The demand for power is undoubtedly increasing, whether that’s home chargers for electric cars, or Alexa reading out recipes in your kitchen, we need power. The odd thing is, that the current power grid is quite old, and with technology (and power sources) evolving, why shouldn’t the grid itself?
WHAT MAKES A SMART GRID SO SMART?
Everything seems to be quite smart nowadays, from our fridges to our kettles. Power grids however, aren’t up to par. The benefits from a smart grid are many, from quicker restoration after a power disruption, to the ability to implement large-scale renewable energy systems. Unsurprisingly, all this new technology will take quite a while to introduce, but it is slowly being introduced into most homes,
Recently, ‘smart meters’ have made their way into a large number of residential properties. What this means, is real-time data from smart meters being sent to utility providers. This leads to network analysis, behavioural analysis and predictive analytics being carried out, which allows outcomes to be managed, whether that be integration of renewables, fault detection or efficiency improvements.
MAPPING THE COMMUNITY
We analysed over 973,443 smart grid-related posts from 1st September 2018 to 31st August 2019. We then identified the top 100 most influential individuals leading the discussion on social media. Below you can see a network map of the online conversation around smart grids. The top influencer Mike Hudema is at the centre highlighted in blue. This map was created using the Onalytica platform. The ranking analyses a variety of personas from industry experts, to social amplifiers and content creators as well as journalists and politicians so there’s quite a mix of influencers that have been identified.
TOP 100 INFLUENCERS
We looked at all the individuals engaging on Twitter to bring you a list of the top influential experts discussing smart grids. Below we have a list of the top 50 influencers discussing smart grid technology online. If you want to see who ranks from 51 – 100 be sure to download the full report by filling the form in below.
| Rank | Twitter Handle | Name | Role | Influencer Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | @MikeHudema | Mike Hudema | Activist | 100 |
| 2 | @drvox | David Roberts | Journalist | 85.75 |
| 3 | @THEnergyNet | Dr Thomas Hillig | Entrepreneur | 76.09 |
| 4 | @mzjacobson | Mark Z. Jacobson | Academic | 72.98 |
| 5 | @KirkDBorne | Kirk Borne | Tech Professional | 70.46 |
| 6 | @RichardMeyerDC | Richard Meyer | C-Suite | 63.42 |
| 7 | @Sustainable2050 | Kees van der Leun | Energy Professional | 61.83 |
| 8 | @simonahac | Simon Holmes à Court | C-Suite | 56.82 |
| 9 | @emilygosden | Emily Gosden | Journalist | 56.53 |
| 10 | @bslotterback | Brendon Slotterback | Energy Professional | 53.02 |
| 11 | @Sammy_Roth | Sammy Roth | Journalist | 52.27 |
| 12 | @CRudinschi | Carolina Rudinschi | Entrepreneur | 51.46 |
| 13 | @MirkoDuesel | Mirko Düsel | C-Suite | 50.59 |
| 14 | @laurentschmitt | Laurent Schmitt | Energy Professional | 48.66 |
| 15 | @mwt2008 | Mark W Tebbutt | Tech Professional | 48.29 |
| 16 | @MikeQuindazzi | Mike Quindazzi | C-Suite | 47.36 |
| 17 | @Kevin_ODonovan | Kevin O’Donovan | Tech Professional | 47.26 |
| 18 | @JigarShahDC | Jigar Shah | FinServ Professional | 46.89 |
| 19 | @DanielPAldrich | Daniel P. Aldrich | Academic | 46.85 |
| 20 | @JesseJenkins | Jesse Jenkins | Academic | 45.82 |
| 21 | @adamvaughan_uk | Adam Vaughan | Journalist | 45.39 |
| 22 | @duncan__c | Duncan S. Campbell | Entrepreneur | 44.59 |
| 23 | @MLiebreich | Michael Liebreich | C-Suite | 43.03 |
| 24 | @Revkin | Andrew Revkin | Journalist | 42.61 |
| 25 | @KetanJ0 | Ketan Joshi | Communications Professional | 42.53 |
| 26 | @AukeHoekstra | Auke Hoekstra | Academic | 41.32 |
| 27 | @grattonboy | Dean Anthony Gratton | Tech Professional | 40.75 |
| 28 | @ProfRayWills | Prof Ray Wills | Academic | 39.8 |
| 29 | @ProfStrachan | Prof Peter Strachan | Academic | 39.61 |
| 30 | @CostaSamaras | Costa Samaras | Academic | 38.64 |
| 31 | @grattongirl | Sarah-Jayne Gratton | Marketing Professional | 38.34 |
| 32 | @TimBuckleyIEEFA | Tim Buckley | FinServ Professional | 38.23 |
| 33 | @JKempEnergy | John Kemp | Analyst | 38.22 |
| 34 | @mcannonbrookes | Mike Cannon-Brookes | Entrepreneur | 34.5 |
| 35 | @BrianVad | Brian Vad Mathiesen | Academic | 34.44 |
| 36 | @KenCaldeira | Ken Caldeira | Academic | 33.44 |
| 37 | @kirillklip | Kirill Klip | C-Suite | 32.77 |
| 38 | @NathanSWallace | Nathan Wallace | Entrepreneur | 32.61 |
| 39 | @MBazilian | Morgan D. Bazilian | C-Suite | 32.24 |
| 40 | @JustinGerdes | Justin Gerdes | Journalist | 31.79 |
| 41 | @kelvinross68 | Kelvin Ross | Journalist | 31.27 |
| 42 | @JMGlachant | Jean-Michel Glachant | C-Suite | 31.18 |
| 43 | @Patricia_Energy | Patricia Schouker | Analyst | 30.56 |
| 44 | @AmyJaffeenergy | Amy Myers Jaffe | Energy Professional | 30.19 |
| 45 | @fogoros | Lucian Fogoros | Entrepreneur | 29.88 |
| 46 | @SolarFred | Tor Alexander Valenza | Entrepreneur | 29.23 |
| 47 | @ELPinchbeck | Emma Pinchbeck | C-Suite | 29.04 |
| 48 | @ElisaWood | Elisa Wood | Journalist | 28.76 |
| 49 | @TeagueEgan | Teague Egan | Entrepreneur | 28.64 |
| 50 | @dan_kammen | Daniel M Kammen | Academic | 28.49 |
Download the Full Report
Disclaimer: As ever with these lists, it must be stressed that the ranking correlates to a strong indication of influence. The individuals listed here are undoubtedly influential when it comes to driving discussion around the above key topics. Onalytica’s PageRank based methodology is used to extract influential experts on a particular topic and takes into account the number and quality of contextual references that a user receives – this allows us to identify Topical Authority (reference) – our priority influence metric. We analyzed topical authority via their social engagement on Twitter and how much influential experts were referenced in association with smart grids on Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, Forums, Blogs, News and Tumblr content. These calculations also take into account a user’s resonance (topical engagement) relevance (number of posts on topic, and % relevance – the proportion of their social content on the topic) and reach (number of followers). If you want to learn more, please read our article that outlines How to identify your target influencers.
At Onalytica we love building these lists and want to give back to our loyal readers as much as we can. If you’re interested in other topics (such as Virtual Reality, Digital Health, Digital Marketing) be sure to have a look on our blog or why not propose some topics to us on Twitter? Effective influencer marketing starts with identifying relevant influential experts for your brand. Onalytica’s Discovery platform mines over 200 billion posts a year into a curated database of over 700K global social media influencers, including data from Twitter, Blogs, Instagram, YouTube, Facebook, LinkedIn Profile Links + Demographic Data. Our software enables you to identify influencers by topic, demographic or content and includes real-time tracking and measurement reporting to scale your influencer relations.