Over the course of this semester, my Twitter followers have grown fairly substantially, as my Klout score has also increased. Taking a deeper look into the numbers reveals the source of my growth on Twitter stems from my enrollment in NHsmc, as well as my time as a writer for SBNation’s San Jose Sharks blog, Fear the Fin. While my Klout score didn’t see quite as drastic growth, I rank in the top 2.0% of all Twitter users who talk about the San Jose Sharks, as well as Syracuse University.
Twitter Growth
At the beginning of the semester, I had 422 Twitter followers. It wasn’t the most in the class, but I did have a bit of a head start as I’ve been using Twitter since May, 2008. Fast forward to now, and I’ve gained 47 new followers and now have 469 followers on Twitter, accounting for just over ten percent of all of my followers. Some of this growth can surely be attributed to the class, as a lot of my new followers stemmed from using the hashtag, #NHsmc. But, an even more substantial amount has come from my time writing for Fear the Fin, which began about a week before the class began in August.
Each time I’ve tweeted an article I’ve written, I’ve gained a couple of followers, thanks to SBNation’s handy way of featuring my Twitter handle in the byline of an article. I tweeted a lot about the San Jose Sharks before, as they’re my favorite professional hockey team. But, “staying in my lane” has kept readers who’ve followed me interested, and contributed to my follower growth. It’s also allowed me to be recognized for my ‘expertise.’
Klout Analysis
Over the course of the semester, my Klout score has increased from 41.27 to 44.41, where it stands today. My high of 45.25 may not be as high as some of my classmates, but I managed to see fairly substantial growth over the coruse of the semester.
In addition to tweeting about the San Jose Sharks a lot, I also tweet a lot about my time at Syracuse University, as well as its athletic programs. While my Klout score may not seem very impressive on the surface, I rank in at least the top two percent of people tweeting about Syracuse University and the Sharks, as well as related topics like hockey and the NHL.
While I’ve found that tweeting a lot about what I know (Syracuse and the Sharks) helped grow my influence, it also represents a fairly limited cross-section of Twitter users. In order to continue to grow my influence, it would likely be wise to start tweeting about topics with a wider interest level, and using Klout to find and interact with key influences in those fields.