Most Influential Affiliate Summit West 2011 Speakers – Top 40

I’ve been using Klout pretty much since the first day it was launched. Now that in addition to Twitter influence they also analyze your Facebook activity, I love them even more.

Today I sat down, analyzed 79 accounts of Affiliate Summit West 2011 speakers who are active both on Facebook and on Twitter, and I must tell you, there will be some amazing social influencers — 1 of which has been classified by Klout as celebrity, and 16 as thought leaders — speaking at the upcoming Affiliate Summit.

Below you may find the ranking (based on scores) I have arrived at. The format is as follows: [name] – [Klout score] – [Klout classification]

  1. Brian Solis – 95 – Celebrity
  2. Shashi Bellamkonda – 65 – Specialist
  3. Christopher Pearson – 63 – Taste Maker
  4. Kristopher Jones – 61 – Specialist
  5. Rae Hoffman-Dolan – 59 – Thought Leader
  6. Dave Taylor – 53 – Thought Leader
  7. Michael Gray – 50 – Thought Leader
  8. Greg Boser – 50 – Thought Leader
  9. Jeremy Schoemaker – 49 – Thought Leader
  10. Ben Spark – 49 – Syndicator
  11. Nadia Aly – 48 – Thought Leader
  12. John Chow – 46 – Thought Leader
  13. Amanda Orson – 46 – Specialist
  14. Todd Friesen – 43 – Thought Leader
  15. Greg Rollett – 43 – Syndicator
  16. Kenny Hyder – 42 – Thought Leader
  17. Sharon Mostyn – 41 – Activist
  18. Angel Djambazov – 40 – Specialist
  19. Missy Ward – 39 – Thought Leader
  20. Jim Kukral – 39 – Networker
  21. Shawn Collins – 38 – Thought Leader
  22. Murray Newlands – 38 – Specialist
  23. Tricia Meyer – 37 – Activist
  24. Eric Nagel – 34 – Specialist
  25. Michael Streko – 34 – Specialist
  26. Jason Rubacky – 34 – [no classification]
  27. Marty Fahncke – 33 – Thought Leader
  28. Steph Lichtenstein – 33 – Socializer
  29. Michael Martin – 33 – Activist
  30. Michael Buechele – 32 – Specialist
  31. Geno Prussakov – 32 – Thought Leader
  32. Carolyn Tang – 31 – Activist
  33. Mike Whitmore – 30 – Specialist
  34. Rosalind Gardner – 29 – Thought Leader
  35. Jonathan Volk – 29 – Specialist
  36. Scott Jangro – 28 – Explorer
  37. Jamie Birch – 28 – Thought Leader
  38. Jen Goode – 27 – Specialist
  39. Ad Hustler – 27 – Thought Leader
  40. Derek Halpern – 24 – Curator
  41. Lisa Picarille – 23 – [no classification]
  42. Joshua Ziering – 22 – Explorer
  43. Joe Sousa – 20 – Specialist

Important: I did not evaluate those few that have company Twitter accounts listed, and focused just on personalities.

Edit of 10:45 am EST: Had to add a speaker that was originally omitted from the Twitter list I was analyzing. That’s why we now have 41, and not 40.

Edit of 12:37 pm EST: Michael Gray added to the list (per this comment). That’s why the list contains 42 speakers now.

Edit of 11/17 (12:06 pm EST): Scott Jangro added to the list (per this comment)

Are you using Klout yet? It’s a great tool to use in your social media marketing.

See you at Affiliate Summit West 2011 in Vegas (come to my session on personal branding!)

51 thoughts on “Most Influential Affiliate Summit West 2011 Speakers – Top 40”

    1. You’re most welcome, Sharon, but it’s Klout (or rather your personal work on your online influence) that you gotta thank for this. 😉 See you in Vegas!

        1. It seems that classifications aren’t constant though. With their last update I actually went from a “Thought Leader” (with a score of 32) to an “Explorer” (with a score of 58). Go figure…

  1. Hey Geno! Nice meeting you virtually and thanks for making this list. Crazy to get me at #12! Looking forward to Vegas and looking forward to catching up and chatting in person.

    1. Grats on making the top third of the list, Greg, and yes, looking forward to meeting you in person at Affiliate Summit West 2011. Can’t believe that less than 2 months are left to go…

  2. I would have been somewhere around 30 if I hadn’t changed my username recently. I created @QAQN and started to follow people, but then decided to switch @danielmclark with it. So now, after swapping the names (so I could keep my followers), @QAQN has a Klout score of 8 while @danielmclark has a Klout score of 32.

    As I said to Geno on Twitter a little while ago, Klout sees that I have my followers, but it doesn’t see that I have any history – because everything that everyone ever said to me over the past two years is directed to @danielmclark.

    Something to consider if you’re thinking about changing your username. I decided it was worth it for me, but others might not.

    1. I think you are a class of your own, J! 🙂 Seriously though, that would be a good question to Klout. And you’re not the only one list that on the list.

      1. Funny… it’s on there:

        SEO Site Review/Clinic
        Session 7b
        Location: Margaux 2
        Time: 2:00pm-3:00pm

        But Shawn only has Kenny and Streko listed as speakers on the panel, even though Michael Gray and I were the first two confirmed for it… it’s the same panel we do at each affiliate summit.

  3. I’m not really sure what constitutes an explorer, but I would never object to being listed on the same list of people who are thought leaders and celebrities.

    Have you used Klout for business stuff? Like analyzing clients or determining efficacy of a social campaign?

    Thanks,

    Josh

    1. In their class definition Klout says about Explorer: “You actively engage in the social web, constantly trying out new ways to interact and network. You’re exploring the ecosystem and making it work for you. Your level of activity and engagement shows that you “get it,” we predict you’ll be moving up.” [more here]

      Yep, I have Klout for business, Josh, but not exactly for this purpose. Since I work largely in affiliate marketing, I use it mostly to analyze affiliates who are active on Twitter.

    1. My apologies, Scott. I could almost swear you were on the list when I was compiling it. Don’t know what happened. Apologies again. You’re there now.

  4. Hey Geno,

    I totally agree with your list and I’m glad you included all the other guys on my panel. I’m honored to be up there with each and every one of them, as I continue to learn so much from them on a daily basis.

    Look forward to meeting you in person at ASW as well!

  5. Wow, thanks so much for including me on this list! What a great group of people, I’m honored to be among them.

    Now can you tell me what I specialize in, cuz I can’t decide.

    1. Jen, as mentioned in your blog (by the way, thanks for blogging, and linking to this list), you have nothing to thank me for. You are the one who produces focused and highly-engaging content. So, thank your. Keep up the good work!

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  7. Geno,

    Thanks for bringing Klout to my attention – I wasn’t familiar with this tool, but think it’s pretty cool.

    One of the things I realized after signing up was that Klout did not have my Twitter and Facebook accounts linked up…but they make it really easy to do so once you open up an account.

    Sure enough – I linked the two accounts and my score jumped up nearly 20 points.

    I believe I’m now at a 37 – not quite a celebrity in Klout terms, but heck I still feel like I’m on Solis’ heels!

    Kris

    1. I actually see that your score went from 23 to 61 after you’ve hooked up your Twitter and Facebook accounts together. That’s pretty impressive, and I’ve just moved you from place 41 to 4. It is also interesting to see that the class changed from “Thought Leader” to “Specialist”. Yes, Klout is one cool tool for sure.

  8. They updated their scores last night, apparently. There are some pretty wild jumps for some people. I rose 32 points up to 40, and a few people that I randomly checked added several points as well.

    Not sayin’ you should re-do the list, but it’s an interesting look at how things can change so quickly with web work.

  9. Hmmm…. It appears that everyone’s Klout scores updated since my yesterday’s post. For example, I went from 32 (a mark I’ve been at for some time) to 58 overnight.

    Envisaging requests to reposition people on the list, please understand that it takes up time, and for now I’m gonna leave it as is, but you’re most welcome to add yourself to it by posting your info (in the format it will appear in the list) here in the “Comments”, and I promise to find time to redo the whole list (with new scores) some time very soon.

    1. I had never looked at Klout for myself (@phillian) until you mentioned it Geno. Today it looks like I’m inexplicably up to 58. Hmph.

      Since you are the personal branding expert- I’d love to hear your two cents on how Klout can help you shape or recognize changes you can make to your personal or professional brand. Perhaps content for a new post down the line?

      1. Yes, that jump of your score from 46 to 58 is the result of their decision to now update daily.

        Re your “personal branding” question/comment: I am by no means an expert in the area. I’m more of a practitioner who has built his own personal brand up building up his business in the process. That’s definitely a great question, and may give birth to another post some time later. So, thank you for that food for thought, Amanda, and looking forward to meeting you at Affiliate Summit West 2011.

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  11. I just checked my Klout score for @kimarketing – 39 – it must have been below 20 yesterday since I didn’t make “the list” 🙂
    Just connected with Facebook and they’ll let me know in 72 hours if my score is updated more.

    1. Yep, Kim, many people have had their scores jump since yesterday. I bet, yours is gonna jump even higher once it starts crawling Facebook “likes” and other activity. Maybe one day I’ll figure out how to display these scores on my site (and in real time) for all affiliate marketers who are active on Twitter. 😉

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  13. Geno,
    I think with all the changes and additions, you’re going to be sorry you ever started this post! Anyway, thanks for pointing out to me that I had not connected my FB to Klout.

    Now that I’ve done so, my score has gone from 33 to 44, and my category from Thought Leader to Explorer. Whatever that means.

    Take care, and see you in January!

    1. Not going to be sorry (ever), Marty. 🙂 As mentioned elsewhere, I’m pretty sure that the list of the top influencers pretty much stayed the same — only with higher scores.

      Re you going from 33 to 44 upon linking your FB to Klout, and also getting a change of classification from Thought Leader to Explorer: believe it or not, I’ve had exactly the same thing happen to me. I went from 32 to 58 (move up), but from Thought Leader to Explorer (move down, IMO). Now that I’ve checked my score again, I’m already at 60, and my classification has changed again (this time from Explorer to Specialist). Looking forward to becoming a Thought Leader again though. 🙂

  14. I see Postrank already has this post as super-popular. I just added it to StumbleUpon with a quick review. I’ll have to manually add it to Facebook too so people can like and comment on it. (Just found out today from Kikolani that if you feed your StumbleUpon reviews using su.pr to Facebook that no one can comment or like them.)

    Interesting that affiliate marketing speakers have less influence on Klout than many of the bloggers who focus on writing and Social Media rather than speaking. Not surprising though – there are always trade-offs to where we can spend our time.

    1. Logan, thank you for your comment, and glad you liked it. I didn’t miss you, my friend. Klout started updating their scores daily starting the very next day after I posted this list. Many people’s scores have gone up considerably since then. I should find time to put together a new list some time.

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