I attended the Clinton Global Initiative last week, I was very focused on sharing and telling stories. When I was there, I decided that while I’m not a full-time journalist, I wanted to be the best version I could using the skills that I have. I thought it would be valuable to live tweet most of CGI because I know for many people in circle and network, they would love to attend, and soak in the information like I did. But most people CAN’T be there, for a variety of reasons.
Something I’ve learned from my time spent volunteering in developing countries and year of travel is that people love to share in the experience. So blogging and taking photos and videos, using Facebook and Twitter, all of these online tools allow many who are just as deserving (if not more so) to be able to go, see and attend events I’m at, simply can’t.
That’s where sharing the experience comes into play. By live-tweeting CGI, I received scores of messages from people saying simply “THANK YOU.” Thank you for sharing the information presented there to us. Yes, CGI had a simulcast, but we all know that for most people watching a video all day while they are at work is not feasible. Pulling quotes and stats from speakers and sharing them in 120 character bites (less than 140 so they could be retweeted and shared further) is a great way to spread the CGI mission – and indeed the mission of any conference or closed-invite event.
President Clinton meant when he asked, “How can each person and each organization leverage their core strengths in the most effective way, turning good intentions into real changes?” Below are the top 10 Twitter influencers* from CGI gleaned from twendz pro™, who were seen to have a strong voice in their respective areas of influence. Keep in mind, a person’s influence ranking changes day to day, given the fluidity of the Twitter landscape. These people were the most engaged influencers during the CGI because not only did they have a high number of followers, they were actively engaged in questions, replies, shared links, and constantly used hashtags in their tweets. Most of these influencers were retweeted at a high volume, demonstrating their broad reach.
CGI’s Top Ten Twitter Influencers
- @changemakers (307,137 followers)- Ashoka Changemakers is a global online community of action that connects people to share ideas, inspire and mentor each other, and find and support the best ideas in social innovation.
- @ClintonTweet (11,282 followers)- The host of last week’s events, the Clinton Foundation addresses urgent global problems through collaboration with the private sector, NGOs and other government entities. CGI gathers world leaders annually to turn ideas into action.
- @echoinggreen (330,900 followers)- Echoing Green is a global nonprofit that provides seed funding and technical assistance to emerging social entrepreneurs with ideas for social change.
- @johnwoodRTR (317,672 followers)- John Wood is the Founder of Room to Read and author of ‘Leaving Microsoft to Change the World.’
- @witnessorg (273,673 followers)- WITNESS is a human rights organization that provides training and support to local groups to use video in their human rights advocacy campaigns.
- @lancearmstrong (2,654,892 followers) – This iconic, 7-time Tour de France winner and full time cancer fighter is the spokesperson for LIVESTRONG.
- @sloane (7,721 followers)- A KIVA fellow, Sloane Berrent is a cause-based marketing and social branding consultant who blogs at The Causemopolitan.
- @VanJones68 (6,217 followers) – Van Jones is the award-winning pioneer in human rights and the clean-energy economy. He wrote the NYTimes bestseller: Green Collar Economy.
- @WomenforWomen (4,733 followers) – WomenforWomen International helps women survivors of war rebuild their lives. Zainab Salbi is the ever-inspiring Founder and CEO.
- @govgranholm (16,325 followers)- Jennifer Granholm is the Canadian-born American Governor of Michigan (D).
Sloane Berrent is a cause-based marketing and social branding consultant, nonprofiteer and budding social entrepreneur. She uses social media, product evangelizing, fundraising and community development services to help for-profit and nonprofit companies with a focus on social action campaigns. Originally from Pittsburgh, PA, she has lived in Burlington VT, Boston MA, Rome Italy, and Los Angeles, CA. She spent 2009 as a digital nomad, traveling the world experiencing life and volunteering including stints in South America, New Orleans and three months in the Philippines as a Kiva Fellow.
She co-created “Cause It’s My Birthday” a campaign to raise money (over $19k to date) and awareness for malaria prevention in Ghana. Sloane moved to New Orleans as her new home at the end of 2009 and co-launched NOLAlicious, a weekly newsletter of events in New Orleans. She was recently named the citizen journalist to attend the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland for the MySpace and The Wall Street Journal communities. Her consulting practice, Answer With Action, focuses on strategic integrated marketing consulting. She speaks frequently on building community and blogs at The Causemopolitan.
