July 14, 2014Conrad (The Wine Wankers)

The 100 most influential wine peeps on social media

How The Wine Wankers appear on Klout
How The Wine Wankers appear on Klout

Over the last couple of months there have been a few “most influential wine people on the Internet” type lists circulated.  They’ve all been quite good indicators of wine related influence on the net, within the scope of what qualifies to make each list of course.  I’ll briefly go over two of these…

The VinePair Wine Web Power Index is a list that, as they state, “measures the influence of selected wine websites within the United States. We looked at web traffic, social media influence and organic search relevance to produce our scores”.  This list is gaining quite a bit of respect within the wine industry but it does have a “world view” limitation – it only rates websites in the USA.  Even though close to half of the people who follow us across all of our social mediums are from the USA, The Wine Wankers could never appear on this list because we are using an Australian domain name.

The Wine Hub produced a list of the top 24 Klout scores within the wine industry.  I will go into Klout in a little more detail at the bottom of this post but the short of it is that Klout is the premier ranking agency for influence on the net.  The Wine Hub’s list is good and uses Klout to determine rankings but it too has a limitation.  It seems to only rate individuals and leaves out multi-member wine entities and wine organisations.

After reviewing these two lists I decided to create a couple of lists of my own using the well accepted influence rankings of Klout and also the rankings of the second most widely accepted agency, that being Kred.  My two lists not only include individuals, they also include wine entities and organisations involved in wine media.  I’ve used the lists from VinePair and The Wine Hub as the starting base for my searches.

So, here are the 100 most influential wine entities on the net as at mid July 2014.

KLOUT RANKINGS KRED RANKINGS
Rank Wine Entity Score Rank Wine Entity Score1 Score2
1 Wine Spectator 87 1 Ken “alawine” Waggoner 951 10
2 Jancis Robinson 84 2 The Wine Wankers 922 9
3 Decanter Magazine 82 3 The Drinks Business Magazine 914 7
4 Tim Atkin 81 4 Jancis Robinson 905 7
Jamie Goode 81 5 Rick Bakas 904 9
6 The Wine Wankers 80 6 Wine Spectator 904 5
Reverse Wine Snob 80 7 Reverse Wine Snob 898 9
Alder Yarrow 80 8 Randall Grahm 895 8
9 Snooth 78 9 Decanter Magazine 895 6
10 The Wine Hub 77 10 Cliff Brown 893 9
Randall Grahm 77 11 Wine Enthusiast 890 7
12 Andre Ribeirinho 76 12 Wine Twits 889 8
13 Wine Folly 74 13 Tim Atkin 887 8
Wine Harlots 74 14 Eric Asimov 885 7
15 Paul Mabray 72 15 Jamie Goode 882 8
Marilena Barbera 72 16 Olly Smith 874 8
Fabien Lainé 72 17 Wine Harlots 870 8
Dusan Jelic 72 18 The Wine Hub 868 8
Magnus Reuterdahl 72 19 1 Wine Dude 860 9
20 Ken “alawine” Waggoner 71 20 Palate Xposure 850 9
Russ Beebe 71 21 Natalie MacLean 846 8
Ilkka Sirén 71 22 Robert Joseph 842 8
23 Sip on This Juice 70 23 Wine Folly 840 8
The Drinks Business Magazine 70 24 Snooth 835 6
Emmanuel Delmas 70 25 Andre Ribeirinho 823 8
Robert Joseph 70 26 Dusan Jelic 818 8
Vincent Pétré 70 27 Bruised Grape 816 9
Ana Sofia Oliveira 70 28 Robert Parker Jnr 816 3
Robert McIntosh 70 29 Sip on This Juice 815 9
30 Grape Friend 69 30 Will Lyons 815 8
Rick Bakas 69 31 Robert McIntosh 814 8
32 Julie Brosterman 67 32 Dr Vino 814 7
John Corcoran 67 33 James Suckling 804 7
Andrea Petrini 67 34 Paul Mabray 802 8
Peter Handzus 67 35 Twe Sommelier 799 8
Jameson Fink 67 Wine Library 799 8
Meg Maker 67 37 Emmanuel Delmas 798 8
Jasmine Hirsch 67 38 Magnus Reuterdahl 796 9
Wine Sisterhood 67 39 Alder Yarrow 794 6
40 Wine Twits 66 40 Lenn Thompson 793 9
Eric Asimov 66 41 Marilena Barbera 793 8
Clayton Bahr 66 42 Hande Leimer 792 9
Elisabetta Tosi 66 43 Meg Maker 792 8
Simon Woolf 66 44 Russ Beebe 788 8
45 Wine Enthusiast 65 Evan Dawson 788 8
1 Wine Dude 65 46 Oz Clarke 788 6
Ryan Opaz 65 47 Wine Sisterhood 787 8
Mario Scheuermann 65 Enobytes Wine 787 8
Giampiero Nadali 65 49 Michelle Williams 786 9
Wine Consumer Magazine 65 50 Jameson Fink 786 8
51 Erik Johnson 64 51 Erik Johnson 785 8
David White 64 52 David White 785 7
Wine Walkabout 64 53 Marcy Gordon 784 8
Twe Sommelier 64 Leslie Hartley-Sbrocco 784 8
Gwendolyn Alley 64 55 Alice Feiring 784 7
Wisequeen Donna Jackson 64 56 John Corcoran 784 5
Ralf Kaiser 64 57 The Academic Wino 783 8
Lynton Manuel 64 58 Vincent Pétré 782 8
Debra Meiburg 64 Wine Compass 782 8
60 Robert Parker Jnr 63 60 Debra Meiburg 782 7
The Drunken Cyclist 63 61 The Drunken Cyclist 779 8
Tom Wark 63 62 Tom Wark 777 6
Travelling Corkscrew 63 63 Travelling Corkscrew 773 8
Will Lyons 63 64 Talia Baiocchi 773 7
Natalie MacLean 63 65 Jason Solanki 772 8
The Academic Wino 63 66 Mark Oldman 772 7
Christian Schiller 63 67 Andrea Gori 771 8
Adam Japko 63 68 Grape Friend 771 7
Olly Smith 63 69 Ryan Opaz 770 7
70 Wine Searcher 62 70 Wine Searcher 769 6
Cliff Brown 62 71 Adam Japko 768 7
Andrea Gori 62 Jennifer Simonetti-Bryan MW 768 7
Talia Baiocchi 62 73 Hudson Valley Wine Goddess 767 8
Dr Vino 62 Ilkka Sirén 767 8
Mark Oldman 62 Clayton Bahr 767 8
Lenn Thompson 62 Peter Handzus 767 8
Peter Liem 62 Magnus Ericsson 767 8
78 Michelle Williams 61 50 States of Wine 766 8
Magnus Ericsson 61 79 Christian Schiller 763 8
50 States of Wine 61 80 Fabien Lainé 763 7
Hande Leimer 61 Vinogger 763 7
Wine Compass 61 82 Jasmine Hirsch 762 7
Hudson Valley Wine Goddess 61 83 Wine Walkabout 758 8
Frankie Cook 61 84 Elisabetta Tosi 756 7
85 Richard Jennings 60 85 Richard Jennings 754 6
Bruised Grape 60 86 Tristan Fairbanks 752 8
Jennifer Simonetti-Bryan MW 60 87 Peter Liem 752 3
Palate Xposure 60 88 Julie Brosterman 747 7
Oz Clarke 60 89 Gwendolyn Alley 743 7
Alice Feiring 60 Frankie Cook 743 7
Evan Dawson 60 91 Simon Woolf 742 7
James Suckling 60 92 Wisequeen Donna Jackson 739 8
Brett Jones 60 93 Brett Jones 735 6
Enobytes Wine 60 94 Ralf Kaiser 733 7
Leslie Hartley-Sbrocco 60 95 Mario Scheuermann 730 7
96 Vinogger 59 96 Andrea Petrini 727 6
Wine Library 59 97 Giampiero Nadali 722 6
Tristan Fairbanks 59 98 Wine Consumer Magazine 642 5
99 Jason Solanki 58 99 Ana Sofia Oliveira 632 5
100 Marcy Gordon 56 100 Lynton Manuel 609 4

And look who makes it up towards the top of both lists – shameless self-promoting mission complete! 😉  I won’t lie, I did put this together to see how we ranked against all other wine entities on the net and we are honoured to be up there with some serious wine legends.  I can’t help but feel a bit of Wayne’s World moment… “we’re not worthy”.

It took quite some time to conduct the searches to get these results so if I’ve missed anyone please forgive me (and let me know so I can update the lists).  There’s a good chance I have missed some entities especially towards the bottom of the lists because the more I searched the more wine peeps I found.  Eventually I had to call it a day.

To make the lists an entity must have wine media as its primary focus.  Our own limitation within our lists is that wineries themselves and wine companies do not qualify.  There’s quite a few wineries in the 60-70 range on Klout.

What do I make of the two lists?

Due to the differences in the methodologies used by the two systems to calculate the scores, the rankings of each wine entity is often quite different on each list (everyone appears on both lists).

Both systems use complex algorithms to come up with their rankings but they are still just computer programs which means important aspects of a wine entity’s presence on the Internet may be missed.  In saying that, both systems are regarded “as good as it gets”. In other words, there is no better way to measure influence objectively.

I’ve seen Klout behave quite erratically.  Over the last 2 months our score has jumped from 75 to 80 then back down to 75 again on numerous occasions.  It may be 80 for a week, 75 for a few days, back up to 80 for a couple of weeks, then back to 75.  It has been stable at 80 for over 2 weeks now.  A 5 point jump at this level is extreme so some anomaly is triggering this.

It’s interesting to note that although a few highly-regarded old-media wine entities make the list there’s some that don’t.  We need to ask ourselves how relevant this list is to the real wine world.  Is a strong wine presence on the Internet, and in particular social media, actually important?  Is this the future of wine media?  I don’t believe it is the future at all to be honest, I believe it is the now!  Of course, I would say that considering where we rank, so take it as you will.

About Klout –

Klout uses various networks to measure influence including Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Wikipedia, Instagram, Bing, Google+, Tumblr, Foursquare, YouTube, Blogger, WordPress, Last.fm, Yammer and Flickr to derive a score out of 100.  Apparently a score of 63 puts you in the top 1-5% of all entities rated.  Read more about Klout here.

About Kred –

Kred only measures social media influence derived from Twitter and Facebook.  It has 2 scores, one out of 1000 measuring social media influence and one out of 12 measuring outreach, ie how “social” an entity really is.  Apparently a score over 750 puts you in the top 1% and a score over 800 puts you in the top 0.1% of all entities on social media.  Read more about Kred here.

Author: Conrad

Update (July 17th 2014): Controversy!  The most recent comments have made me realise that I need to adjust or clarify a few things, those being:

– I mentioned in the post that I used the lists from VinePair and The Wine Hub to build my own list, and on top of that I searched and searched until I ran out of steam.  I always knew that there would be wine peeps that I’d missed.  All people who raise their hand, or have it raised for them, and that deserve to be on the list will be added.

– Unfortunately some entities that were in the top 50 will be moved down to the section just under the top.  Take that section as the 50+ section, those people are still very important when it comes to wine influence on the net and often they may not be top 50 in one list but are in the other. (Note: The list has been expanded to 75+. See below)

– There’s another limitation that has come to light and that I won’t be changing and that is that this list is about entities whose prime focus is wine.  If their focus is 51% food, 49% wine for example (based on no scientific calculation other than my arbitrary decision, sorry) they don’t make the cut.  If I was to include foodies who are wine bent they’d knock off most of the list.  This is why Food and Wine magazine doesn’t appear, they’d surely top both lists.

– OK, yes, I haven’t used the specific “Wine” category that Kred has in their rankings.  For those that don’t know, Kred has a global score, which I’ve used, and numerous categories including wine.  Klout does not have categories so the Klout score is like the Kred global score, therefore, I’ve decided that the Kred global score stands as the most important one just for the purpose of “like for like”.  I will note though that everyone on the list score much higher on Kred’s topic of wine.  Maybe next time I will add a third Kred column for this.

– Lastly, thanks to everyone for participating and giving their feedback.  Highly valuable in this iterative process.

Update (July 17th 2014): Now the top 75+  Seems like there’s been a bit of interest in this list and no one wants to be left off, understandably.  Due to the additions the list has grown to 75+.  Why not?  The more the merrier, it just adds value.  🙂

Update (July 21st 2014): Now the top 100  I’ve had many responses to this post and based on the feedback the list has become the top 100.  Unless there’s been a major omission there will not be any further change and the list will remain at 100… it’s a good number for the list and I think it is now very comprehensive.  I was pointed to two further sources, the Wikipedia list of wine personalities and the Vintank most important blogger list.  I researched the two links (and the associated comments) and discovered that although some people made the cut there were many that didn’t.  It just proves again that internet and social media influence is a new world of wine and many well-known wine identities don’t have a strong enough presence to make the lists.  Maybe they don’t care, and so be it.

The list is now closed… I’ve got to move on!

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202 comments

    • I’d love to be able to make this dynamic but I just don’t have the time. If I start adjusting people’s scores I’ve got to do it for everyone and that’s also why I’m closing it down to new entrants now. It needs to remain as the snapshot in time from when all the rankings were done. For example, looking at the list your new Kred score would put you above Wine Harlots but when I check Nannette has moved up too. So, sorry me man, but I’ve got to leave it as is otherwise I’ll never rest. Your scores as they appear there now still tell just as good a story. Cheers!

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    • You should always have a drink to celebrate! I’d hate to ruin your party but that’s your wine specific Kred score. I used the general Kred score so as to match Klout as much as possible as Klout is a general type score. Our wine specific score is a tiny 986/1000. 😉

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    • Hi Helmut,

      I did think about this a bit, ie, why it is dominated by English speaking people, and maybe it is because English speaking people have more readily adopted the social media platforms used to formulate these rankings.

      I can’t see why, technically, the lists could not be dominated by non-English speaking wine people but for that to happen it would need a lot of people using the social media platforms that speak and write in the home language of those people.

      So I suppose it therefore comes down to audience numbers. When you combine all the countries who speak English there’s a huge audience for them to send their wine message to. We’re Australian, a relatively small country in the English speaking world, but 40% of our followers are American and only about 20% are Australian. If Australia didn’t speak English and I wrote in another language we’d probably only be 20% of our size.

      So I think all of that is part of the reason. None of this takes away from any of the good work the great wine people of the world are doing, it’s just a couple of algorithms calculating social media presence.

      All the best, and thank you for commenting!

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  20. Thanks for your thoughts, and for sure there are some million people more speaking english than german. But this is also with spanish for example, but there are less spanish speakers in the list 😉 For me its a little mystery, because the guys, who are programming things like this, could set the counters in relation to the possible number of readers in a language. however 64-66 Klout and 785/5 Kred isn’t that bad. cheers from the other side of this ball, where there are no kangaroos 😉

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