Thought Leader or Social Influencer?

As I continue in my adventure, process and journey with social networking both for business and personal, I am intrigued by this designation, of being a social  “influencer”?

Who anointed people as such? What are the criteria for qualifying for this they are using?

People of influence are all around us, under the radar,  unexpected people, who do not have followers, friends, and peeps on  Twitter, Facebook, Linkedin or blog accounts.

By definition an influencer is a noun: “the capacity or power of persons or things to be a compelling force on or produce effects on the actions, behavior, opinions on others”.

Hey folks, there are a lot of negative “influencers” I can site. Dahmer, McVey, Hitler, check out this “Top Ten Evil“. Wow, these are some really bad people, and all of them were “influencers” in a very very bad way!

I saw a feature on MSNBC, about Christopher Rockerfeller, who created a totally false persona, and scammed lot’s of people out of lot’s of money until he was busted. How the hell did he get away with it for several years? Didn’t anyone check him out, or because he had a Rockerfeller name and ran in the right circles, they just assumed he was what he said he was? One person went online to research Chris Rockerfeller, and found out there was a Chris Rockerfeller, from the prominent family, but he had died several years prior. This Chris guy acted out this whole masquerade and people bought into it and handed over “cash” money to him without checking him out!

My point, and I know I may not be getting right to it is..an influencer is a result of being a LEADER that influences others in a compelling way for good not bad.

“Leadership is about influence not control” anonymous

I much rather  prefer the idea of a “thought and action  leader”. This implies that  influence is NOT about a BIG External Persona of amassing followers, friends, subscribers, re-tweets, click backs,  money, cars, houses.

Influence is  about a BIG Internal, authentic, kind, real persona that is used for good.

There are so many thought and action leaders today, who are, through their eclectic experience, wisdom and great work harnessing all of it to help others. It’s ok BTW, to make some money as a result of it.
Steve Jobs, Richard Branson, Bill Gates, Oprah, Ted Kennedy, Sally Ride, Cheryl Dorsey

Enjoy this post from Tamar Weinberg, Techipedia.. ” How to Get an Influencer’s Attention” “Influence is everywhere, but it’s up to you to spot it”

Some impressive new “thought and action leaders” profiled here and doing good.

http://www.techipedia.com/2010/influencer-attention/#ixzz0jZ2ivhp8