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1. Written by NicoleYeary
   on July 19, 2010 at 7:12 pm
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   Great post on finding influencers ~ Nice to also meet a fellow @HootSuite friend =)

2. Written by @KathleneHestir
   on July 19, 2010 at 7:25 pm
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   Thanks, it's nice to meet you too Nicole. I am a huge fan of Hootsuite, can't imagine marketing on Twitter without it.

3. Written by Kevin Vogelsang
   on July 20, 2010 at 10:48 am
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   This isn't quite true.

   If you calculate a general influence score, and then filter by keywords, you're only picking out people that have a general influence score and that happened to mention that keyword–not necessarily people that are influential in that context. If Ashton Kutcher, starts talking about “mitochondria” and “cell membranes,” he isn't going to influence how I think or act concerning biology.

   I've worked on a startup in this area and have done a lot of very interesting research on the topic. One thing I do know, that does make some sort of case for what you're saying, is that influence does correlate with being focused in a context. Therefore, a general influence score may reflect influence in a specific context. So if someone has a good Klout score, and they're mentioning a keyword multiple times, there's a better chance you've found a real influencer in that area.

4. Written by Laurent Pfertzel
   on July 21, 2010 at 2:32 pm
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   I wonder how this would work for the following requests
   - Find the influencers in beauty that talk the most about 'nails' or the 'cloud computing' influencers that talk about security
   - Find the mommy influencers that talk about technology
   - ..

   Those may look like corner cases but I'm hearing them from brands I talk to so….

   I think a general influence score + topical profiling is ok but may not work in all cases nor bring the most accurate list of influencers (you'll get techcrunch if you look for computer security influencers . The approach I think is better is to 1) map the community (context) and find the influencers in it 2) do topical profiling.

   Laurent

5. Written by @KathleneHestir
   on July 26, 2010 at 8:16 pm
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   Thanks Kevin and good point. Klout scores are very helpful when it comes to finding generic influencers, but less effective when it comes to finding influencers for marketing programs targeted at specific segments.

   If you’re tracking your brand, company or product’s name (provided it’s not too generic) as one of your keywords, I think this method is still fairly effective. For instance, if Ashton Kutcher says he loves his new Kodak Playsport people are likely to go check it out and maybe even buy one too – or if he tweeted he just had a great dinner with Demi at Fogo de Chao in Beverly Hills – that restaurant might start to get a lot of new visitors who want to dine line Ashton and Demi. Ashton is not an expert in digital cameras or restaurants, but people are influenced by celebrity endorsements all the time.

   When it comes to the specific segments I think that is a really neat observation you’ve made as far as someone being more likely to be an influencer on a topic based on the number of times they’ve mentioned a keyword. Thanks for sharing!

6. Written by @KathleneHestir
   on July 26, 2010 at 8:16 pm
   Permalink

   Thanks Kevin and good point. Klout scores are very helpful when it comes to finding generic influencers, but less effective when it comes to finding influencers for marketing programs targeted at specific segments.

   If you’re tracking your brand, company or product’s name (provided it’s not too generic) as one of your keywords, I think this method is still fairly effective. For instance, if Ashton Kutcher says he loves his new Kodak Playsport people are likely to go check it out and maybe even buy one too – or if he tweeted he just had a great dinner with Demi at Fogo de Chao in Beverly Hills – that restaurant might start to get a lot of new visitors who want to dine line Ashton and Demi. Ashton is not an expert in digital cameras or restaurants, but people are influenced by celebrity endorsements all the time.

   When it comes to the specific segments I think that is a really neat observation you’ve made as far as someone being more likely to be an influencer on a topic based on the number of times they’ve mentioned a keyword. Thanks for sharing!

7. Written by @KathleneHestir
   on July 26, 2010 at 8:16 pm
   Permalink

   Thanks Kevin and good point. Klout scores are very helpful when it comes to finding generic influencers, but less effective when it comes to finding influencers for marketing programs targeted at specific segments.

   If you’re tracking your brand, company or product’s name (provided it’s not too generic) as one of your keywords, I think this method is still fairly effective. For instance, if Ashton Kutcher says he loves his new Kodak Playsport people are likely to go check it out and maybe even buy one too – or if he tweeted he just had a great dinner with Demi at Fogo de Chao in Beverly Hills – that restaurant might start to get a lot of new visitors who want to dine line Ashton and Demi. Ashton is not an expert in digital cameras or restaurants, but people are influenced by celebrity endorsements all the time.

   When it comes to the specific segments I think that is a really neat observation you’ve made as far as someone being more likely to be an influencer on a topic based on the number of times they’ve mentioned a keyword. Thanks for sharing!

8. Written by @KathleneHestir
   on July 26, 2010 at 9:22 pm
   Permalink

   It would be neat if Klout partnered with Technorati to pull in the authority score or some other relevant info from the person or company's blog. Another idea would be to partner with LinkedIn and use the info in a person's profile to help determine industry expertise.

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