Hard Hat Certified. Best Brands on Twitter

Along with the ongoing explosion of the Twitter Microblogging network (and the eyeballs that come with) come the brands that want to make their presence known with as many influential customers as possible. There are of course countless methodologies on how to judge the quality of a brands twitter account and I'm going to be adding my own into the fold.

The best 3rd party calculation tool I've seen thus far is Hubspots Twitter Grader. It bases its ranking on

• The number of followers you have
• The power of this network of followers
• The pace of your updates
• The completeness of your profile
• ...a few others

I wanted to take this tool even further and judge twitter profiles based on engagement, which I define as a ratio of listening to speaking. Many brands will score in the high 90s in terms of Twitter Grade and I wanted to go deeper to see if they are listening to their audience. The below list is a living document that I will continue to update. I highly welcome suggestions for additions as I know there will be hundreds if not thousands of profiles that are missing. The brands that are deemed "certified" are following at least 50% of their audience and additionally aren't flooding their feeds with automated posts through tools such as Twitterfeed.

PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE Let me know if any of these are out of date or incorrect. I will update ASAP. If you would like to add the "Hard Hat Certified Logo" to your blog/profiles/etc, please feel free to snag the logo HERE

Brand	Twitter Name	Twitter Grader	Updates	Following vs. Followed	Twitter Hard Hat Certified
Accenture	Accenture	95	113	33%
Adrants	SteveHall	99.8	2,235	21%
Allstate	Allstate	52	11	73%
Alltop and Truemors	GuyKawasaki	99.8	13,873	103%	x
Amazon	Amazondeals	99.9	949	0%
American Apparel	AmericanApparel	94	26	108%
ASOS	ASOS_llana	73	48	157%
ATT	ATTNews	99.3	247	0%
Auction Direct USA	AuctionDirect	99.3	2,271	121%	x
Avaya	njkatz	64	242	92%
Bell's Beer	bellsbeer	98.6	35	99%
Best Buy	BestBuyCMO	99.7	630	56%	x
Bigelow Tea	Bigelowtea	86	76	168%	x
Bissel	WeMeanClean	94	54	175%
Blinkx	Kathy_Johnson	99.9	784	31%
Blippr	Blippr	90	306	91%	x
Borders	kevinertell	69	129	102%
Brightkite	Brightkite	100	2,693	3%
Business Week	BWBX	78	105	123%
Buy.com	Buy_Com	93	1,181	63%	x
Carls Jr.	Carlsjr	80	77	179%
Carnival Cruise	carnivalcruise	97.3	370	19%
Chicago 2016	chi2016	87	155	55%	x
Chicago Magazine	ChicagoMag	88	52	75%
Chicago Sun Times	Suntimes	99.6	9,649	113%	x
Chicago Tribune	ColonelTribune	99.8	2,435	80%	x
Circuit City	Circuit_city	94	202	53%	x
Cisco	digitalcribs	96.3	580	109%	x
Clutch Magazine	Clutchmagzine	98.4	160	125%
CME	CMEgroup	90	615	58%	x
CNN	CNNbrk	99.9	501	0%
Craigslist	craignewmark	100	2,011	2%
Comcast	ComcastCares	99.8	18,712	102%	x
Constructive Grumpiness	lenkendall	97.7	2,820	59%	x
C-Span	cspan	99.8	634	57%	x
Dawdle	SachinAG	93	1,187	81%	x
Dell	RichardatDell	99.7	3,417	104%	x
Delta Airlines	Deltaairlines	96	30	17%
Digg	KevinRose	100	1,347	0%
Direct TV	directv	96.5	139	29%
Disney	TheDisneyBlog	99.8	3,336	29%
Disqus	DanielHa	99.7	2,608	19%
Dunkin Donuts	DunkinDonuts	99.2	74	100%	x
EMC	emccorp	94	111	30%
Energizer	EnergiToGo	15	7	600%
ESPN	ESPN	99.7	14,966	112%
Fast Company	FC	99.9	1,660	24%
Firefox	MozillaFirefox	99.7	86	27%
Flip Video	flipvideo	64	13	66%
Ford	FordDriveOne	95.4	222	108%	x
Forrester	Forrester	99.7	445	66%	x
Garmin	JakesJournal	86	378	8%
GE	GE_Reports	85	60	57%
General Motors	Cbarger	93	273	74%	x
Get Satisfaction	satisfaction	92	30	3%
Grey Goose Vodka	GreyGooseVodka	91	73	184%
Grubhub	Grubhub	77	80	75%
Hardees	Hardees	82	242	170%
Harper's Magazine	Harpers	99.2	571	11%
Hayden Harnett	Hayden_Harnett	99.3	2,391	104%	x
Home Depot	HomeDepot	99.6	940	80%	x
Honda	Alica_At_Honda	95.7	151	129%	x
HP	HPHolidayCheer	95.5	86	199%	x
HR Block	HRBlock	97.6	291	128%	x
Hubspot	Hubspot	99.6	374	61%	x
Huffington Post	HuffPost	100	52,909	6%
Hulu	HuluDotCom	95.6	60	149%	x
IBM	AdamClyde	97.6	1,734	88%	x
Inc Magazine	incmagazine	89	50	45%
Intel	Kellyrfeller	99.1	1,080	91%	x
IZEA	tedmurphy	99.9	2,901	39%
Jason's Deli	JasonsDeli	91	353	160%	x
Jet blue	JetBlue	99.5	331	108%	x
Kerasotes Theatres	Kerasotes	97.3	519	194%	x
Kiva	kivacs	81	3	3%
Kodak	KodakCB	98.9	757	106%	x
Lenovo	dchurbuck	97.9	675	36%
LinkedIn	MarioSundar	99.9	3,651	26%
LittleDebbie	LittleDebbie	97.7	186	111%	x
LiveJournal	livejournal	75	24	0%
Marriot	marriottintl	99.1	673	37%
Marvel	agent_M	99.9	8,834	10%
Mashable	Mashable	100	12,429	9%
Mighty Leaf	Mightyleaf	98.9	326	89%	x
Microplace	Microplace	94	39	152%
Mint	dbillian	89	280	141%	x
Molson	ToniaHammer	97.5	955	67%	x
Monster	Vanina	98.8	1,337	14%
Motrin	MotrinMoms	79	35	99%
MSNBC	maddow	99.8	135	4%
MTV	MTV	99.6	61	1%
NASA	NASA	99.9	808	0%
National Wildlife Fed.	NWF	99.4	236	103%	x
Nielsen	nielsencompany	80	277	16%
Nike	nikeplus	93	42	42%
Nordstrom	Nordstrom	95	64	92%	x
NPR	nprnews	99.9	5,646	51%	x
NY Times	NYTimes	100	23,753	0%
Ocean of Tea	oceanoffancy	99.1	434	131%	x
Oracle	Oracle	99.2	325	13%
ooVoo	ooVooSupport	60	43	90%
Opera Browser	Opera	99.4	135	29%
Overstock	Overstockdotcom	98.1	932	132%	x
Pandora	pandora_radio	99.7	526	91%	x
Pleasedressme	pleasedressme	99.8	220	2%
Popeyes	PopeyesChicken	97.3	1,053	90%	x
Portfolio	Portfolio	97.9	11,639	35%
Quicken Loans	Quickenloans	92	332	114%	x
Quizzle	Quizzle	93	148	152%	x
Radian6	DavidAlston	99.8	1,678	89%	x
Revision3	Revision3	99.8	302	41%	x
Rubbermaid	bwdumars	93	871	90%	x
Salesforce.com	successforce	94	512	73%	x
Salvation Army	TSARedKettle	87	151	134%	x
Samsung	SumsungMobileUS	89	68	168%	x
SAP	MarilynPratt	98.6	1,838	60%	x
Seesmic	Seesmic	99.4	173	120%	x
Sephora	sephorablog	93	30	9%
Sittercity	sittercity	97.7	411	131%	x
Six Apart	Sixapart	99.7	376	77%	x
SmartyPig	Smartypig	98.6	283	121%	x
Sony	SonyElectronics	74	16	120%
Southwest Airline	Southwestair	99.7	1,041	89%	x
Sprint	SprintNews	95.1	199	0%
Starbucks	Starbucks	99.6	450	100%	x
State Farm	statefarmins	56	94	76%
Statesman	Statesman	99.7	2,222	94%	x
STA Travel	Statravelers	96.1	281	100%	x
Stumbleupon	gmc	97.7	79	16%
Sun Microsystems	Sumaya	99.5	1,527	88%	x
Suzuki	Suzukiscoop	86	194	209%	x
Sweet Leaf Tea	SweetLeafTea	99.1	336	63%	x
SXSW	SXSW	99.5	80	86%	x
Talent Zoo	TalentZoo	97.1	133	169%	x
Tesla Motors	TeslaMotors	98.8	179	102%	x
Texas Instruments	Txinstruments	88	108	184%
Threadless	threadless	99.9	518	0%
TJ Maxx	tjmaxx	99	306	48%	x
TravelZoo	travelzoo	98.6	416	134%	x
Trip Advisor	mizmaggieb	92	1,516	62%	x
TomTom	Birdman	95.1	2,454	81%	x
TV Guide	TVGuide	99.4	976	75%	x
Twitter	biz	100	2,921	1%
Tyson	Tysonfoods	97.8	248	103%
Urban Outfitters	UrbanOutfitters	81	24	258%
Veoh	dmitry	92	469	28%
Virgin Airlines	Thisishowtofly	99.6	67	15%
Wachovia	Wachovia	99.1	128	25%
Whole Foods	WholeFoods	99.6	849	107%	x
Wine Library	WLDaily	99.7	128	1%
Wired	Wired	99.3	697	0%
Women's Pro Soccer	Womensprosoccer	98.1	171	10%
Wordpress	Wordpress	99.1	63	0%
Yammer	Yammer_Team	99.4	480	110%	x
Yelp	Ruggy_yelp	81	172	78%
Zappos	Zappos	99.7	1,180	116%	x
ZD Net	zdnett	86	14,264	0%

Comments

[schmogel]

a few more brands....

1. obama
2. womensprosoccer
3. some ecards
4. adrants
5. forrester
6. seemic
7.chi2016
8. maddow

i am sure there are more i am missing... but those are a few from my 'following' list.

[CG]

Thanks Erin! Will be adding them asap.

[Jenna]

@Hardees and @CarlsJr are also relative newcomers to Twitter.

[Brian]

@choosemedifast is on twitter too!

[CG]

Thanks Jenna and Brian. They have been added.

[Ann-Marie]

Great post! Don't forget @Quizzle (score of 93) and @QuickenLoans (score of 92) -- both Twitter Elite in Detroit, Michigan!

[jessica]

@Sittercity @comcastcares @directv

[CG]

Thanks Jessica and Ann-Marie. They will be added shortly. So happy people are helping grow this resource out!

[Eric Miltsch]

Great list...

Our company is also on Twitter: @AuctionDirect

[twitter grade: 99]

[Claire]

Great post. Twitter name for Fast Company is FastCompany (does have image of "FC"). FC is the twitter name for Fellowship Church.

[Internet Strategist]

Awesome resource. I've linked it prominently into my compilation of TwiTips Twitter challenge and started one of my own. I hope you'll consider adding your list of Favorite FriendFeed users. I used the challenge URL in the link. There are many great FF lists already posted and also tips for those who aren't using FF yet.

Although it would be a lot of work (and I can see you've already done tons of that above) a list of any of these who use FriendFeed would bring you a lot more new visitors! I hope you'll submit that or any entry. I look forward to seeing it.

[Ann Handley]

Great list! On more: Don't forget MarketingProfs.

[Wendy]

@RedCross is on Twitter, too.

[Shriram R]

http://www.socialbrandindex.com/twitter - Another list of brands using Twitter accounts.

[James]

Thank you for putting this together.

Take a look at @TheMotleyFool and @ScottMonty (Ford). Both do a good job w/ Twitter.

[Dennis Kuntz]

Realestate.com is on as @realtweet

[flowersbyfarha]

@flowersbyfarha is twittergrader ranked today at 95.1 with Follow:following- 134%, and 1916 updates, which by the criteria given above certainly makes me competive with the list, lol!

[AndyJaynes]

@CompetencyMgmt is on Twitter! Has a Grade of 77, need to work on that. Thanks!

[Jason]

Thanks for the great resource, it's nice to see what other brands are doing on Twitter! You might enjoy Dr.MOZ as well:

Brand: Dr.MOZ
Twitter as: drmoz

The Dr.MOZ twitter grade is currently 82, but we've been on for less than a week so we're confident we'll be in the 90's in a few weeks.

Thanks again for the post!
Jason

[Satish]

Some music related brands to add:

@Lifesabeat

@Sonaris

@InternetDJ

@Beatport

@Nimbit

@exabeat

[April Riggs]

Feel free to add Sweet Leaf Tea to the list as well..our score is 98! I'm proud. Thank you for making this list and writing about social networking. Helps a lot of us put this stuff in better perspective for our businesses!

[Anne]

If you consider tourism as a city brand, please add @VisitChicago to the list. Thanks!

[guy stephens]

Great list and idea on trying to add another layer of understanding. Feel free to add the help and support team at Carphone Warehouse - largest independent European mobile phone retailer based in the UK - @guy1067

[John]

@StudentMinistry of LifeWay Christian Resources has a score of 99.1. LifeWay is one of the largest distributors of Christian media in the world.

[Tiffany Monhollon]

Great list! I'm sure it's going to grow and gain incredible authority.

I tweet for an international brand, Express Employment Professionals. Here's our Twitter profile: @expresspros.

And our Twitter grader report: http://twitter.grader.com/expresspros

Our score is 96.3 - great excuse to look it up!