New Targeted Influencer Score Questions Existing Social Metrics

SAN FRANCISCO, May 26, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Beyond, Next Fifteen's digital agency, (www.bynd.com) has launched a new Influencer Identification Service, the Topical Impact Estimation (TIE) Score, and has used it to measure who the key influencers were on the topic of Social Location at the Social-Loco conference on May 5th, 2011. (www.socialloco.net)

The TIE Score (www.bynd.com/tie-score/) estimates the reach and impact of a content producer (Twitter handle or blogger) for a particular topic.  It factors in a content producer's immediate audience, as well as its topic-related viral audience.  When applied to Twitter for example, it not only includes the follower count of a Twitter handle that posted about a particular topic, but also includes the number of viral impressions that handle generated through retweets of its topic-related content. It is a metric that, by combing reach and relevancy, estimates an individual's ability to influence targeted online conversations.

After the Social-Loco Conference on May 5th, 2011, Beyond calculated TIE Scores for Twitter handles that tweeted about social and mobile web convergence at the event. Five of the top ten most influential Twitter users posting topic-related content (based on the TIE Score) had a Klout score less than 50. The results were further evidence that a marginal Klout score does not preclude high levels of influence on a particular topic. Real insight into social influence demands analyzing it in context. To see the TIE Score for all the speakers, please go to http://www.bynd.com/tie-score/

Social influence is entirely dependent on context, something that measures of influence that count only clicks, comments, followers and retweets fail to capture. For example, Justin Bieber, who has a perfect Klout score, may be highly influential when he tweets about music and pop culture.  If he were to tweet about semiconductors however, he would get far fewer retweets, and command a level of influence less deserving of a perfect score.

The TIE Score is Beyond's response to one-dimensional social influence metrics. It leverages digital measurement technologies by informing them with keywords provided by human analysts.  The result is a metric that helps marketers understand not only the size of someone's engaged audience, but also the context in which that audience's engagement gets sparked.

"Our work with clients shows that there are brands that have huge followings on Twitter but have very low influence in their market, and other brands that have relatively few followers but are very influential. The TIE score helps brands build targeted influence instead of just blindly chasing followers," according to David Hargreaves, CEO of Beyond.

"Overlooking the importance of topical impact is one large reason why metrics like reach, Twitter follower count or Klout scores aren't particularly meaningful on their own. Without the context of a community, audience, or market, these metrics will not predict whether a particular message is going to have any impact."

The top five speakers from Social-Loco Conference TIE score vs. Klout Score:

The top five people participating in the conference TIE score vs. Klout score:

SOURCE Beyond