Mobile services specialist Mantic Point is introducing Twitter as a travel information delivery channel, complementing its existing SMS and mobile web products.
EXCLUSIVE: Mantic Point adds Twitter to offering
Mobile services specialist Mantic Point is introducing Twitter as a travel information delivery channel, complementing its existing SMS and mobile web products.
The Leeds-based business will offer the technology on a white-label basis to companies that want to offer targeted information and content to customers’ mobiles. Its clients already include easyJet, Air New Zealand and WAYN.com.
Mike Atherton, managing director of Mantic Point, said Twitter was an ideal tool for travel communications because of the built-in brevity to any message. “The key thing is our service provides information when the person is travelling, so any contact has to be short, precise and targeted,” he said.
Mantic Point aggregates data about flight delays, traffic, terminal changes and weather and forwards the information to customers’ phones as a text message or link to a mobile web page. This week’s announcement means travellers can have the information sent to their Twitter account. The Twitter product works through Mantic Point’s showcase site, StreamThru.
“Travel is a visual medium so potential clients can have a look at StreamThru and see what we do,” said Atherton. Consumers can also use the site, although Atherton said: “We’re only interested in business-to-business.”
Customers must register to follow Mantic Point’s StreamThru Twitter account, then use the direct message feature of Twitter to let StreamThru know their flight number and date. StreamThru then reports back to the customer. Tweets also contain a link to a page on Mantic Point’s mobile web site which aggregates information relevant to the flight details.
Atherton said the targeted nature of the communications meant customers were comfortable with advertising in the messages. “There is a 90% acceptance rate for adverts because our interaction is relevant and on the travellers’ terms,” he said.
