More Notes on Influence

Our SMC Question of the past two weeks, #SMCQ16 How do you measure social media influencers and/or influential online communities? yielded the following responses:

@schmediachick: Measuring influence in social networks demand quant & qual elements. Most important is being part of conversation

@enicholson: #SMCQ16 We need some sort of “influence” cookie that can follow ideas rather than people. a “meme tag” that follows key words, actions

@Rickbischoff: How do I measure influence? By the evident passion they have for the subject they are delivering

The SMC Editorial Board will be reviewing the responses and talking more about measuring influence, this Friday 10am PST on BlogTalk Radio Social Media Club. We welcome your participation. Please join in!

More quotables on influence from the blogosphere:

“Authenticity, Blogs, & Spencer Pratt,” Punk Rock HR, June 18, 2009

“Here are some questions you may want to ask yourself if you’re concerned about following the advice of career gurus and business leaders on the internet.

• Do you trust that the blogger is operating beyond his self-interest? If not, does that matter if you still learn something?
• Does the blogger respond to your questions or care about you as part of his community? If not, are you visiting the site because the blogger’s posts fill other needs in your life?
• Are you following the blogger because of his popularity or because he has a perspective that you can’t find anywhere else?”

“Spinning the Web: P.R. In Silicon Valley,” New York Times, July 6, 2009

“Gone are the days when snaring attention for start-ups in the Valley meant mentions in print and on television, or even spotlights on technology Web sites and blogs. Now P.R. gurus court influential voices on the social Web to endorse new companies, Web sites or gadgets — a transformation that analysts and practitioners say is likely to permanently change the role of P.R. in the business world, and particularly in Silicon Valley. …Instead of calculating the impressions an article gets by estimating a publication’s circulation and pass-along rate, [Brian] Solis counts the number of people who tweeted about a company and their combined following, the number of retweets or clicks on links, as well as traffic from Facebook and other social networks”