Mar 27, 2011

Twitter Influence

Posted by Wendy Weber

Have you heard of the concept of Twitter Influence?

We generally think that the most-followed people on Twitter are the most influential…but there is a better way to measure Twitter influence.

According to Twitter’s co-founder, Evan Williams, someone with millions of followers may no longer post messages frequently…while someone with many fewer followers may be a prolific poster whose messages are amplified by others.

Independent research firm Twitalyzer has created an Influence Index. It doesn’t simply measure activity on Twitter, it measures the number of times somebody’s Twitter name is mentioned by other users (including “retweets,” which occur when one user rebroadcasts another’s message). So while Britney Spears is the 3rd “most-followed” person on Twitter, Conan O’Brien is the 3rd “most-influential” person. While Oprah Winfrey is the 10th most followed person on Twitter, Luciano Huck, a Brazilian television star, is the 10th most influential person.

Taken from David Leonhardt’s piece on this in today’s NY Times: click here.

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