Top 10 Twitter Authority

Chris Baskind post "There is No Authority in Social Media" caught my attention. The gist of the post, in my understanding, is how some of the 3rd party Twitter-value added sites measures "authority". I think it depends on where you are coming from. Here are some thoughts in parallel to blogs where influence or authority is usually measured:

• number of followers or subscribers.
• number of reblog or retwits.
  
• number of replies or comments.
  
• number of links or special mention.
• and many more.

However, when it comes to authority on a subject is concern, basing a listing of results according to number of followers may not be most satisfactory basis at the moment, such as what Twitority is doing (Although I was able to find Twitter users who mentioned the keyphrase Busby SEO Test in their twits and followed them). Other factors may come into consideration such as:

• volume of search on the topic where the said twit status is viewed the most.
  
• volume of replies.
  
• volume of re-twits.
• volume of clicks on the url shared.

Even though there may not be a fully accurate set of metrics at the moment, there is no harm coming up with a tool that intends to filter such information out. For marketers and even for advocates, such information is important. When i was working on the emerging influential blogs writing project, I invested time to look for people who mentioned influential+blogs in their twits hoping to target them for the writing project. Some of them joined while others didn't had time.

To pursue this discussion further, I invite you to participate by either replying to the comments or post it in your blog on who do you consider as the top 10 Twitter authority and why. Your list can be based on:

• the folks you follow at Twitter (state their Twitter id so we can follow too)
• the folks you value the information and view the urls they share.
• the folks you don't hesitate passing on their twits.
• that if you'll be reduced to following certain number of folks (like 20 or 30), these are the people you won't take out from your list.

Your insight shall be more than welcome. Should you decide to blog about your list, I shall add a link to your post here for others to view also.