Chris Spagnuolo’s EdgeHopper

Yesterday, we looked at how to get and keep followers on Twitter. The whole point of “getting” followers is to share information with them. Or as some people refer to it: “Having influence”. But, just how much influence do you have on Twitter and can you measure it? Hmmm. A good question, especially if you’re Tweeting for business. What would be an objective measure? Number of followers? Let’s consider that one. Several Twitter rankings are based on number of followers.

The Standards

Twitterholic ranks Barack Obama as number one with 223,909 followers, 227,134 friends, and only 264 updates. But at number 10 we have one of my favorites Guy Kawasaki with 57,240 followers, 60,436 friends, and an astounding 17,837 updates. Who’s more influential in the Twitterverse? Probably Guy. And me, I’m ranked 2,363rd with 2,208 followers, 2,197 friends, and just over 900 updates. So, according to Twitterholic, I’ve got some work to do.

TwitterCounter also uses number of followers to rank Tweeters. Once again Barack Obama is #1 with 223,923 followers. And again, Guy Kawasaki is hanging at #10 with 57,239 followers. And me, I’m 2,275. So, pretty consistent ranking across the two larger ranking sites based on followers. But is Barack influential in the Twitterverse? Popular: Yes. Influential: Maybe not.

Enter the Smart Kids

So, if you’re like me, you might be thinking “Is influence really all about the number of followers you have?”. Well, some of the smart kids think it’s about more than that and have pulled together more robust ways to measure your influence on Twitter using top secret algorithms (well, not really, but some of them wouldn’t share with me!). Let’s take a look at three of the newer kids on the block and how they work out Twitter influence.

TwitterRank uses a proprietary algorithm to determine your rank. Why don’t they just use followers? According to TwitterRank “That’s a little bit like asking, “Why didn’t Google just count the number of inbound links?” The short answer is, “there are many other signals.” Someone who has a lot of followers might be famous and interesting, famous but not interesting, or they might be sitting at home all night creating fake accounts in their parents’ basement. So, Twitterank currently doesn’t use your follower count or list at all, and uses other signals.” The algorithm apparently relies heavily on the number of @replies you get. You can read more about the algorithm here. So, who’s on top in TwitterRank terms? There is no Barack Obama or Guy Kawasaki in this list. Here’s the TwitterRank top ten:

1. briansolis (249.323)
2. pistachio (247.509)
3. jowyang (242.39)
4. iknowcalripken (240.742)
5. loiclemeur (239.624)
6. dweinberger (238.804)
7. ross (238.173)
8. tamar (237.6)
9. gaberivera (235.546)
10. TDefren (235.124)

And me, I’ve got a score of 162.98 (better than 97.98 percent of the known Twitterverse). That puts me much closer to Barack Obama’s 202.95 (at 99.72 percentile). And, Guy Kawasaki pulls ahead of the President with a score of 215.28 at 99.88 percentile. So clearly, Barack’s “influence” on Twitter has dropped when we go beyond followers alone.

Smart Kid #2 is HubSpot. HubSpot is more than just a smart kid though. They’re a major inbound marketing company who know a thing or two about ranking websites, blogs, FaceBook and now Twitter. Their TwitterGrader ranking algorithm is based on “The number of followers you have, the power of this network of followers, the pace of your updates, the completeness of your profile, and ‘a few others‘. Here are the top ten according to TwitterGrader:

Not exactly household names, but if you’re a social media follower, you probably know them all. These are influential people with a lot to say. An now, Mr. President is ranked at 684th, with a score of 99.94, Guy Kawasaki is at number 14 with a score of 100, and little old me is at 2,083 with a score of 99.8. Clearly, we’re starting to see that the number of followers you have does not necessarily make you influential on Twitter.

Finally, we’ve got the latest newcomer to the rankings race twInfluence. I love the name. “Being Twinfluential“. Has a ring to it. The twInfluence ranking is based on a few really interesting metrics like social capital, first and second order networks, network growth velocity, reach, and network centralization. There is a whole lot to it and I don’t want to bore you with every last detail here. If you want to read everything about the algorithm, check it out here. So, who has the most twInfluence? Guy Kawasaki if you’re going by reach, @kb24777 if you’re looking at sheer velocity, and @17SyllableSales if you’re talking about real social capital. And sorry Mr. President, you didn’t make the grade on this one. As for me, I settled in at a respectable 270th.

And just for fun…

There’s TweetValue.  This one tells you how much your Twitter profile is worth.  Looks like it’s based on followers and @replies.  In any case, mine is worth $761 if anyone wants it.  Here’s the top ten from TweetValue:

1. barackobama, $41,150 (he is The President)
2. jasoncalacanis, $14,235
3. nprpolitics, $12,832
4. yobird, $11,871
5. itisnow, $10,971
6. guykawasaki, $10,011
7. scobleizer, $9,668
8. Astronautics, $9,632
9. osen, $8,752
10. shortyawards, $8,530

So what does it all mean?

So there you have it, the confusing world of Twitter metrics and rankings. I guess you can slice and dice the numbers in an infinite number of ways to get the results you want. I mean, if I wanted to impress someone who knew nothing about Twitter, I’d obviously tell them I’m ranked 270th (according to twInfluence). Really, it means nothing. But do you know what does mean something to me? Finding my name listed on a website or a blog amongst peers in my industry saying “This guy ranks”. I found out this week that I was listed at #25 on the “Top 100 List for Software Developers to Follow on Twitter” from NOOP. That felt good. And even more important to me is when someone just flat out Tweets “You should follow @ChrisSpagnuolo. Great stuff”. That feels awesome…the best! Providing something useful or valuable to someone else. Word of mouth (not rankings, not algorithms) is what really matters. Whether you have 100 followers or 100,000 followers, if people like what you have to say, that should be good enough for you. It’s not all about the numbers!