We’ve been working hard integrating the Klout scores into Tribalytic to provide two dimensions on relevance.  Who is the most relevant for a period of time (our internal relevance) and then who is the most influential on Twitter as a whole (Klout).  While the process of collecting these is still incomplete (Klout doesn’t yet hold scores for every user we are tracking), I though it would be useful to pull the current Top 50 Australians.

The Klout score measures 25 different parameters of a Twitter users profile to create a ranking from 1 – 100, you can read more about it here.  It’s important to understand that this is only a users Twitter influence – the users ability to create action and conversation on Twitter.  For example, Kevin Rudd (Australian PM) while clearly very influential in general, doesn’t make our Australian Top 50 (he’s at number 56 at the moment).

Please note that:

1. Klout have not yet produced a score for every Australian we track.  If you are wondering if someone should be on this list, go to Klout and check them out.  If they are not indexed, we’ll update them automatically when they are and produce a new list next month.
2. If they are indexed AND have a higher score than one of our Top 50, please let us know in the comments.  We know we have yet to index every Australian Twitter user.  We’ll happily put them into the queue (we’d get to them eventually anyway, but help identifying high profile accounts we might be missing is always appreciated).
3. Klout scores change over time, so this list will become out of date.

So who has the highest Klout Score in Australia?  Sad to say, it’s a Justin Bieber fan!  This came as a surprise and I held off on this post for a few days to be sure and let someone else come in as number one, but he still hasn’t been displaced.  It’s iBelieberGuy with a score of 81.65.  From what I glean from his tweets, he’s still at school.  Having recovered from my indignation, it’s interesting to see WHY he ranks so highly.  Some observations.

1. He’s highly conversational and is engaged in conversations with Bieber fans from around the globe.
2. He retweets a lot and is retweeted a lot.
3. He’s acquiring followers fast, and can cause others to acquire them.
4. While I don’t “get it” he is tightly engaged in a nice niche and closely networked in with others in that niche.

Number two is Problogger at 80.59.  This isn’t a surprise to anyone in Social Media circles.  Darren’s been around in this space for a long time and is a professional, well respected world blogging authority.

Rather than just attach the printed list, I’ve actually gone through every account on the Top 50 and done some high level categorisation to help you understand how people are using Twitter.  I’ve categorised both how they use their Twitter account AND where they link it to.

Categories

1. Fan – This account is basically a fan page for a personality. The activity is all around promoting that person and interacting with other fans.
2. Blogger – The Twitter account supports their blogging activities.
3. Internet Marketer – Selling something and almost always related to the next one
4. Quotes – This account spams inspirational crap quotes all day long
5. Band – Belongs to a band or band member.  I’ve identified the band afterwards.  This is really a version of a Fan account.
6. Sharer – Shares lots and lots of links, often without comments.
7. Chatty – A true social person, uses Twitter like instant messaging.
8. Marketer – In marketing or digital agency
9. Commentator – Commentating on the news, may be a journalist but not necessary.
10. Internet Marketer – Enough said

There may be a couple of others I used – they should be clear enough.  I have used them together as well, e.g. Commentator / Blogger would be someone who regularly comments on the news (social or otherwise) and also blogs about it or other topics.

Further Presence

Obviously Twitter is only one part of your online presence.  How you use the URL link on your profile can also say a lot about you and what you’re trying to achieve.  I also thought it would be interesting to see where the links go in general.  Many of these are obvious (Facebook, MySpace etc.) but these few are worth explaining what I was thinking about:

1. Business Blog – A blog site designed to sell something, could be services, consulting or just a blog magazine supported by advertising etc.
2. Personal Blog – An individuals blog.
3. Product Site – Your classic Internet Marketing landing page.

What’s really surprising is that of the Top 50 Australians, 9 link to MySpace while 2 link to Facebook.  Even more interesting, these MySpace users are clearly younger; typically ranging from school age to early twenties.

These are loose categories and it was hard to make decisions one way or the other – for example, Warlach is clearly building a personal brand and his personal blog is positioned to invite job offers – is that a business or personal blog? I opted for personal.

Verified accounts

Only one account in the Top 50 was verified, number 7, Lisa_Veronica of the Veronicas band.

Other observations

One thing I was really surprised about is the tight knit community in the Top 50.  I’ve never heard of the band Short Stack, but 3 of the Top 10 are band members.  As you read through the Top 50, others have a close relationship and are clearly in conversations with them and perhaps even directly associated.

These guys have their social media presence well sorted out – it’s worth taking the time to browse their accounts and linked site to see how they are engaging with their fans.

The very chatty people also appear to chat with each other as well and as you browse conversations you get a sense of whose connected where. While anyone could interact with anyone else on a given day, there are at least two close circles – a younger, chattier crowd and an older, business crowd.

Conclusion

On consideration, once I get over my irrational dislike of all things Bieber (I confess I’ve never heard one of his songs, perhaps he’s really good, I don’t know and don’t really want to), I think this list shows that there is a pretty diverse group of people using Twitter in Australia, for a range of different reasons.

Consumer brands should be interested in what iBelieberGuy and his cohorts have to say – it’s this kind of of engaged passion and loyalty which has to be the dream of every marketer; and the nightmare if they decide to turn on you too.  At least I find iBelieberGuy honest – he’s pursuing a niche effectively and with passion and I think his Klout score reflects that.

Some, like the Short Stack cohort I actually actively admire – I think these guys are doing a sensational job of working Social Media to get out there and get heard.

Ultimately though the question is – are these scores accurate?  Pleasingly, while I find lots of behavior I don’t always fully understand, there is only a handful of accounts I find really obnoxious, typically the Multilevel Marketing / Heavy Quote types and I’d like to see their scores downgraded in the algorithm.

The Klout scores aren’t the be it and and all (after all they do only look at Twitter), but on balance, they are a good tool to have in the kit.

So, without further ado, I present the list.  Let me know what you think about it.  Would you like to see it again?  What’s your opinion on the Klout Scores for these Top 50 Aussies?

<< List deleted – has become out of date and a more current copy available in later post >>