On Pulsar, influencers are defined as authors who not only produce a high volume of content but also have a greater than average visibility or exposure, and exert influence around a particular subject. Unlike traditional metrics, we contextualise influence by topic, assessing how impactful people are about a specific subject and within specific social networks.

To evaluate influence, we consider a range of factors, including an author's reach, credibility, trustworthiness, and network quality. We analyze the type of content they produce or publish, allowing you to identify both promoters and detractors. This in-depth analysis enables you to identify and target your social communications precisely at those users who are most likely to amplify your message and those who have the potential to cause harm to your brand.

By leveraging this type of contextual influence analysis, you can identify key influencers within your industry or topic area and develop targeted influencer marketing campaigns. This allows you to reach a highly engaged and relevant audience, increasing brand awareness and driving engagement with your products or services.

You will find information about the Top Influential Voices or Contributors in your search in the Audience Insights section. Here we display the list of people who are most influential about the subject matter in terms of how vocal they are, how big their audience is, how much exposure they get, and how trustworthy or credible they are.

We therefore rank Influencers using the following metrics.

When examining Influence by Volume, we're focusing on authors who are highly active in producing content related to a specific topic. These authors tend to generate a large number of tweets, posts or articles about the subject, making them highly vocal within the conversation. However, while being active and vocal can indicate a level of influence, it's not necessarily a reliable measure on its own. The true measure of influence is also determined by the size of their audience, as an individual's impact can be limited without a substantial following. Passionate discussions alone may not necessarily translate to significant influence without a broad and engaged audience to amplify their message.

When examining Influence by Media Reach, this metric estimates the unique number of people who have been reached by the person's content - the media reach in this case is the number of unique visitors that an outlet or publication gets. So a person writing for the New York Times will have great influence in terms of media reach as opposed to a person writing for a smaller, lesser known outlet. By analysing the leading influencers based on media reach, you can determine the people who are most proficient at disseminating your message to a broader audience.

When examining Influence by Social Impressions, we focus on the authors whose posts garner the maximum number of "eye balls" across social media channels. The goal is to recognise the authors whose content is seen by most people, and this is where the size of the author's followers matters. So unlike influence by volume, an unknown X user with a handful of followers who posts a lot about the US election will have less influence than Elon Musk, whose number of followers is in the tens of millions - all he needs to do is post on X once. The size and engagement of the person's followers are key factors in their influence because their content is consumed and shared by a much larger number of people, including those who don't necessarily follow them but follow their followers. This means these authors can shape public opinion and drive conversation around a particular topic, making them an essential component of any influencer marketing strategy.

Pulsar's proprietary ranking algorithm, Visibility, measures impact by assigning a score to each post, article, or broadcast clip, which is then aggregated by author to determine their overall Visibility score. When examining Influence by Visibility we prioritise authors who tick the following boxes:

While Influence by Reach or Influence by Impressions can indicate someone's influence, Pulsar's Influence by Visibility metric takes into account the type of content and platform on which it is published, recognising that not all platforms are created equal. This makes our Visibility metric one of the most reliable methods for assessing an author's influence around a particular subject.

AVE, which stands for Advertising Value Equivalency, is a method used to determine the monetary value of unpaid content. By using various metrics and calculations, AVE estimates how much it would have cost to advertise a specific article, piece of content, or interview if it had been paid for.

When analyzing influencers using AVE, we focus on the most influential individuals whose content generates the highest AVE. This evaluation is based on the AVE of the outlets where their content is published.

Media Impressions estimate the total number of visits to the outlet or website where an article is published. Much like how Social Impressions gauge the effectiveness of an ad campaign, Media Impressions offer valuable insights into your PR performance.

By evaluating influencers based on Media Impressions, we highlight the most influential individuals in the conversation, which are identified by the highest media impressions generated by the outlets where their content is published.

When assessing Influencers by Credibility, we focus on authors who are writing for specific outlets, typically journalists, and those who are sharing media coverage on social media platforms like X, Facebook, and Reddit. By examining the frequency with which these authors publish or share content from trustworthy or unreliable sources, you can identify users who pose a risk of spreading misinformation. This method provides a deeper understanding of the credibility and reputation of people who discuss your brand or share content related to your brand, enabling you to identify and mitigate potential risks effectively.