Stanford University’s Twitter feed is the most influential among college and university accounts on that microblogging service, according to a new ranking.
The list was published this week by Klout, an online company that tracks the popularity and impact of Tweets and gives every Twitter account a numerical score for influence. Factors reflected in the score include the number of followers a user has, how often a user is retweeted, and how a user’s tweets are being used in the conversation on Twitter
Stanford earned a Klout score of 70, with Syracuse University, Harvard University, and the University of Wisconsin at Madison all following with a score of 64.
The top 10 is rounded out by University of California at Berkeley, Butler University, Temple University, Tufts University, the University of Minnesota, the University of Texas at Austin, and Marquette University.
Paul Levinson, a professor of communication and media studies at Fordham University and the author of New New Media, said the new form of ranking is welcome and no less valid than a ranking released by a more traditional outlet, such as U.S. News & World Report.
“Rankings in any medium are always artificial and superficial,” Mr. Levinson said. “Any ranking process like this is bound to be flawed, but that does not mean it’s not worthwhile.”
Mr. Levinson added that as students increasingly turn to social media for information, colleges and professors that are able to use those media are an asset.
If The Chronicle were a college, it would narrowly edge out Stanford, with a score of 71.
6 Responses to Stanford U. Tops New Ranking of Colleges’ Influence via Twitter
wittseek7 - January 19, 2011 at 9:07 am
I find it hard to believe that tweets have much influence on significant discourse. At their best, they are pungent or witty; most, however, sound like badly composed telegrams.
The operative word in Klout’s measurement of influence seems to be “popularity.” Their gauge for impact measures very little beyond circulation and recirculation within Twitter.
Popularity is notoriously fickle and often has a shallow basis. I doubt that any of the colleges named will include their Twitter-feed rankings in promotional materials. But who knows? Rankings of almost any kind attract an audience.
cksyme - January 19, 2011 at 9:29 am
I doubt that Twitter would ever be a place of significant discourse for anything. It is an information pipeline, a place to promote, if you will. It should be considered a significant channel for any school’s marketing and communications depts. That is, of course, unless the school is not in need of promotion or telling their story across a broad audience.
srosenie - January 19, 2011 at 10:22 am
It’s “BerkEley.”
drewkam - January 19, 2011 at 10:53 am
“If The Chronicle were a college, it would narrowly edge out Stanford, with a score of 71.”
Nice plug there :)
jeffreyyoung - January 19, 2011 at 11:19 am
Thanks srosenie. Typo fixed.
wankelc - January 24, 2011 at 4:49 am
I tried to put together a book on social media in higher education. It ended up being four books since I was inundated with chapter proposals.