This morning, Education Next published my latest "what next" column, "All A-Twitter about Education." In it, I report on the Twitter phenomenon and how it's impacting the education "war of ideas."
And because everyone loves lists, I also put together rankings of the top-25 tweeters in education policy and the top-25 educator tweeters--almost all of whom tweet (and blog) about education technology. I based the rankings on Klout scores, which are measures of individuals' online influence. People who have more followers--and, even more importantly, whose followers take action, such as re-tweeting posts or clicking on links--earn higher scores.
So who made the cut? Check out the article for the full lists, but here's a teaser:
Top Education Policy and Media Tweeters
- Diane Ravitch (@DianeRavitch) with approximately 15,000 followers and a Klout score of 73
- Education Week (@EducationWeek) with 50,000 followers and a Klout score of 72
- U.S. Department of Education (@usedgov) with 57,000 followers and a Klout score of 65
- Huffington Post Education (@HuffPostEdu) with 6,600 followers and a Klout score of 65
- Michelle Rhee (@M_Rhee) with 20,000 followers and a Klout score of 64
Top Educator Tweeters
- Vicki Davis (@coolcatteacher) with approximately 21,000 followers and a Klout score of 75
- Tom Whitby (@tomwhitby) with 11,000 followers and a Klout score of 74
- Steve Anderson (@Web20classroom) with 26,000 followers and a Klout score of 71
- Eric Sheninger (@NMHS_Principal) with 12,000 followers and a Klout score of 69
- Shelly Terrell (@shellterrell) with 14,000 followers and a Klout score of 67
To be sure, my list-building was hardly scientific. I searched online for existing lists (and found this one), checked out the Klout scores for people I follow, and asked the major tweeters if they thought I was missing anyone. (That proved especially useful for the educator tweeters, most of whom I don't know.)
That process wasn't foolproof; already I've heard from Doug Levin (@DougLevin), Chris Lehmann (@ChrisLehmann), and the Save our Schools March (@SOSMarch) explaining that they should have made the cut, too. My apologies. Surely there will be others.
And yes, in the process of writing this article and researching Klout scores, I developed my own Twitter addiction. So before you sign up for Twitter, just be forewarned: it might take over your life.
-Mike Petrilli
