October 12, 2008

Twitter Top 100 lists compared

In a previous post (Top Twitter Users) I listed several sites where lists of top Twitter users can be found. I wanted to get an idea on the quality of these lists. Do they contain the same Twitter users ? Do they provide the same data ?

I considered four top lists of Twitter users ranked by the number of followers.
1. Twitdir Top 100 followed : number 1 on the list has 94937 followers, there are 6586 followers for number 100
2. Twittercounter The top 100 most popular Twitter users : number 1 on the list has 94600 followers, there are 7156 followers for number 100
3. Twitterholic Top 100 based on Followers : number 1 on the list has 94894 followers, there are 6562 followers for number 100
4. Twittown Top 150 followers (only first 100 considered) : number 1 on the list has 6941 followers, there are 986 followers for number 100

The four lists combined count 179 different Twitter users. It is clear that the top 100 list from Twittown is outdated. Twitter user @BarackObama has only 5441 followers according to Twittown, in reality this Twitter user has 94937 followers.

Let's compare the three other list. The three lists combined cound 122 different Twitter users, see table below.

Twitdir has the highest values for number of followers. Twittercounter has the lowest values.
* If Twitdir is compared to Twitterholic, the differences are up to 43 followers.
* If Twitdir is compared to Twittercounter the differences are up to 337 followers.
* If Twitterholic is compared to Twittercounter the differences are up to 294 followers.

It looks like that Twitdir Top 100 followed has the most actual data, although some Twitter users are missing. On the other hand Twitdir is the least user friendly. The top 100 is presented in 10 parts, each consisting of 10 Twitter users. Furthermore it takes an awful lot of time to load the 10 pages. If you want a quick overview of all top 100 Twitter users, I would recommend the Twitterholic Top 100.

TwitterUserTwitdir top 100Twitterholic top 100Twittercounter top 100
BarackObama949379489494600
kevinrose66341--66251
leolaporte577715776257703
cnnbrk438804385743628
alexalbrecht386233861838595
MarsPhoenix--3623736182
JasonCalacanis361483613036083
Scobleizer356053559035473
Veronica333933338233333
twitter----31820
TwitterUserTwitdir top 100Twitterholic top 100Twittercounter top 100
THErealDVORAK314763147131399
macrumors313763137531353
hotdogsladies276172761427577
TechCrunch267222670526679
ijustine236792367523636
ricksanchezcnn231762317223152
twittervision22982--22915
guykawasaki210872108421061
ev196921968319635
CaliLewis196611965619647
TwitterUserTwitdir top 100Twitterholic top 100Twittercounter top 100
Twitterrific193571934419333
rtm19287--19241
StephenColbert188881888118692
chrispirillo187971879018770
wilw187691876018740
patricknorton183651836518345
biz181481814418076
013----18134
twitlive--1746517460
dooce172801727717077
TwitterUserTwitdir top 100Twitterholic top 100Twittercounter top 100
laughingsquid167971678516762
chrisbrogan163581634316322
garyvee163561633916267
bloggersblog159011590115889
ambermacarthur154271542315419
darthvader148641485214830
woot146361462714588
gruber144031439814378
hashtags----14220
zappos140881408013983
TwitterUserTwitdir top 100Twitterholic top 100Twittercounter top 100
mashable133931338213356
jowyang130741306813044
NotHenryRollins12924----
TwitPic127811277612747
feliciaday125401253412441
zefrank--1236012332
davewiner119621195911947
hodgman118461184211764
dlprager--1181511806
drhorrible--1169811641
TwitterUserTwitdir top 100Twitterholic top 100Twittercounter top 100
problogger116521164911631
jakemarsh--1159811600
loiclemeur114351142611403
majornelson10846--10834
Larry--10843--
newmediajim108201081610785
timoreilly108001079210714
DannyTRS107551075510748
Ed10676----
Ed_Dale--1067310646
TwitterUserTwitdir top 100Twitterholic top 100Twittercounter top 100
WilHarris106411064010631
wordpress106251061710545
jeffcannata105081050710499
UstreamTV104551044010433
Ihnatko10336--10332
skydiver103081030010265
mollywood102671026510260
twitter_status10003--10009
jack992199149881
zeldman984698459816
TwitterUserTwitdir top 100Twitterholic top 100Twittercounter top 100
jonathancoulton9683--9663
SteveJobs9677--9639
macworld963996389603
jkottke961296079592
TUAW950094959482
steverubel942894249418
technorati937493699330
brianshaler933393329331
om--93149292
xenijardin911691129100
TwitterUserTwitdir top 100Twitterholic top 100Twittercounter top 100
nytimes878387838759
s----8711
osen----8632
SethGodin8623----
revision3--85558535
cnn842684248410
warrenellis829882938263
gapingvoid8268--8263
missrogue814481418129
factoryjoe806080558050
TwitterUserTwitdir top 100Twitterholic top 100Twittercounter top 100
socialmediaclub804780368023
digg802180188000
nprpolitics7986--7909
simplebits778077757767
sarahlane767076637638
Maggie755375547530
acedtect752975277523
BreakingNewsOn747574747462
DanRaine734973497338
Damiano733973327330
TwitterUserTwitdir top 100Twitterholic top 100Twittercounter top 100
Dizzed7269----
jeffpulver724972467239
springnet720072007197
PhillyD--7195--
buckhollywood717771797161
CNETNews716571627156
waynesutton71477144--
StephenTColbert70267028--
timer7010----
mybloglog7004----
TwitterUserTwitdir top 100Twitterholic top 100Twittercounter top 100
fredwilson69876983--
lonelysandwich--6927--
seesmic6795----
Pistachio67926787--
Zadi67466733--
mozillafirefox--6745--
Borat--6674--
adamcurry66216618--
Mickipedia65866582--
tferriss--6582--
TwitterUserTwitdir top 100Twitterholic top 100Twittercounter top 100
ryanblock--6568--
briansolis--6562--

These figures presented above date from Friday October 10, 2008.

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

great work, it really shows your efforts...

Adam from Twibes said...

Funny that there are so many ways to calculate the top twitter users. I wonder how this will change over time, if it will parallel the list of most popular celebrities, or if a new type of "Twitter celebrity" will emerge.

Primark Catalogo said...

Good work mate, it really shows your efforts, thanks a lot...

Primark catalogo said...

Excellent list mate. Great job.

Bosch Electrodomesticos said...

Great list, i can't believe how make lot of user in Twitter

zara catalogo said...

Great job

Examen psicométrico said...

Great collection!
Examen Psicométrico

Trabajar en Primark said...

Excellent list. Nice!