That’s the headline I’m expecting any day now. They won’t be referring to Stephen Fry, but in fact me. I’m not trying to ‘pull a Stephen Fry’ obviously, I have different reasons (listed below). However it has come about in an article in today’s Belfast Telegraph that I am one of the “most popular and influential Twitter Users in Belfast.”

Davy Sims writes a weekly Watching the Web column for the Telegraph, tending to concentrate on pointless Twitter opinion-pieces far too often. This time he has stumbled upon We Follow‘s list of people based on the “Belfast” tag ranked by “Influence” and “Popularity”. So very pointless.

I’m sure that my fellow “Influencers” won’t mind me saying that this is a waste of column space. Yes, those mentioned are “high profile” Belfast users. But there are too many missing from that list. Some of the most “influential” aren’t even in the top 50.

Yes, what makes someone influential has often very little to do with their popularity (number of followers in this case), and Davy makes the point that those in the top 5, in fact most of the top 10, have met.

I would wager that most of the people on your Friends Lists on Twitter, Facebook and so on are actual, real, non-cyberworld friends. I shake my head and wonder at the narrowness of those who criticise people – particularly young people – for spending so much time on social media. The internet does not replace real life, it affirms and extends it.

This is the main point to the article. An important point. Little relevance to any pointless ego-boosting lists.

Link to article.

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