Twitter’s Hacks & Fakes

My Twitterstream was abuzz these last few days over this little app that could discern what percentage of one’s Twitter followers were Fake, Inactive or Good. BusinessInsider’s Kevin Smith took a look at “how many fake followers the most popular people on Twitter have.” Here’s his topline analysis:76% of Bieber’s Twitter followers Are Fake or…… Continue reading Twitter’s Hacks & Fakes

Is Twitter Influence Portable?

When influential chronicler of all things politics Ben Smith announced his decision to leave Politico to edit Jonah Peretti’s ascendent BuzzFeed blog, the Twittersphere was all abuzz with congratulatory words. After all, Mr. Smith had amassed some 60,000 followers on Twitter during his time at Politico.As one of his followers, I tweeted both warm wishes and…… Continue reading Is Twitter Influence Portable?

What Becomes An Influencer Most?

The other day, a newspaper reporter posted an item on ProfNet (or was it HARO?) seeking experts on how best to identify online “influencers” on any given topic. The reporter seemed mostly focused on the much buzzed about Klout and how well its algorithm scored such influencers.I dropped the inquisitor a note saying that I…… Continue reading What Becomes An Influencer Most?

Along the Media Spectrum

PR pro Deirdre Breakenridge today tweeted a link to a recent Daily ‘Dog post by Jake Wengroff in which the global director of corp. comms. for Frost & Sullivan asks: “Does a WSJ hit count in the Twitter era? PR must now embrace a hybrid model…” “Hit,” “placement,” “earned media,” whatever you call it, few…… Continue reading Along the Media Spectrum

Spheres of Influence

The Wall Street Journal recently laid down the law regarding its employees’ engagement with the social media graph.In fact, most enterprises, especially news organizations, have refreshed their rules of employee conduct to include sections on what’s acceptable and what’s not in the indelibly incestuous worlds of blogging, Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.But rather than spelling out…… Continue reading Spheres of Influence