Taylor Swift is the most influential person on Twitter this year, despite only tweeting 13 times, CNET says.
Social media analysis company Brandwatch released on Wednesday its annual lists of the top 10 most influential women and top 10 men on Twitter. With an “influencer score” of 98 points out of a possible 100, Swift is the winner.
Topping the list of most influential men – and playing second to Swift – is Liam Payne. The former One Direction band member turned solo artist scored 97 points. Payne was followed by President Donald Trump, singer Katy Perry, celeb Kim Kardashian West and singer Demi Lovato, all of whom scored 96 points.
Perhaps it is good for Taylor that Brandwatch did not look at Instagram.
Swift in October endorsed Tennessee Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Phil Bredesen on Instagram, as media outlets previously reported. She cited issues like LGBTQ rights and flamed Bredesen’s opponent, U.S. Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN-07).
Bredesen lost spectacularly to Blackburn, who took a commanding lead of 54.73 percent to Bredesen’s 43.89 percent.
Meanwhile, do not expect to see Bredesen on the list of most influential Twitter men. He was mocked online for using Swift’s popular song “Look What You Made Me Do” to flame Blackburn after Swift endorsed him.
Bredesen tweeted, “.@VoteMarsha, look what you made her do. @taylorswift13 doesn’t like your little games and she wants Tennesseans to know that you’ve been in the swamp long enough. It’s time for some fresh air up in Washington.”
Brandwatch’s Twitter scores are based on a range of Twitter metrics, but the methodology mostly focused on how much genuine engagement the individual accounts created, CNET says.
“While lots of followers, retweets and replies will help, the more influential the people they engage with, the better the score,” Gemma Joyce, a data journalist for Brandwatch, said in a blog post about the lists.
Swift only tweeted 13 times in 2018 (not including retweets) and quit altogether in June.
Here are the top five users in each category:
Top 5 women:
- Taylor Swift
- Katy Perry
- Kim Kardashian West
- Demi Lovato
- Ellen Degeneres
Top 5 most men:
- Liam Payne
- Donald Trump
- Justin Bieber
- Barack Obama
- Cristiano Ronaldo
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Jason M. Reynolds has more than 20 years’ experience as a journalist at outlets of all sizes.
Photo “Taylor Swift” by Flickr: Eva Rinaldi.
