Who Are the Most Influential People on Twitter?

Who are the real power movers on Twitter? The top dogs like Lady Gaga and Justin Bieber? Or less conspicuous tweeters with a knack for getting their message across? A new post from New York Times Magazine writer David Leonhardt suggests the latter.

Leonhardt recruited the Twitter analytics firm (currently swamped with traffic) Twitalyzer to come up with an "Influence Index." The index measures whose usernames get referenced the most on Twitter, including retweets. The results show that those who are most frequently referenced in the global conversation probably aren't who you'd think they'd be. See the top 5 below.

5. Ryan Seacrest

4. Stephen Fry

3. Conan O'Brien

2. Chad Ochocinco

1. Rafinha Bastos

Ochocinco?! Well, he's paid the price. What about this Rafinha character? Check out the full list (Kim Kardashian cracks the top 10!) and more on the methodology over at the Times Magazine blog. At Twitalyzer you can plug in your username and see what your own influence rating is.

Follower size doesn't matter as much as you think. Honest

[The 6th Floor blog]