I don’t tweet and I don’t have a Twitter account. But I recently discussed the topic with Kasey Crabtree to learn more about who tweets on Twitter and why, since I wanted to learn more and share it on my blog. I learned from Kasey that up until last year most Twitter users were men, but now women outnumber them by 57% (http://paper.li/BrandRepublic/social-media). Kasey also said that there’s a way to establish influence among people who tweet.
Since we at Shamrock designated the month of May to women in business, I was mostly interested to find out from Kasey who are the influential women tweeting about entrepreneurship.
Q. Kasey, how does a person who tweets become an “influencer?”
A. There are several online measurement tools. Among them is PeerIndex (PeerIndex), which measures people’s Twitter presence in terms of impact, eminency or leadership, on a scale of 1 to 100 based on three major areas: authority, audience (number of followers), and activity. A rank of 100 is the maximum possible; a score of 90 or more puts you in the top 0.01% of the population. The average score is 19. These scores attempt to measure how other people respond to tweeters. A tweeter’s rating is a function of other people’s assessments and not the tweeter’s own. This makes it harder for people to “game” the ratings. So, essentially, a Twitter influencer has some important knowledge or understanding of a topic, she tweets about it, her audience finds her, seeks out her wisdom, and often shares (retweets) it among their Twitter friends.
Q. So, I’m curious to know, what’s your score?
A. Remember, the average score is 19. My score on PeerIndex is 45, and I’d be happy to have people follow me at @kaseycrabtree on Twitter.
Q. Congratulations on that great score, Kasey! Excellent segue to my next question. Since our topic for today’s post is influential women who tweet about business — primarily women entrepreneurs — how can we find out more on this topic?
A. I began by doing a Google search and found an interesting post written by Holly Reisem Hanna, a contributing writer for Forbes. She used the PeerIndex tool and came up with an excellent list of the “25 Most Influential Women Tweeting About Entrepreneurship.” To be considered for Hanna’s list, women must have a PeerIndex score of 55 or higher, which is way above the average score of 19.
Q. Did you see a theme among all 25 women?
A. Empowerment. Most of these women have their own blogs or online newsletters, in addition to their active Twitter account. All seek to inspire women to think about what they do best and consider how to start their own business. And, of course, all of these women are entrepreneurs who share their aspirations, as well as their frustrations. Many of the women also suggest ways to use new media to enhance business, which is a growing topic of interest for all women… and men, too.
ONE LAST THING…
Kasey also informed me that, in total, more women are taking an entrepreneurial route in business — and that, in general, women now dominate all forms of social media. “That’s why I’m not surprised to see there are so many women tweeting about entrepreneurship,” Kasey said. If you’d like to see the entire list of “25 Most Influential Women Tweeting About Entrepreneurship,” check it out here: Forbes.25-most-influential-women-tweeting-about-entrepreneurship/. And, one very last thing: Shamrock now tweets on Twitter, thanks to Kasey and others on the Shamrock team. You can find us on Twitter, @shamrockcompany.
