o twitter nos media

What Are You Doing? Media Twitterers Can’t Stop Typing

There's More to Influence on Twitter Than Being Famous
Who are the ten most influential people on Twitter -- the social media/micro-blogging service -- in Washington, D.C.? Top ten lists are always fun, but they're not always accurate.
D.C.'s wonky newspaper Politico announced its list of top ten "twitterers" (I'd suggest the term "tweeters") and I'm afraid I have to take issue with a lot of the choices. In recent months, Twitter has seen a surge in famous and notable people opening Twitter accounts and sharing tidbits from their lives or snippets of political or newsy insights in 140 characters or less. But having a famous name or reputation does not a good Twitter community member make. Those deeply involved in social media today know that.

The Politico list includes some people who could be fab at the Twitter machine -- Missouri Senator Claire McCaskill, Meet the Press host David Gregory, former VP and almost-President Al Gore. The top ten are all interesting people, but many are missing the point of the Twitter community.
Claire McCaskill only "follows" one person, yet over 8,000 want to read her thoughts. More than 69,000 people want to read what David Gregory says, but he's only interested in about 80 of them, mostly his colleagues and other news people. And Al Gore, it's not really kosher Twitter etiquette to have 160,000+ people on your list and then only be interested in what two of them are tweeting.