<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
How important is Social Media in the year 2011? You be the judge. According to a recent industry report, more airlines now have Twitter accounts than do loyalty programs.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
As of July 2011, there were a total of 191 airlines on Twitter, while only 179 carriers offered loyalty programs. The idea of loyalty programs came about more than 30 years ago when American Airlines<\/strong> first introduced the AAdvantage Program to its frequent fliers.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Airlines burst onto the Twitter scene back in 2007 and seem to be tweeting now more than ever. The number of airline tweets increased 51% between March 2011 and July 2011, according to the report.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Most use the social media platform to advertise cheap flights<\/a><\/strong> and respond to customer service inquiries.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The biggest Twitter fans in the industry? Delta and JetBlue. Delta was the first airline to create a Twitter account while @JetBlue<\/a> now has over 1.5 million followers.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n