On Twitter, Engagement Equals Influence for Gov’t Accounts

A new analysis of government Twitter accounts in San Francisco shows that the most interactive are also the most influential. Of the 35 accounts surveyed last week (excluding political accounts by elected officials and inactive accounts), 11 are graded either above 99 by TwitterGrader, or above 20 by Klout, two of the most trusted Twitter influence analytics services. These accounts in general have two things in common: a high level of replies to and mentions of other Twitter users, and, they follow a significant number of other accounts.

The only exceptions to this trend comes from two popular public safety accounts, those run by the SF Police Department and the Department of Emergency Management. Both follow only a small number of other official accounts, and do not interact with other Twitter members (broadcast messages only).

Of the remaining nine accounts, all actively engage with other Twitter members, and six include others’ user names in more than half of their tweets. Additionally, eight of the nine follow at least 10 percent as many Twitter users as follow them.

The most influential San Francisco government-related Twitter accounts are: BART, 311, Asian Art Museum, Golden Gate Park, Emergency Management, City Attorney, Environment, Arts, Water, Police, and technology innovations manager Jay Nath.

You can check out the full survey at http://bit.ly/SFonTwitter.

– Adriel Hampton