Influencer Theory
October 10th, 2011 |
A fantastic post from Geoff Livingston taking us on a tour of all the influence theories that have been floating around since Gladwell’s Tipping Point came out back in 2000. A decade in, and the debate still rages as to what influence is and how it works online (click the image to see full size). But Geoff has dug up one of my favorite media expressions “The Fifth Estate” to try to bring order to the influence chaos:
“Leaderboard systems such as Klout and Empire Avenue can quantify individual social media capabilities and strength. Using these gamified leaderboard systems, companies and nonprofits can build lists of high-scoring voices and target them as influencers.
Many would argue that understanding your community’s dynamics and building relationships from within a community as a member of the Fifth Estate is a more reliable strategy than using a leaderboard list. Getting an idea embraced by those who can best spread the word often requires subject-matter expertise and accessibility, stronger grass-roots within a community.”
The most influential thing you can know about influence is that we all still have a lot to learn about influence.
There are more great visualizations of all the various influence theories at Jess3′s blog:
Jay Oatway is a former tech-journalist who has become a regional leader in social media reach and influence. He is the author of the forthcoming book, Mastering Story, Community and Influence: How to Use Social Media to Become a Socialeader. And with more than 
