Deirdre Breakenridge

I found a really interesting annual study by Technorati called, “State of the Blogosphere 2011: Introduction and Methodology.” Of particular interest to me was the breakdown of the different types of bloggers and the motivations and consequences for blogging.  If I were to categorize myself in relation to this study, my blogging falls in two [...]

Experience tells us that social media may lead to escalated levels of communication or crisis at any time. Whether a company has contributed to a situation that upsets its customers, information is misunderstood, or there is a malicious attack on the brand, you have to be prepared.

The more I chat with my peers, the more I receive strong feedback about the word, “influence.” In a few conversations, it’s been pointed out that although we all want to know the secret of gaining influence, no one wants to talk about influence.

It’s Friday, so let’s keep it light and fun, yet meaningful.  Today’s topic is influence. Because influence is often difficult to define, I wanted to take an opposite approach to discuss what influence is not.  So here goes…Influence is NOT: About technology or an algorithm that captures a score; influence is about the people and [...]

I’ve been writing about the subject of influence, looking at it from the perspective that influence increases when your peers are personally involved in the rating process.   In order to build your own influence and in order for someone to influence you, certain behavioral characteristics must be evaluated.  These characteristics range from Trust, Passion and [...]

Last week I wrote a post, The Characteristics Index: Rate Yourself, which discussed the attributes or characteristics that you could cultivate to become an influencer.  They ranged from trust and knowledge to motivation and passion.  A very interesting comment on my blog prompted me to write this post.  I can’t thank Lisa Gerber enough for [...]

I’ve been examining the characteristics of an influencer and the rise to influence among a network of peers. I’ve narrowed it down to several characteristics that I’d like to share with you.  Each characteristic has different values, so you can cultivate these attributes on your own.  My philosophy is that if you can rate yourself [...]

I want to move away from the influencer numbers (reach, resonance, relevance) for a moment and focus on the characteristics that “create” an influencer. Do you think it’s possible for an ordinary person (yes, that means you and me), with daily communication to cultivate certain characteristics and become noticed, appreciated, recognized and regarded as someone with influence?