Stephen Downes

Personally I don't hold much truck for the idea of hit counts and the like being equated with 'influence'. Still, this is a decent post describing the concept. Ryan Tracey writes, "I find digital influence intriguing because of its scalability. For example, an expert from Shanghai could influence many thousands of practitioners in China, but is he or she influential in the Asia-Pacific region? Or is the spirit of lists like Bob's meant to highlight people who are influential across the region? Social media can facilitate that." How does one increase influence? Tracey identifies three major ways:

   1. Intend to change other people's behaviour.
   2. Leverage social media to expand your sphere of influence.
   3. Produce original content."