Do You Have An Independent Voice?

Social influence specialist to power twitter league table for national paper

This year has been a seminal one for normal citizens to make their mark on politics, business, arts and more – facilitated by social networks and Twitter in general. From the streets of Egypt to the high court in London; from the killing of Osama bin Laden to covering the Royal Wedding, ordinary people have chronicled these events in under 140 characters, both report and setting the national and international news agenda.

In a unique exercise, The Independent newspaper and PeerIndex, the award-winning service for identifying social influence, have teamed up to identify the most powerful Independent Voices of 2011.

The project, which will launch on December 6^th, will ask tweeters to nominate their top sources in eight categories including news, business, celebrity, arts and technology.  PeerIndex will apply their proprietary technology to identify the leading voices in each category.

Richard Askwith, associate editor of The Independent, said: “This has been an extraordinary year for news, and ordinary Twitter-users have played an important role in nearly all the big stories. Some people still associate Twitter with the vapid outpouring of celebrities, but what’s been really noticeable this year is how Twitter has given power, and influence, to ordinary people. We believe that the time has come to honour some people.”

Azeem Azhar, CEO of PeerIndex said: PeerIndex exists because of the Independent Voices on the social Web. Partnering with The Independent to explicitly identify the people’s choice is an exciting way to mark this watershed year.”

About PeerIndex:

PeerIndex enables brands to identify and engage with social media opinion leaders  for product sampling and interaction. Using proprietary algorithmic influence technology, PeerIndex identifies social media opinion leaders with  expertise in specific topic areas, from consumer electronics to fly fishing.  Once identified, PeerIndex can facilitate connections with these influencers in order to drive positive social word of mouth marketing opportunities.  This approach enables brands and agencies to easily and cost effectively integrate influencer marketing into the marketing mix.