Comments on: How User Authority and Reputation Will Change Twitter (For the Better) http://siliconangle.com/blog/2009/08/04/how-user-authority-and-reputation-will-change-twitter-for-the-better/ Just another Siliconangle.com weblog Thu, 18 Mar 2010 18:08:10 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 hourly 1 By: Mark 'Rizzn' Hopkins http://siliconangle.com/blog/2009/08/04/how-user-authority-and-reputation-will-change-twitter-for-the-better/comment-page-1/#comment-665 Mark 'Rizzn' Hopkins Thu, 06 Aug 2009 15:50:32 +0000 http://siliconangle.com/ver2/2009/08/04/how-user-authority-and-reputation-will-change-twitter-for-the-better/#comment-665 Sean, Steven and I had a great discussion over this on CobWEBs last night....<br><br>Steven and Sean are not yet convinced that this is necessary - we all seem to have the reputation instincts built into us, but I believe that it's far too easy to game that system by sheer volume of tweets.<br><br>The reputation system should include something about retweets, replies and other engagement factors *in relation to* the number of followers. It's important to note that just because there are lots of twitter followers on a given user doesn't necessarily indicate that he or she is a major driver of attention from those followers. <br><br>Indeed, my own independent research from riz.gd indicates that often those with the most followers have the lowest engagement rates, on the whole. those with low follower counts (sub-100) tend to have the highest. Sean, Steven and I had a great discussion over this on CobWEBs last night....

Steven and Sean are not yet convinced that this is necessary - we all seem to have the reputation instincts built into us, but I believe that it's far too easy to game that system by sheer volume of tweets.

The reputation system should include something about retweets, replies and other engagement factors *in relation to* the number of followers. It's important to note that just because there are lots of twitter followers on a given user doesn't necessarily indicate that he or she is a major driver of attention from those followers.

Indeed, my own independent research from riz.gd indicates that often those with the most followers have the lowest engagement rates, on the whole. those with low follower counts (sub-100) tend to have the highest.

]]> By: fredwilson http://siliconangle.com/blog/2009/08/04/how-user-authority-and-reputation-will-change-twitter-for-the-better/comment-page-1/#comment-662 fredwilson Thu, 06 Aug 2009 10:35:04 +0000 http://siliconangle.com/ver2/2009/08/04/how-user-authority-and-reputation-will-change-twitter-for-the-better/#comment-662 i found this post from a shared link on tumblr<br><br>i had no idea that you were going to mention me in this post when i clicked on the link<br><br>i follow ethan bauley on tumblr<br><br><a href="http://www.ethanbauley.com/" rel="nofollow">http://www.ethanbauley.com/</a><br><br>he posted the link, the subject seemed interesting, and here i am<br><br>in any case, i agree with your thinking here. reputation is way more than the number of followers though. i think of reputation as the ability to get a large number of people to do something. so number of followers is a factor. but also how often you are retweeted, and how often the links (original or RT'd) get clicked on.<br><br>great post i found this post from a shared link on tumblr

i had no idea that you were going to mention me in this post when i clicked on the link

i follow ethan bauley on tumblr

http://www.ethanbauley.com/

he posted the link, the subject seemed interesting, and here i am

in any case, i agree with your thinking here. reputation is way more than the number of followers though. i think of reputation as the ability to get a large number of people to do something. so number of followers is a factor. but also how often you are retweeted, and how often the links (original or RT'd) get clicked on.

great post

]]> By: Taylor Davidson http://siliconangle.com/blog/2009/08/04/how-user-authority-and-reputation-will-change-twitter-for-the-better/comment-page-1/#comment-650 Taylor Davidson Wed, 05 Aug 2009 20:40:24 +0000 http://siliconangle.com/ver2/2009/08/04/how-user-authority-and-reputation-will-change-twitter-for-the-better/#comment-650 Ah, great point. Reputation scoring becomes a "hook" for Twitter, if micro-messaging became more widespread and Twitter became just one of multiple, inter-linking micro-messaging platforms.<br><br>Spot on, I hadn't thought of reputation scoring through that lens. Ah, great point. Reputation scoring becomes a "hook" for Twitter, if micro-messaging became more widespread and Twitter became just one of multiple, inter-linking micro-messaging platforms.

Spot on, I hadn't thought of reputation scoring through that lens.

]]> By: Mark 'Rizzn' Hopkins http://siliconangle.com/blog/2009/08/04/how-user-authority-and-reputation-will-change-twitter-for-the-better/comment-page-1/#comment-648 Mark 'Rizzn' Hopkins Wed, 05 Aug 2009 20:09:28 +0000 http://siliconangle.com/ver2/2009/08/04/how-user-authority-and-reputation-will-change-twitter-for-the-better/#comment-648 From a business perspective, it's one of the few things that Twitter could<br>do to keep Twitter proprietary for much longer.<br>It's only a matter of time before Twitter is forced by Tweetdeck, Seesmic,<br>or some other third party client app to open up into a federated system.<br> The Twitter equivalent to pagerank will keep the progenitor of the service<br>relevant in a time where they no longer hold all the cards. From a business perspective, it's one of the few things that Twitter could
do to keep Twitter proprietary for much longer.
It's only a matter of time before Twitter is forced by Tweetdeck, Seesmic,
or some other third party client app to open up into a federated system.
The Twitter equivalent to pagerank will keep the progenitor of the service
relevant in a time where they no longer hold all the cards.

]]> By: Taylor Davidson http://siliconangle.com/blog/2009/08/04/how-user-authority-and-reputation-will-change-twitter-for-the-better/comment-page-1/#comment-638 Taylor Davidson Wed, 05 Aug 2009 17:03:09 +0000 http://siliconangle.com/ver2/2009/08/04/how-user-authority-and-reputation-will-change-twitter-for-the-better/#comment-638 Great, another metric waiting to be gamed, another ecosystem ready to emerge :)<br><br>But seriously, your critical point Hutch: "[Twitter]'s more a mainstream communication platform, so using these traditional community management tools will likely cause quite a gnashing of teeth.<br><br>The challenge for Twitter is to ensure that reputation scores don’t kill enthusiasm for its service."<br><br>Let's remember the diversity of the Twitter population, their experience with Twitter, their usage pattern, their goals. Reputation scores will be praised by some, shunned by others. The real question: which effect will be larger? And why? Great, another metric waiting to be gamed, another ecosystem ready to emerge :)

But seriously, your critical point Hutch: "[Twitter]'s more a mainstream communication platform, so using these traditional community management tools will likely cause quite a gnashing of teeth.

The challenge for Twitter is to ensure that reputation scores don’t kill enthusiasm for its service."

Let's remember the diversity of the Twitter population, their experience with Twitter, their usage pattern, their goals. Reputation scores will be praised by some, shunned by others. The real question: which effect will be larger? And why?

]]> By: JB http://siliconangle.com/blog/2009/08/04/how-user-authority-and-reputation-will-change-twitter-for-the-better/comment-page-1/#comment-615 JB Tue, 04 Aug 2009 22:58:09 +0000 http://siliconangle.com/ver2/2009/08/04/how-user-authority-and-reputation-will-change-twitter-for-the-better/#comment-615 I loved this story. I will be following this dialog now. <br><br>Thanks Hugh I loved this story. I will be following this dialog now.

Thanks Hugh

]]> By: wattersj http://siliconangle.com/blog/2009/08/04/how-user-authority-and-reputation-will-change-twitter-for-the-better/comment-page-1/#comment-614 wattersj Tue, 04 Aug 2009 21:44:11 +0000 http://siliconangle.com/ver2/2009/08/04/how-user-authority-and-reputation-will-change-twitter-for-the-better/#comment-614 This is a really interesting topic. Right now the rule is 'open' and 'free for all' with most of the power on the individual users as they filter out what to pay precious attention to and what to skim, unfollow and overlook. <br><br>The new system would take some of this power and give it back to the system. <br><br>What is more corruptible though? A mathematical system or the individual judgments of users. <br><br>I would be a fan of this if they implemented it ONLY for trending topics, and perhaps searches but in a very lightweight way eliminating only obvious abusers--as they seem to already be doing manually by just removing them from the system. <br><br>If the algorithm starts ruling the universe however I will leave twitter. Google is already becoming increasingly worthless for many searches for me due to massive gaming and SEO tricks. It has resulted in only already rich/massive sites being returned as results--and in a sense there is no greater engine of web-status quo now, because of this, than Google. This is a really interesting topic. Right now the rule is 'open' and 'free for all' with most of the power on the individual users as they filter out what to pay precious attention to and what to skim, unfollow and overlook.

The new system would take some of this power and give it back to the system.

What is more corruptible though? A mathematical system or the individual judgments of users.

I would be a fan of this if they implemented it ONLY for trending topics, and perhaps searches but in a very lightweight way eliminating only obvious abusers--as they seem to already be doing manually by just removing them from the system.

If the algorithm starts ruling the universe however I will leave twitter. Google is already becoming increasingly worthless for many searches for me due to massive gaming and SEO tricks. It has resulted in only already rich/massive sites being returned as results--and in a sense there is no greater engine of web-status quo now, because of this, than Google.

]]>