Search With Authority Using Twitority…Maybe
Posted by Matt Singley on December 30, 2008 under Twitter | 
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I first read about Twitority over on CNet News, and they did a nice job of summarizing the authority discussion that is happening about Twitter between TechCrunch, Scobleizer and Le Meur. The summary of the conversation is this, what does authority mean on Twitter, and who cares?
Twitter Search vs. Twitority (click for larger image)
Enter Twitority, a search engine that looks through Twitter streams and serves up terms based upon the number of followers a person has. I’ve been using Twitority for several searches, and I have to confess that I’m not all that thrilled. The technology and look of the service are fabulous, and I think it was smart to build it in response to the ongoing conversation about authority. End the end, I just don’t have a use for it. One thing that does confuse me a bit is the depth of the timeline that it trolls, at doesn’t appear to go very far back. In the screenshot that you see above I was searching for “Chrome”. I came up in the top ranks on both services right away, I was on the top of Twitority. An hour later, I was on page 4 of Twitter Search, but nowhere to be seen on Twitority, even though I should be been ranked #2 at that point (the #1 result had 1,320 followers and #2 had 403). So is the authority of a subject only good for a short period of time?
So, this is “authority” now…how many people follow your tweets. I won’t rehash the entire argument again, but I don’t think this actually is authority. For example, Barack Obama has 156,000+ followers but hasn’t updated since November 5th (as of this writing). In the simplest terms of the argument, Mr. Obama has the most authority on Twitter. But..he doesn’t update anymore. So is that really authority?
Taking this off of the A-listers, does a person who has 1,000+ followers have more authority than a person with just a handful of followers? Sometimes, but not always. For example, when I say something about my Zune, using pure numbers, I have great authority. However, I follow several people that actually work for Microsoft that certainly are more qualified than I am on this subject, but they only have a few hundred followers. So who has greater authority?
In the end, I think the question is moot. It takes away from the very reason I use Twitter, and that is, I treat the service like a cocktail party, not a lecture hall. Just like a cocktail party, different people have different influence, and some do have more authority than others. However, it would be unfair and rather ridiculous to pull out little snippets of conversations from a particularly popular person and then state unequivocally that they have more authority than the others in the room simply because they are popular.
Go play with the service, maybe it will be useful to you. If so, please tell me why I’m wrong, either in comments or over in the middle of the cocktail party. You can find me on Twitter here.
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John said,
Matt, I totally agree. It makes me think of my twitter following pattern. I like to follow people who are interesting and have either something in common with me or say something about a subject I am interested in. They may even be an authority about a topic I would like to know more about. Your cocktail party analogy really rings true. I have followers that have thousands of followers but they really are not an authority on anything (accept annoying me). It reminds me of how much I am baffled at the Oprah book lists and her followers. Recently Seth Godin wrote that you should make it a goal to try to be the best in an your area or niche within a your scope of influence. That is the gold in twitter. I can find others that really are the best at what they do and learn from them. In return I can offer what I know as well. I only pick up a few followers a day. I hope that I earn their trust one tweet at a time.
Cheers
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