feature this service on TLabs in the weeks or months to come - it's actually quite good and has SOME potential.
But the point here is that we try as best as we can to get behind the puff, not just regurgitate every press release that comes our way.
We think this is why, 6,000 articles in, we're still going strong (and growing).
Thanks as always, readers, for your tremendous support.
NB:Hot air (get it?) image via Shutterstock.