Earlier this week, Forbes published an article by Haydn Shaughnessy entitled, Who Are The Top 50 Social Media Power Influencers?
As of writing this post, it had been shared several thousand times across various networks, and resulted in over 100 comments after the post. So, a good list then, right? Not exactly.
The problem with the article is the title is misleading. This isn’t a list based on influence – instead, it’s a list based on popularity and amplification and, as we’ve spoken about time and time again here, popularity and amplification do not influence make.
How Many Popular People Does It Take to Create Influence?
Ironically, the author even admits that the list isn’t about influence, since the tool he used to measure the folks on the list, PeekYou, is still having its algorithms adapted to identify actual influence over popularity.
Further into the introduction, the author also makes this interesting – yet, for us, incorrect – conclusion:
In addition I don?t think you can separate popularity from influence in this new media world. To suggest that one is better than the other or to suggest that popularity does not reflect influence seems to me a tricky claim.
While I’d (kind of) agree that one isn’t necessarily “better” than the other, there are clear distinctions as to why popularity and influence do not equate to the same definition.
For instance, Coke is a hugely popular soft drink and a global leader when it comes to fizzy pop. Yet it’s definitely not popular with Pepsi drinkers. One of my friends hates Coke with a vengeance, yet will always share the seasonal ads Coke puts out every Christmas.
It’s not that she now likes Coke – but she loves the feel-good factor of the polar bears drinking coke with the penguins, and the classic winter scene of the trucks driving through the snow.
It’s not Coke being popular that makes her share – it’s the tone and feel of their advertising agency’s promotions, and the situation she finds herself in – emotionally positive because of the time of year – that influence her to bypass her hatred and share Coke’s message.
This is where the clear delineation between popularity and influence stands out – popularity gives you eyeballs, influence instills an action, even one against someone’s “beliefs”, if you like.
Popularity Is Too Simple for True Influence
While popularity can lead to influence through sheer amplification, it’s too simple a metric to really add value.
As we see with the Coke example, the situational factor that comes into play for my friend also impacts her decision – if she didn’t feel good about Christmas, would she share? Probably not. And if Coke’s ad agency used gorillas instead of polar bears and penguins, would it feel as Christmassy? Again, probably not, and this would more than likely result in my friend’s positive happiness being reduced which, in turn, reduces the likelihood of the action of sharing.
This situational factor plays a huge role in influence and at what point a brand’s message tips from consideration and intent to action. We talk about this in great depth in the book, and how situation is one of many complex yet complementary factors that can interrupt a decision and define where influence begins and ends.
Popularity can certainly add to the level of influence – but the two are definitely not in the same category as each other in the decision-making process.
It’s why the early movers on the influence space – the social scoring platforms – aren’t sharing a lot of success stories. These early metrics are geared around popularity – how active you are online, how much of what you produce is shared, and who you’re connected to.
The problem with this approach is, much like popularity, it’s too simple.
- I can be a deadhead on Twitter all day with no real business acumen, and become influential;
- I can create bots – one of the names on the Forbes list has several bot accounts – to share my content automatically once it’s published, making me seem influential;
- And just because Barack Obama’s Twitter account decides to follow me doesn’t mean he (or the team behind it) sees me as influential. Instead, they want access to my message box to encourage me to vote for Obama (even though I’m in Canada).
The time for putting popularity and influence in the same bowl is over. The real measurement of influence goes beyond popularity and scores.
Here’s to the new model. The true model.