Becki, from Ambient Lights, wrote up a really nice article explaining Twitter influence and the site Twinfluence. Enjoy!
To quote Twinfluence.com: “Twinfluence is a simple tool using the Twitter API to measure the combined influence of Twitterers and their followers, with a few social network statistics thrown in as bonus.”
Basically, your Twitter influence shows how many people you could reach by tweeting and by the retweeting of your tweets by your followers.
For 14 days, I tracked the number of those I follow on Twitter and those who follow me. I didn't make an extra effort (too much at least) to gain new followers or tweet more. I really just tweeted and followed as I normally would. Some days I wasn't on Twitter much, some days I was on a lot.
At the beginning, I was following 573 fellow tweeters and 576 were following me. At the end of the two weeks I was following 697 tweeters and 717 were following me.
My Twitter influence rank at the beginning on 2/16/09 was 3,542 (86%) with 1,593,565 second order followers. Secondary followers on Twinfluence are calculated by collecting the “raw” numbers of your followers’ followers, but not your followers’ followers’ followers’ followers. Let’s use some simple numbers for an example of what secondary followers are. Let’s say only 10 fellow Twitterers were following you on Twitter but each of the 10 following you has 100 followers. The secondary followers that would be in your reach (i.e. retweets!) would be your 10 followers multiplied by each of their 100 followers = 1,000 second order followers! Do you see the power of retweets?
Twinfluence quote: “The number rank and percentage number is explained by Twinfluence as 'Reach Ranking'. Reach rankings take the form of 'Rank: #XXX (YY%)'. The #XXX score is your overall rank compared to all other Twitterers that have been analyzed by Twinfluence. If your rank is #400, that means there are 399 other Twitterers in the system that have higher reach scores than you. The (YY%) score is your grade; if you have a grade of 75%, it means that you have a higher reach than 75% of the other Twitterers we have analyzed.”
A full explanation about Twinfluence can be found here: http://Twinfluence.com/about.php
On 2/24/09 I went through all the tweeters I followed and unfollowed some, 38 to be exact. I did not unfollow all that did not follow me back (I did follow them for a reason), but I did unfollow some that had not followed me back, some I found that hardly ever tweeted, and/or tweeted things that I decided didn't truly interest me all that much.
The day I unfollowed some tweeters, my Twinfluence was ranked at 3,059 (89%) with 1,850,594 secondary followers.
For the people I newly followed during this time, I checked out what I normally check out when I follow people, but I did so a bit more thoroughly. I looked at the number of those they followed and the people who followed them, their web site if one was linked, read a page (maybe two) of their tweets and their Bio on Twitter, too, of course. I know that sounds like a lot but I mostly skimmed through it and was able to check out many tweeters in a fairly short amount of time... with just a few distractions of looking at interesting random links I ran across in their tweets.
At the end of the time that I was tracking my followers and those that followed me, my Twinfluence rank was 2,648 (90%) with 2,160,468 secondary followers. So, with out too much extra effort my rank rose 4% in two weeks and I gained 566,903 secondary followers as well as 141 awesome new direct followers.
Everyone uses Twitter for different reasons and in different ways, but I feel one reason that many of us tweeties use Twitter is for the network reach it has - be that making new friends, sending out inspirational quotes, promoting your business, charity or blog, whatever the case may be... it's about the network, however small or large, and Twinfluence is a great tool to find out exactly what your potential reach may be.
Basically, your Twitter influence shows how many people you could reach by tweeting and by the retweeting of your tweets by your followers.
For 14 days, I tracked the number of those I follow on Twitter and those who follow me. I didn't make an extra effort (too much at least) to gain new followers or tweet more. I really just tweeted and followed as I normally would. Some days I wasn't on Twitter much, some days I was on a lot.
At the beginning, I was following 573 fellow tweeters and 576 were following me. At the end of the two weeks I was following 697 tweeters and 717 were following me.
My Twitter influence rank at the beginning on 2/16/09 was 3,542 (86%) with 1,593,565 second order followers. Secondary followers on Twinfluence are calculated by collecting the “raw” numbers of your followers’ followers, but not your followers’ followers’ followers’ followers. Let’s use some simple numbers for an example of what secondary followers are. Let’s say only 10 fellow Twitterers were following you on Twitter but each of the 10 following you has 100 followers. The secondary followers that would be in your reach (i.e. retweets!) would be your 10 followers multiplied by each of their 100 followers = 1,000 second order followers! Do you see the power of retweets?
Twinfluence quote: “The number rank and percentage number is explained by Twinfluence as 'Reach Ranking'. Reach rankings take the form of 'Rank: #XXX (YY%)'. The #XXX score is your overall rank compared to all other Twitterers that have been analyzed by Twinfluence. If your rank is #400, that means there are 399 other Twitterers in the system that have higher reach scores than you. The (YY%) score is your grade; if you have a grade of 75%, it means that you have a higher reach than 75% of the other Twitterers we have analyzed.”
A full explanation about Twinfluence can be found here: http://Twinfluence.com/about.php
On 2/24/09 I went through all the tweeters I followed and unfollowed some, 38 to be exact. I did not unfollow all that did not follow me back (I did follow them for a reason), but I did unfollow some that had not followed me back, some I found that hardly ever tweeted, and/or tweeted things that I decided didn't truly interest me all that much.
The day I unfollowed some tweeters, my Twinfluence was ranked at 3,059 (89%) with 1,850,594 secondary followers.
For the people I newly followed during this time, I checked out what I normally check out when I follow people, but I did so a bit more thoroughly. I looked at the number of those they followed and the people who followed them, their web site if one was linked, read a page (maybe two) of their tweets and their Bio on Twitter, too, of course. I know that sounds like a lot but I mostly skimmed through it and was able to check out many tweeters in a fairly short amount of time... with just a few distractions of looking at interesting random links I ran across in their tweets.
At the end of the time that I was tracking my followers and those that followed me, my Twinfluence rank was 2,648 (90%) with 2,160,468 secondary followers. So, with out too much extra effort my rank rose 4% in two weeks and I gained 566,903 secondary followers as well as 141 awesome new direct followers.
Everyone uses Twitter for different reasons and in different ways, but I feel one reason that many of us tweeties use Twitter is for the network reach it has - be that making new friends, sending out inspirational quotes, promoting your business, charity or blog, whatever the case may be... it's about the network, however small or large, and Twinfluence is a great tool to find out exactly what your potential reach may be.
7 comments:
I have never heard of this! Fantastic Info! Thanks Becki!
I'm feeling a little slow...I don't get all of it.
I don't think I'm using Twitter properly. I certainly don't use it to it's full potential.
Would I like for a follower to decide they like what I create/sell? Sure. However, I socialize more than market. I haven't discovered the fine line between doing both.
I'm going to bookmark this, and come back to go over it more thoroughly late. I want to understand it better.
Thanks for all the info!
Very, very interesting. Like the above comment, I use Twitter for a little of both - intended it for marketing, but finding the socializing taking up a bunch of time and I enjoy that.
On Twinfluence it gave me
tamdoll's Rank: #3,632 (89%)
So I must be doing something right..
Whoa... now that is one serious TWITTER! I don't mind admitting that my brain hurts after reading this ;)
lol, my head hurt a bit after doing all that ;)
A lot of it may be somewhat French (which I don't speak!) but after reading over it a time or two I get the gist of it and there really is awesome potential for your network reach.
I too find it hard to balance socializing and marketing, I usually tend to lean toward socializing but...that's networking also so that's good for marketing too (I'm not an expert by any means but it seems logical) :)
Becki
Ambient Lights
this is a great post ~ thank you Ambient Lights ;) I will be trying out some of your suggestions at the weekend
I tried to go to the Twinfluence site just now and it said the account has been suspended =(
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