New Tools Provide Blogger-Twitter Rankings and Give Marketers Insight Into Highly Sought After Community Influencers

Analysis by Access Communications and Twitalyzer Ranks Top Bloggers Presenting at BlogHer Conference

Understanding and measuring the influence of emerging media brands and citizen journalists via their online presence has, until now, remained an elusive art. Public relations agency Access Communications has teamed up with Twitalyzer, the leading scoring platform for measuring people and brands on Twitter, to analyze the social media influence of 100 women-focused bloggers and highly sought after thought leaders who are speaking at the BlogHer conference in Chicago (July 23-25, 2009).

This study combines two distinct methodologies: the Access Blog Influence Engine (ABIE), which measures a blogger’s influence, with Twitalyzer’s influence scoring methodology that quantifies an individual or brands’ Twitter influence. ABIE is part of the Access’ D3 Social Media Measurement offering that ranks bloggers based on seven publicly available methodologies, including Technorati, Google Page Rank, Yahoo Inlinks, Compete, BackTweets and others. Twitalyzer calculates an influence score based on how frequently one tweets, retweets, is referenced by others and shares valuable content with their followers on Twitter.

“As citizen journalists and emerging media outlets challenge and overtake traditional media, it has become increasingly important for communicators and marketers to understand where these individuals and media properties rank in the overall landscape,” said Michael Young, senior vice president and social media practice leader, Access Communications. “By combining ABIE with Twitalyzer we’ve developed a powerful and holistic way to depict an individual blogger’s social media influence and rank them within the broader context of the blogosphere and twitterverse.”

“Creating and maintaining influence in a short-messaging medium like Twitter is no easy feat,” said Eric T. Peterson, founder and CEO of Twitalyzer. “Twitter is unlike any communication platform out there and so building influence and creating a measurable impact requires more than just having a lot of followers. Building influence is about being a frequent and strong voice, sharing relevant content, as well as supporting and listening to the community.”

Key Findings Include:
Even bloggers with well-honed blog influence scores (60 or greater on ABIE) have yet to capitalize on Twitter’s full potential, as fewer than ten bloggers in this study scored above 10 on Twitalyzer’s 100-point Influence scale.
The majority of bloggers (64 percent) had Twitalyzer Influence scores of less than five; and only 17 percent have Twitalyzer Influence scores between five and ten (out of 100 possible points).
Nine percent had no Twitalyzer Influence scores, which means that they are barely using Twitter as a platform.
Only four bloggers have a Twitalyzer Influence score above 20, including Queen of Spain, which scored the highest in Influence at 40.4.
By successfully using blogs and Twitter, The Pioneer Woman, has achieved a higher level of influence than New York Times-backed parenting blog Motherlode.

About Twitalyzer

Twitalyzer is the most widely used analytics package for Twitter and has been run by more than 200,000 businesses, brands, and individuals around the world. Built by business analysts for business analysts, Twitalyzer provides unique insight into any organization’s impact in Twitter with measures of influence, brand strength, favor, passion, generosity, and clout. More information at www.twitalyzer.com

About Access Blog Influence Engine (ABIE)

The Access Blog Influence Engine (ABIE) is the definitive methodology for ranking blogs and bloggers by their social media influence. ABIE combines multiple scoring methodologies into a single, weighted 160 point scale. For more information about our D3 Social Media Measurement tools, contact info {at} accesspr(.)com or visit us at www.accesspr.com.

About Access Communications

Access Communications (a Ketchum Company) is a full-service public relations agency that transforms ideas into action. We help our clients tell their story in ways that increase mindshare, market share and the bottom line. Since 1991, we have helped startups become category leaders, guided clients through IPOs, transformed executives into thought leaders, and helped to build billions of dollars of brand equity for our clients.

Contacts

Access Communications
David Conner, 415-844-6233
dconner {at} accesspr(.)com