Justin Bieber Social Media’s 2nd Most Influential Person Barack Obama 1st Over Palin Beck & Bush
Posted: Saturday, January 29, 2011
by Jennifer Stewart
Stepping out of History
So says Klout, a company based in San Francisco providing social media analytics which measure the influence of a social network user. Klout uses an algorithm that takes 35 factors into account. Data is collected from sites such as Twitter and Facebook and analyzed for the size of the user’s network, the content created and the way other people interact with the content – which means it’s not just about volume.
Following count, follower count, retweets – and how influential retweeters are - unique mentions, list memberships are some of the factors that find their way into the analysis tank. Somehow the info is blended with Facebook data – comments, likes and numbers of friends. The result? A “Klout Score”, which is compiled for celebrities, topics, influential people companies, TV shows, politicians, you name it.
In December Barack Obama was at the top of the list for influential people. Next on the list was heartthrob Justin Bieber! A 16 year-old Canadian idol who has captured the attention of 8 million Twitter followers. The mind boggles. Hard to compare an incredibly intelligent, articulate world leader to a teenager whose tweets read “watching a bunch of old vids. Its kinda crazy” and “I do like vacation a lot. Sleeping in is incredible!” The kid is just obsessed with telling the world about every little thing that he’s experiencing. And apparently 8 million other kids are fascinated too. Well, he seems to be a pretty nice guy, so that’s a pretty good thing in my estimation.
However, there’s influence and influence. Others on Klout’s list were (in order) Sarah Palin, Glenn Beck, George W. Bush, Steve Jobs, Lebron James, Lady Gaga, Scott Brown, Nancy Pelosi. Interesting that with all the gloom and doom predictions about Barack Obama, he still tops Palin, Beck and Bush. So that’s a bit of a reality check.
Top tech companies were (in order) Twitter, Facebook, Google, Apple, Microsoft, Amazon, Wordpress (ha! I have a Wordpress blog) Yahoo, Foursquare (never heard of it) and MySpace. 2010 has undoubtedly been the year of Twitter’s emergence. Now, according to Klout, it’s more influential than Facebook. People’s concentration span is probably the operative thing, which I find a bit scary.
Overall topics were social media (go figure), Iran, politics, Tea Party, Healthcare reform, Haiti, sports, movies, travel and tourism and the World Cup. Companies? Coca Cola, New York Times, Starbucks, Ford, McDonald’s, Verizon wireless, AT & T, Disney, BP and Toyota. Curious mix, but all pretty adult.
However, in the realm of Twitter alone and the most influential celebrity of 2010, kids rule. According to Forbes Magazine Justin Bieber was number one. A 16 year-old. Incredible. Number two, however, is writer Paulo Coelho, and number five is the Dalai Lama. Barack Obama comes in at number eleven. So he’s the most influential person, but not the most influential celebrity. Who knows what that means?
So what conclusions can I draw from this? Hmm. Kids are going to take over the world? Kids are spending too much time twittering and bunking school? Possibly, but actually the one that makes most sense to me is that – nothing’s changed. Kids are still being kids, getting crushes on heart throbs, being obsessed, doing what kids do. And Justin Bieber’s as good a role model as any. Non violent, cute, big heart, nice voice. Personally, though, I’d have Barack Obama as my heart throb any day.
In December Barack Obama was at the top of the list for influential people. Next on the list was heartthrob Justin Bieber! A 16 year-old Canadian idol who has captured the attention of 8 million Twitter followers. The mind boggles. Hard to compare an incredibly intelligent, articulate world leader to a teenager whose tweets read “watching a bunch of old vids. Its kinda crazy” and “I do like vacation a lot. Sleeping in is incredible!” The kid is just obsessed with telling the world about every little thing that he’s experiencing. And apparently 8 million other kids are fascinated too. Well, he seems to be a pretty nice guy, so that’s a pretty good thing in my estimation.
However, there’s influence and influence. Others on Klout’s list were (in order) Sarah Palin, Glenn Beck, George W. Bush, Steve Jobs, Lebron James, Lady Gaga, Scott Brown, Nancy Pelosi. Interesting that with all the gloom and doom predictions about Barack Obama, he still tops Palin, Beck and Bush. So that’s a bit of a reality check.
Top tech companies were (in order) Twitter, Facebook, Google, Apple, Microsoft, Amazon, Wordpress (ha! I have a Wordpress blog) Yahoo, Foursquare (never heard of it) and MySpace. 2010 has undoubtedly been the year of Twitter’s emergence. Now, according to Klout, it’s more influential than Facebook. People’s concentration span is probably the operative thing, which I find a bit scary.
Overall topics were social media (go figure), Iran, politics, Tea Party, Healthcare reform, Haiti, sports, movies, travel and tourism and the World Cup. Companies? Coca Cola, New York Times, Starbucks, Ford, McDonald’s, Verizon wireless, AT & T, Disney, BP and Toyota. Curious mix, but all pretty adult.
However, in the realm of Twitter alone and the most influential celebrity of 2010, kids rule. According to Forbes Magazine Justin Bieber was number one. A 16 year-old. Incredible. Number two, however, is writer Paulo Coelho, and number five is the Dalai Lama. Barack Obama comes in at number eleven. So he’s the most influential person, but not the most influential celebrity. Who knows what that means?
So what conclusions can I draw from this? Hmm. Kids are going to take over the world? Kids are spending too much time twittering and bunking school? Possibly, but actually the one that makes most sense to me is that – nothing’s changed. Kids are still being kids, getting crushes on heart throbs, being obsessed, doing what kids do. And Justin Bieber’s as good a role model as any. Non violent, cute, big heart, nice voice. Personally, though, I’d have Barack Obama as my heart throb any day.
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Top-level comments on this article: (10 total)I like twitter a lot, but Facebook takes my attention away most of the times with games. I can see how well these companies are competing with each other. :-) I haven't been on Myspace in ages. Dalai Lama is number 5? He is my number 1. I heard him speak once on stage in Mysore and he was dynamic.I love that there's such an awareness of the Dalai Lama and what he represents. It must have been great to hear him speak live.
Thanks for the article. I guess I'm in a different world than many. I hadn't heard of Justin Bieber before.I don't think you're losing out on anything, Jack.
I think it's kids are engaged from sheer energy, and that adults never really grow up, a majority of them anyway, and have already taken over the world. Look around you does it really look like reasonably thoughtful adults run this earth. Looks like a bunch of greedy, petty, totally spoiled kids to me, and the narcissistic little brats will destroy the playground if the adults ever try to take it away from them. Nice article.You said it, David!
Interesting stuff Jennifer! As much as I love Barack, I think my heart throb would be Joe Biden. He is one handsome man. :)I had to go and look him up. He is a dish!! Poor George Clooney, is he off the list?Let's just say it's a long list. :) He may have moved down a bit but George isn't off the list. What a voice he has. Mmmmm.Mmmm indeed. You too, Fran! What about CNN's Anderson Cooper? He's pretty high on my list.Oh ya. Anderson Cooper is definitely on my list. (He's on my eighty year old mother-in-laws too) :)Hilarious. I saw him talk on a youtube video about that woman in Minnesota - the politician who blithely re-writes American history and can't get her facts right. He was just such a pleasure to listen to. Easy on the eye also. Move over - what's his name? You know, the one who sings...
I find the whole concept of being judged in some way, based entirely on my influence, or lack of it, as a social network user, quite scary! My “Klout Score” is probably zero, but really interesting to read about it though! :-)Me too, Tony. My score's definitely zero!
I enjoyed reading this. It had some interesting stats. I don't think it's so much our concentration spans that rule this kind of thing, I think it's specifically linked to the form of media. When we were kids our icons were splashed all over magazine covers and tv. Those were much slower paced... now days it's all over the web and we know that moves at the blink of an eye. It puts a whole new spin on the old addage "the fickle world of the celeb."Glad you enjoyed it Linda. Thanks for your comment.Jen, I know we spoke in private about that 3 star rating I gave you. Now I want to apologize in public. That rating was not my intention. I messed up somehow, I presume but I promise I was trying to give you a good rating. I'm sorry, girl. I'll try to make it up to you somehow! :-( LindaLinda, it's really fine! But thanks :)
Interesting and very entertaining article indeed. Yes I agree, Kids are being kids only more techy? Love this article really. Thanks for sharing.Thanks, William, nice to meet you!
Thanks for sharing your thoughts JenniferPleasure, David, and thanks for commenting.
I feel like I live in the dark ages. I'm so far behind in all the works that go on in the internet. Now I have to track down the company Klout and see what makes them tick. Keeps my brain working. Thanks for the keeping me busy.Oh I'm so way behind as well :) Not even sure I'd be able to really understand how Klout does their business...
Well written and informative article, Jennifer!
I find myself often wondering what people get so excited about Justin Bieber for, I can't figure it out for the life of me.
It is so odd to see people from complete different settings with completely different agendas on the same list, but that's the way this world works socially, for some reason. Human nature, I guess!
Thanks for sharing,
-SydneyI wonder whether Bieber is mostly popular with teenagers - who maybe spend more time on Twitter etc. than any other age group?
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