So I recently hit some milestones online which I would have never thought were that interesting, until it happened. Just passed 5000 downloads of the eBook, hit 1000 followers on Twitter and just learned Spatially Relevant was on Alltop – all in the last 10 days or so. To that end, I thought I would take the time and figure out just who is in my network and understand the types of folks/classes in my network.
Pure curiosity killed the cat on this one, once I started I had to keep going since there were so many interesting posts, people and blogs which I haven’t read. I was able to find some interesting things from a data perspective, the most interesting is I probably don’t have 1000 followers, something more like 750 if you weed out some of the marketers, suspended accounts and alike. Plus this seemed at the start to be great exercise to get to know folks just a little better and I did. It was definitely enjoyable to find out more about folks and read the great content I was able to find in the network.
So What Does the Network Look Like?
So I had to figure out a way to classify folks, so I used the data on the profile. Specifically the link as the user provided on their profile as the core classification attribute. Ultimately, not all users have updated or complete profiles, but it’s the best data I have across the entire network.
Not all members of my network are linking to blogs, some have no links, others linked in, some the site of their favorite band and some for a product they are apparently selling/marketing. So links look like a good bellweather, at least in my book.
Later in the process, I started looking at follower and following ratios, but only for two classes. So I started the analysis last night and it was horribly manual. The study started when my number of followers was 1003.
The Profile Classifications
Since the only real information I could use was profile information, I was able to build 5 classes based on links – No Link, Suspended, Selling/Marketing, Blogger/Social Media and Other.
No Link – These network members have no link on their profiles.
Selling/Marketing – These users have URL’s that link to corporate websites, MLM sites, Get Rich Now and other clearly marketing or sales related content. Some users in this group may think they are bloggers, but when content hasn’t been updated regularly, they have more google ads than articles per square inch and other affiliate programs they were put in this category.
Bloggers/Social Media – This user class are for folks that linked to their own blogs, corporate blogs or their blog was 1 click away. Now there are some salesy things in this class, but if you blog everyday or reasonably frequently, you get this classification.
Other – These users link to where they worked, may have been a brand online, used facebook, resume, family website, friendfeed, myspace, YouTube or another social media profile. If a user had a link, but the site was down or the URL mistyped this class was used <10.
Suspended – You know what this means.
The Network Overview
The Numbers
Deviation from Expected Total is 28 so out of the gate I am 2.8% off of reality
Bloggers vs. Marketers
During the process I noticed an interesting thing – over time the mix of the network changed. I determined time by the pagination process, the further down in page count the older. So I decided to look the adds by the first 50% of my network or the first 487 in the sample. The first 487 essentially are the “oldest”, so when I starting on Twitter. The second 50% are the most recent 488 in my sample or those closest to page one in the “next” process.
The Table
Following vs. Followers
About a third of the way in I started to notice that Selling and Marketing folks followed a BUNCH more users than followed them. For bloggers, I noticed they were likely following less than were following them. This is a partial sample, but the averages below should be indicative for what is fairly intuitive.
- Selling/Marketers follow 2.83 for Every 1 follower (N=74)
- Bloggers follow 1.18 for Every 1 Follower (N=197)
Observations – NOT CONCLUSIONS
- Skewed Blogger ratio in the first half likely driven by:
- Early Adopters of Twitter being Bloggers/Social Media types
- My personal choice to follow bloggers
- Growing Use of No Link or Facebook/Others indicates less tech savvy users adopting
- I think there was a “scripted” add process in place in the 2nd 50% to skew the Suspends, multiple users in a row were “Suspended” with odd naming conventions
- There is a lot of people using the same stock themes, although most change from the WordPress default or blogspot default
- There were a good deal more blogspot accounts than I would have thought
- Typepad appears to be real minority in my network – hunch, no math on this.
- Bloggers from outside North America have a skewed Following to Followers ratio compared to NA bloggers
- People from the midwest seem to use MySpace more as their link, if in the other class
- I believe I have verified 32 BOTs or bot like accounts
- Why would you EVER link your resume??!?!?!?
Thanks to my Network
So since I’ve ultimately used your data to help move this forward and provided a label for ya, might as well provide a link. I’ve attempted to link as many bloggers as I could, in the end I started random cutting-n-pasting after like 16 hours of effort on this to have a representative sample of the whole network. So your blog may have been left off for that reason, profanity or another judgment call I made.
- The BusyBrain
- The Press Release Site
- Launch Clinic – Great product launch blog
- Team Danielle Miller
- WAHM Talk Radio – Author is from portland, MI. which is where I took a picture for a post I did on advertising, billboards and population
- Michael Patrick Leahy
- Dave Ferguson
- The Social Customer
- Off the Shelf – Wayne Hasting
- A Road ReTraveled – A Frost poem is always good
- mattb4rd.com
- Mophopro
- The Harte of Marketing
- Productivity in Context
- Chuck Westbrook – Multiple blogs is a challenge Chuck
- Social Media 404
- Fresh Focus
- Stephen Fry
- Rhett Smith – Co-working is definitely an interesting way to go.
- Propagandery
- Ghennipher -Social Media Spin
- The Social Reformer
- The Life and Times
- Craig Berntson: DevBlog
- U Have a Voice – Jason Tryfon
- Genderfork
- Great Green Fees Blog
- Muffin Bottoms – I have a Panic visor I just can’t get enough of, can’t imagine owning a White House logo hat.
- One Day for Human Rights
- Markus Egger – Sometimes a good hockey game is about as good as it gets
- Sharpie Blog – You NEVER can have too many Sharpies
- The Scratching Post
- Broken Doll
- Michael Fauscette
- Mike Volpe
- I never grew up
- RealPolitix
- Tech PR Gems
- Stephanie Agresta – Austin is always a good deal of fun.
- Idea to Ideas
- Jennifer Eastman
- John Wyatt Edgar
- Cognizant Frisk
- Mike Trap
- iEllie
- Rochelle Veturis
- Jason Alexander
- Gray Ware – The product is key and if it can make the customers feel like they are doing good – bonus
- Tom O’Keefe
- Brookes Bayne
- Rick Weiss – Try Guitar Hero
- 113
- “Magnet Marketing” – MLM/genius computer boy – funny.
- The only certainty is bad grammar – I look forward to your edits.
- Matthew Good
- I want, I got
- Organic Health and Beauty
- DCR Blogs
- Web Ink Now
- Megan West‘s Tumblr Subtextual
- Tina Hassannia
- Designer Daily
- Denim Therapy
- Silky’s Sweet Spot
- The Weekly Medium
- Steve Terlizzi
- Just Creative Design
- Kevin Law
- Michelle Wolverton/Chel Pixie
- Derek Neighbors
- Timeless Lessons
- Legal Marketing Canada
- Blond Over the Pond – I always try and travel on the holiday, if reasonable.
- From Dates to Diapers
- Mint Gallery
- Lynne Lessard – I think she really wants to be the PM of Canada
- Lyndsay Cabildo
- Chick Shopper Chick
- Brett
- Joe Castagna
- ICBC Law
- Ryan Scott Miller
- Mark Dykeman
- Trusted Ones
- Crafty Lil Momma
- Chucky Pita – Uh the earth IS getting warmer
- Mommy Niri
- Talking Shopping
- Launch PR
- Scott Johns
- Mara triangle
- Send Paper Cards Blog
- There is a Blog in My Soup
- Europe String – In for Hostel
- Movie Porch
- Think Train
- Because I feel like writing
- Northern Michigan Weather
- Ministry and Meteorology
- Kyle Lacy – You two core premises on why use an auto-responses are not consistent with my use case. I also am not sure I see Twitter as a permission based marketing tool
- Coaching From Spirit Challenge
- Zero Creative
- What Mati is up to
- Daily Paul
- She Just Walks Around with It
- Louis Gray
- Zoomdoggle
- Stark
- Productive Flourishing
- By Zarah
- There Goes Dave
- Candace Clayton
- Maumi
- Learn to Duck
- The Full Pint – Beer Blog
- Social Media Explorer
- Social Fishing
- Almost Fearless
- Sarah Scmelling – This I counted as a blog since it is on wordpress, has links and has access to her twitter stream.
- Walt Ribeiro – Can you teach me guitar online?
- Raj’s Random Randomness
- Cathy Nagle
- Monday Night Brewery
- I got My Start
- Karen Classic – It is What it Is
- Staying ALive
- Claudia Broome
- Service the Action form of Love
- I Choose Change
- Cinci Groove
- Learning Rails
- Marvel Body
- Corporate Dollar
- Lead Your Lives
- Fantastic Technology
- Tweet PR
- Go Swoop
- Morrow Bones – Indeed how is twitter going to help your company?
- Confident 1
- Eric Karofsky
- Social Organization
- Jamie Scheu
- Books on the Night Stand
- Kevin Micalizzi
- Google Apps Spreadsheet of Mad Men followers -Did you ever think you had dupes following you? You do, check the spreadsheet.
- Ming’s Secret
- Brand Tats
- Bunny Blog
- Phila Flava
- Shannon Swenson
- Conversational Media
- Caitlin G. Rosberg
- M Zampino
- Evolving Web
- Uptown UnCorked – This could be part of your twitter meme, just no #wishlist – just a list
- Mud Blood Beer
- Eve-101
- Chris Hadley
- Viva Visibility
- Confessions of a Former Fatty
- Get more Faster
- Dave Saunders
- Ray Wang
- Form Rejection Letter Theatre
- Ted.me
- Richard @ Dell
- Wine diver girl
- Stasia and Bob
- Quirky Blogger
- Over the river
- Keith goodrum – I bet there are a bunch of captain morgan jokes here.
- Sandra Foyt
- Kent Nichols
- Colleen Coplick
- New Comm Biz
- Qtip
- Ivan Andersson
- This is Herd
- Jason Keath
- The Cricket League
- Jillette
- Emila
- Cool Mom Guide – Everyone needs a cool mom, plus a guide must be handy
- Gray Hat Zone
- Through a Photographers Eye
- Gail Goodwin
- College Football Place
- Blonde Fabulocity
- James Hervy
- The Architek
- Web Market Journal
- Tech Ministri
- The Poopie Patrol
- Bud Designs
- Jessica Knows
- Headphonaught
- Martin – Sorry about your loss
- Notes from the Sleep Deprived
- Mayhem Studios
- Darn Lucky
- Web Wide Wizards
- Hello Leticia
- i1326
- Daryl Lorette
- Shileen Nixon
- Good Vibe
- Stacey Lang
- Village Luigi
- Steve Smyth
- Varibatim -Variable Quotes?
- The Sales Blog
- BawstonBlog
- UGA Connect
- Wright Place TV
- Ex Hostage
- Mamma’s Tantrum
- Copywrite Ink
- Real Home Sense
- Grow Young NOt Old
- Ultimate Leverage Success Blog
- Dan the Man
- Doing Media
- Stilgherrian
- The thinking stick
- Hank edson
- Vogue Sugar
- Rushay
- John Papa
- Sarah Rogers
- Treo Bunny
- Enjoy Parenting
- Jay Arias
- Gina Chen
- Smile Ovni
- My Dandelion Patch
- Kevin Grandia
- More hip than Hippie
- Gaming Angels
- Life in the Labyrinth
- Matt culbreth
- Karen McMillan
- Girl_G_Amy – I need to try and figure out all the bands I saw, last time I tried I figured about 250 bands and about 900 shows. It includes random college and bar bands though
- Social Media Super Affiliate
- Green Living Ideas
- Jesse Page
- The Good Human
- Southboard
- Barefeet Studios
- NEENZ
- The Aptitude Doc
- Blaire Warren
- Grateful Grebe
- Funkadelic Playground
- Immediate Influence
- Connie Crosby
- Dog Ear Nation
- Magic Woodworks
- Beau Frusetta
- Hippie Spelunker
- Bridget Z
- Her Media
- Rex White
- Dave Murr
- Cheryl Smith
- Lisa Stone
- Neal Jansons
- 18 and Life
- Five Husbands
- Off on a Tangent
- Developers Advocate
- dave riley
- Jon K
- DJ Flush
- Diana Kimball
- Coming to a Nursery Near You
- Final Draft design
- Fruit Bytes
- PRP2
- Apropos of Nothing
- Ken casting
- Lala FuFu
- Mouthy Girl
- A girl’s gotta spa
- Mark David Gerson
- NMP Network
- A Better Life
- Adam Cohen
- Nichole Adams
- SEO Champion
- Marz8
- Conversations Matter
- Orange Jack
- Frank gorton
- Chartruese
- Mike Panic
- Brand Flakes for Breakfast
- Marketing Warrioress
- Des Walsh
- Charles Heflin
- Small Biz Survival
- The Consumerist
- Kevin.com.ua
- Confessions of a Southern Boy in Yankee Land
- Chriss Mari
- Rob Blatt
- Charles French
- Sioksiok
- Len edgerly
- Scott Stead
- Galucci
- Mark Heyert
- Chris Heuer
- Inside Charm City
- Have Mac wiil Blog
- alex de carvalho
- Nick Starr
- Tips from the Top Floor
- Weird Shi$%
- Social Media Group
- Media Tile
- Deaf Mom World
- Jeff Madison
- Too Fabulous for Words
- Michael Markman
- MikeyPod
- Edge Hopper
- You look nice today
- Adam Purcell
- Lagesse
- Rick Mahn
- East Coast Blogging
- Todd Jordan
- Ignite Social Media
- Ill Doctrine
- vicki Forman
- Igor the Troll
- Marketing Profs
- Divine Purpose Unleashed
- eMom
- Liz Strauss
- David Bullock
- Bigg Success
- Success Creeations
- Derek Semmler
- Terry Starbucker
- Business on the Mound
- Geek Mommy
- CoachDeb
- DOug Haslam
- Very Spatial
- Christina Warren
- Chris Garrett
- Mukund @ BuzzGain
- Erin Kotecki Vest
- Chris Brogan
- Jeremiah Owyang
- Scoble
METHODOLOGY
Horribly Manual with 2 kids and 2 Dogs to take care of during the exercise, but this piece was predicated on counting by class via the “Next Page” function of Twitter under Followers. Once on a profile, I clicked the link if available, reviewed the content and classified.
4 Tabulations of the manual document used (See Below)
- 2 counts matched and 2 didn’t.
- 3 of the counts were done by myself
- 1 by Em.
- MODEL REMEDY – Split the difference of Deltas via average by class-
- Variance by classes between 1-4
- Total Variance
- 6-8 or .0082%.
Rounding and averaging is your friend…
Pagination changes whilst I slept, ate or made sure my kids didn’t injure themselves could represent errors in count by 3 or 4 in overall sample. Meaning that during the collection process new followers were added at least 1 left (I think), but close enough for govt work or .0041% on the outside. The overall change in the network during the data collection process was 33 folks or 3.34%, this would only impact the 50%/time line buckets I suspect.
Net-Net max variance expected to be 3.61% is baseline network definition or 36 units, so yes I missed something somewhere with my sophistical collection process.
This clearly isn’t scientific, but it was fun and should be fairly representative of something. Thanks for reading and pass it along, if it is of any use.
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