We've been tracking and adjusting all sorts of things on Twitter for the last six months and one of those things is that we're ranking Kossacks using the same method we use for Politicians.
So, without further delay, here are the Twitter rankings for the week.
OK, not only is this a poll, it's a brand new KIND of poll. We realize some of you are shaking and twitching already ...
So what's going on here? The first column is the Twitter userid of a Kossack. Some you recognize, some do not use the same name there as they do here. We need to get together a list of who is who and then I'll have a DKos name column, but there are only so many hours in the day.
Friends? Those are people that an account follows who follow back. This means that bidirectional private messaging is available to the users. Followers? These are people, or very often automated processes, who have chosen to listen to updates from the given account.
True Reach? Well, that's the biggy - the ranking system we use, @Klout, can determine how many of those followers are actually paying attention. This is important - remember those automated processes? Twitter is infested with salesbots and they breed. If you get one and you don't promptly squish it the next day it'll have a dozen of its species follow you and it'll spiral out of control from there. @StrandedWind does the programming for this stuff and he blocks five accounts for every four real people he gets.
What about the ones without any True Reach at all? Well, to get the full picture on an account they have to sign up for a @Klout account. We can get them to rank lists for us, but digging through followers requires that they have Oauth access, a safe way to share details about your account with their service.
We like Klout for rankings but it changes slowly, just like a real world poll. You definitely need an account there to fully participate, but for day to day exploration @Twitalyzer does similar things and it has lots of fun ways to look at your position on Twitter, find others who are interested in the same things you are, and so forth. If you're brand new and looking for good people to connect with you should take some of the more active people on this list and put them into @Followerwonk.
If you want to get on and get hooked up right away Followerwonk is an immense help. One of the very best places to start is checking into the friends that are shared by @StrandedWind and @Sandibehrns, two of the top rated Progressive activists on Twitter. You'll find a different group, but one that is equally active, by checking the overlap between @Spedwybabs, @1Whoknu, and @AndSarah2.
Well kept lists are good places to find people to hook up with, too. The Blog Workers Industrial Union keeps a list of all Kossacks that have been willing to join in this effort. And if you want to go right for the hardcore #p2 activists there is a little orange cat that seems to have an in-depth knowledge of who is who among Progressives.
Follower hygiene is important. Stranded Wind recommends the 'iron triangle' - @Twitblock, @TheTwitCleaner, and @tweepi, in that order. Twitblock nabs the obvious spam, TheTwitCleaner provides a high level view of who among your connections may be sketchy or simply gone from Twitter. Tweepi is a powerful way to see all sorts of things about who your contacts are.