Influence maps:
UN Sustainable Development Goals
There are so many ways to try to interpret the impact of social media activity. We can look at reach, engagement, and a whole load of other metrics - but what do they actually tell us about the influence our social media activity has?
Understanding who has influence - and the ability to influence others - in key topics online can be hugely useful when planning any kind of communications activity.
One of the analysis strands we like to use at Pickle Jar Communications is influencer mapping. This is a process that allows us to take the data from social media interactions and turn it into a visual representation of online influence. From here we can see how communities form and change, in turn helping us to work out how to promote content in a way that will have an impact on that audience.
And when we say “influencers”, we’re not just talking about celebrities or YouTubers with millions of followers (although they can play a role). What we’re talking about here are topic influencers - people and organisations who might hold a pivotal position in niche fields.
We know that many universities are aligning their research to the UN’s 17 Sustainable Development Goals (and even if you’re not working in one of those fields, they’re still hugely worthwhile endeavours). With that in mind, we decided to start mapping out the online discussion in those areas, with the aim of helping the HE sector understand a little more about how these communities interact.
You’ll want to read the information on this page first as an explainer of how the maps work, then you can go and explore the individual map pages.
We’ll be starting with a few of the topics and adding more over time, so keep checking back for the latest updates.
How it works
For each of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals you’ll be able to find influence maps with accompanying commentary and recommendations. On each report page you’ll be able to see the maps in an embedded viewer, so you can explore them in more detail. Sometimes the maps are so detailed that you might need to open them as a PDF to really get down into the details - you can do this by using the little pop-out button in the top right hand corner of the viewer.
We’ll be updating this page regularly, and when we do the report pages will have new maps and updated commentary - so sign up to our newsletter for the latest updates.
Maps
To create these influencer maps, we gathered data from Twitter conversations using relevant keywords in these topics and visually mapped the interconnections within these social media communities.
We have created a series of maps for each topic - one which shows the full picture of conversations and, where appropriate, smaller maps that pinpoint individual communities within the map as a whole. This simply helps us to delve deeper into individual areas and identify those who may hold influence in those smaller communities. These various communities are presented in different colours.
Some definitions
To clarify some of the terms we’ll be using in these reports, here are a few definitions:
The circles on each map (also called nodes) are individual Twitter users.
The size of the circles indicates the importance of that Twitter user within the mapped community, based on the interactions it generates on the chosen topic (mentions, retweets, replies) and the importance of the accounts it interacts with in turn. Within these maps, influence is not simply calculated by the number of followers a user holds.
The lines connecting the circles (also called nodes) represent an individual tweet or other Twitter interaction, such as a retweet.
Colour is determined by clusters of connections based on the individual Twitter interactions and generally indicates common topics of conversation (though in all cases these are related to the topics and keywords used to generate the map). For each topic, we will look at the most influential accounts around which these clusters have formed and the connections between some of the clusters.
Network profiles
Every map is different, but there are still patterns that we commonly see repeated. We’ve given each map some descriptors to help you understand how the conversations in that map are likely to work. A map might have one or more of these.
Dispersed conversations - different groups in the map are very conversational within themselves, but tend to operate independently of each other, only connecting through a few accounts.
Dispersed halos - There are likely to be several important influencers on the map, but they are located at extremes to each other rather than being closely connected.
Central connectivity - the different communities on the map are joined by a central group with connections to those outside it.
Central conversations - the different groups on the map often overlap and interact with each other, creating a mesh of connections.
Central halos - the more influential accounts on the map are clustered together in the centre.
Outlying clusters - although much of the map’s activity is centralised, there are extended conversations that do not connect to the centre
Influencer types
Each map will have a number of important accounts on it. We find that these influencers tend to fall into several overarching categories. Knowing which categories have the most sway in a community helps us to understand how best to engage with that group.
Broadcasters
Although this category includes several media outlets as examples, “broadcasters” are accounts that typically operate in a very one-way fashion – they will provide outward content for their followers but are very unlikely to engage or interact in any way.
Likely to be a hub account in the middle of its own cluster. May generate lots of single mentions that do not connect elsewhere on the map.
Journalists
Those in this category may not actually be journalists, but we use the term for simplicity’s sake. They will typically behave like a “standard” social media user, tweeting or posting about their own activities and sharing links to things that interest them. The big difference between journalists and other social media users is their likely audience size - journalists are likely to have much larger followings.
Likely to be a hub account in a small cluster. Can act as a bridge to other clusters. Likely to generate smaller conversation groups.
Bloggers
Bloggers will operate in a similar fashion to journalists, though their reach is likely to be slightly lower. As well as “standard” social media behaviour, they will also operate a dedicated blog, channel, or business, and a portion of their social media activity will be dedicated to promoting this.
Likely to be a hub account in a small cluster. Likely to generate conversation groups. Far less likely than Journalists to act as bridges.
Activists
Accounts in the Activist category are similar to content creators in that they are people first and foremost. As such their activity can be varied, but their defining feature is that they are known to be active offline as well as on social media. They are highly likely to have specific interests, which may be reflected in their professional life.
Likely to be part of a cluster of similar accounts, grouped around a larger hub. Can act as a bridge between these clusters.
Educators
These accounts are those run by education institutions and similar organisations. They intend to boost the positive impression of their institution online, so they will often act in a similar manner to Broadcasters and focus on their own content and that of their associated accounts from the same institution.
Likely to be a hub account in a small cluster. Likely to generate conversation groups. Will probably be part of a series of interconnected clusters.
Celebrities
Celebrities (and we include in this category managed accounts) are likely to have huge audiences which are incredibly broad in composition. They are less likely to interact with or follow other accounts, but even a single tweet can generate huge exposure.
Likely to be a hub account generating a large number of connections. May generate lots of unconnected conversations away from the main map.
Brands
Brand is a category with a wide catchment, but mostly covers accounts run on behalf of businesses. Followers are less likely to be as invested as those following a charity or campaigner, but the number is likely to be large and the followers may be drawn from quite a broad spectrum.
Likely to act as hub accounts. May generate lots of single mentions that do not connect elsewhere on the map.
Experts
Experts are typically accounts operated by those who are – as the name suggests – experts in their field. Their online activity tends to be focused on their area of expertise, with much less time spent on personal topics than you might see from other categories. They will share links to their work and that of others in their field or organisation.
Most likely to form clusters of small accounts around a larger hub account such as an Educator or Broadcaster.
Raisers
This category consists of accounts whose activity focuses on either awareness-raising or fundraising. This typically equates to charities, but can also cover official accounts of political campaigns, businesses trying to spread word of mouth, and government initiatives at a local and national level.
Likely to act as hub accounts. Might sometimes be surrounded by other smaller hubs of a similar category type. More likely than Broadcasters to act as bridges.
A caveat
We know that Twitter is not the real world. We know it’s only a slice of the totality of what’s out there in the wider social media landscape. But it’s a platform with millions of global accounts, and one that can be easily accessed for analysis. We can use the insights from these Twitter-based maps as a starting point for further investigations - we’d always recommend supplementing any research method with more data. More data is always good.
Next up
We’ll be creating more influencer maps of different topics related to the UN’s 17 Sustainable Development Goals over time, so stay tuned for the next report.
If you are interested in uncovering the key influencers and communities in a certain field or topic, get in touch to talk through your ideas.
And if you want to be alerted next time we look at the influence maps of UN SDG topics, sign up for our newsletter below.