30 Under 30 Tweeters: Volume 1

To recap the 30 under 30 Tweeters Project, we set out out to find the best tweeters born after 1979 so that there would be a resource out there that people in this category could learn from and aspire to. If you're familiar with the AdAge 150, or the more recent Twitter Power150, this isn't going to be a whole lot different. You could say that #30u30t mirrors the NCAA Top 25 Coaches Poll...except for microblogging.

A revised (and refined) judging system. At the beginning of this process, the intent was to grade tweeters based on 50% human factor and 50% automated. Unfortunately it became very clear that automated tools like TwitterGrader, while extremely useful, put too much stake in number of followers vs. other qualitative factors. Because of this, the judging was changed to 100% human opinion. While this makes the system less precise, in many ways it makes it more fair. Additionally, each person was graded by at least 3 judges to help alleviate any major deviations in opinion. Please be mindful that this is a work in progress. Coordinating 15 judges and reviewing 200 twitter users is TOUGH and the system will evolve as we continue this process. (Please also note that no one was allowed to judge themselves)

The Top 30 Under 30 Tweeters (In No Particular Order). Rather than ranking the top 30 by 1st, 2nd, etc, the people who made the top 30 are listed below as one group of MENTORS. This is not meant to be a competition, but rather a resource. That being the case, giving people a rank would serve no purpose for those we're trying to help here. Congrats to the top 30 tweeters but please know there are tons of smart folks in the entire nominees list:

bchesnutt	chuckhemann	brynajones	db	charlottehrb	angelineasaurus
davefleet	davidspinks	bud_caddell	annakdeleo	annatarkov	calebgardner
cubanalaf	amymengel	detavio	brettkopf	juliaroy	alisond
dan360man	brycemaddock	duanebrown	elysa	drew	jaredotoole
andrewhyde	aerocles	nateriggs	andrewkneale	dshanahan	joemescher

Nominees:

monicaobrien	transitionaltee	sashaHalima	MOgulnick	ksuzj	anavisan
paughginney	chrispowell	sunshineyy	pastelmagick	anastasia_nyc	naveen
kmorr	danosphere	elsiecake	sonnygill	Lgrun	thekenyeung
nishachittal	ryan_drumwright	balemar	watsonk2	ifightdragons	killerxkim
beckyjohns	tmonhollon	kmskala	kbodnar32	larry_t	ltbeyer
davemorin	g_Ro	writerbabe	khartline	houstondesigner	maggieconv
mattwilsontv	hoogs	marina81	stuartfoster	jamielovely	nateerickson
prsarahevans	jamievaron	reviewromance	themediaisdying	mikegermano	ugastephb
danamlewis	lavrusik	TomOkeefe1	apatzer	stacycohen	keidson
ryanmeray	modite	elizcron	junloayza	thescottbishop	sandraproulx
carlsonone	timjahn	justinlevy	justatitch	Kottavio	starfocus
mattchevy	hollyhoffman	iellie	spychresearch	pinkelephantpun	hilaryO
jweiler	cwardzala	pamelump	streamsofhope	promisetangeman	ranajune
sydneyowen	nicklucido	jon_eric	kylefox	brandonzeman	shelbyknox
jillhanner	ryanstephens	mikeschaffer	mikepilarz	candimandi	katyzack
jlaiti	holdenpage	michellealynn	tracytran	johnmerritt	zeek1827
maggiwarner	msaleem	thedaintysquid	catchuplady	lilmissjen	amblass
Sachinag	albertxii	amandagravel	ashleygoldberg	rangelie	kristijoklemm
shoesmitten	brandiheinz	austinlaroche	julieminevich	saraburton	noahbrier
jessio	marketerblog	g_twitty	bensmithee	clayparkerjones	hirshsandesara
sharonfeder	wilkinson	joebangles	nathantriplett	mastermaq

A Special Thanks to our JUDGES: Spanning in age, gender, geography, and profession, these 15 individuals stepped up to help make this list possible. They were each assigned with a substantal group of people and used their valuable time and experience to assess what qualities the above nominees excelled in. I was thrilled that these judges were able to participate in this; the first edition of the #30u30t. I truly hope that some of them will return when we do this again in the future. Please show your appreciation by checking out their Twitter profiles below. (Links are in order of avatars from left to right)

@keidson @arikhanson @dc2fla @juliaroy @allanschoenberg

@mollyblock @ferniezap @ginidietrich @jted @vzrjvy

@redinthecity @madbrad @jamiecalder @brwney @larry_t

Spread the Word. If you would like to share this resource with others on your blog or social profiles I've created a set of badges for judges, nominees, and mentors. They are currently set at 125x125 pixels but I'm happy to resize them for you if needed. Just send a note to LenKendall@gmail.com or message me on Twitter via @LenKendall. 

          

SXSW: Lastly, you may find many of the above, and like-minded individuals sharing their thoughts on my SXSW panel submission: Under 30, Underrepresented at South by Southwest.

Comments

[Chuck Hemann]

Wow. Thanks to the judges for including me in that list. Really is an honor. Thanks also to Len for the idea.

[Alison Driscoll]

Thank you so much for including me in this list, and for providing tons of great people to follow in one place!

@alisond

[Daniel]

Ditto.

(Profound, I know!)

[Duane Brown]

Thanks for having me on the list Len and putting this whole idea together. There are some new people I should check out and follow.

[Lauren Fernandez]

What an honor to be included among so many great people! Thanks for your hard work, Len, and the obvious hard work of all the judges!

[David Spinks]

bwahaha now I have a huge list of people to spam about our #u30pro chat!

I kid I kid...

Truly honored by this. Thanks so much to the judges and to Len for setting this up. Congrats to all the other top 30 under 30, really is a great list, and there are quite a few up there I have yet to connect with!

@DavidSpinks

[Brandon Chesnutt]

I'm absolutely floored to be included on such a great list. Thanks Len!

Brandon
@bchesnutt

[Charlotte Barker]

Thanks to Len and all the judges for compiling such an extensive and beneficial list. Another stepping stone in shedding light on young professionals. I'm honored to be included in a list with such forward thinking individuals. Thanks again and I hope the list is of value to many people. -charlorrehrb

[Maggie Skacan]

wow, I'm so honored to even be included in a list with such amazing people! Thanks Len & the judges for putting this together. I'm definitely going to check some people out that I'm not familiar with.

Maggie
@Maggieconv

[DShan]

I'm totally blown away by inclusion on this list with such great people on Twitter; the nominees too. Thank you so much.

D
@dshanahan

[Angeline]

Wow, I'm totally honored and caught off guard by my inclusion in #30u30t! Thanks so much to Len + all of the judges for putting this together. I'm checking out everyone's profile right now. :) I'll definitely spread the word about the SXSW panel, as I know lots of passionate people under 30 in the social media sphere that are doing incredible things in terms of community organizing, marketing and brand awareness.

[@SpychResearch - Ben Smithee]

Totally honored to even be considered!!
What a great list and a great idea!!!!

Thanks everyone!

[Sydney Owen]

I am super-pumped to be on the nominees list. I'm also interested to learn more about the top 30, since I was previously only following like, 4 of them! What a great way to see a list of fellow tweeters under 30, a whole lot of awesomesauce on this page, Len!

Thanks for thinking of this - like Charlotte said, another way to shed light on how great this generation is!

[CG]

THANK YOU EVERYONE for your support. Whether you judged, sent out a link, or followed someone new on this list, you've helped accomplish the goal of this project. The biggest piece of feedback I got today was that the 30 mentors were composed of many new faces. To me, that means success. While the 5 point grading system I created is far from perfect, its goal was to output a group of individuals that were both smart and varied. This post does not and was not intended to rank anyone, it was meant to be a resource for you. Based on the new connections I've seen being made today, I think it serves that purpose.

Looking forward to Volume 2 in the future. (Interested in being a judge? Leave a comment here.)

[Jamie Favreau]

Congrats to all the hard work Brandon has done. He puts a lot of hard work into all the work he does. I met him in November of 2008 and since then he has grown as a professional and as an influencer. Congrats!

[Brett Kopf]

I'm honored to be included in this group. When @charlorrehrb told me I nearly fell of my seat! I would love to meet everyone in person, I know we're scattered but maybe a conference is in the making? Just a thought.

Looking forward to everyone's updates!

@brettkopf (:

[Charlotte Barker]

Brett (@brettkopf) I think that is a great idea!

[amymengel]

Thanks for including me and giving me a whole new set of interesting people to follow and learn from.

[Stewie]

What a BS list. You only had 200 people nominated? Seems like you missed a few hundred people. I suggest some type of process for continued nominations. There are some obvious rockstars not on the list. Also seems pretty ridiculous for any judges to even be eligible.

Constructive criticism.

~stew4

[Daniel]

Stew: You should submit those people next time around. If this is Volume 1, there will be others. It'll only get bigger.

[CG]

Stew,

Nominations were open for a week. If you could provide the 100 missing rockstars please do, I would be thrilled to add them to Volume 2.

[Bryna]

I'm with @brettkopf and @charlottehrb! Massive tweet-up! Maybe when Len's Under 30 panel gets voted in for SXSW we can all show him our support.

Thanks for including me in the list! I'm pumped. Can't wait for more volumes :)

[Nate Riggs]

Thanks for including me on here! Pretty cool idea. Now we just need to teach a few million more people on Twitter that this is simply a tool for communication (and not BS SPAM). No pressure or anything ;-)

[Josh Rangel]

A friend just told me I was a nominee. I'm honored to be even be mentioned with such a great group of creative minds.

Thank you.

@rangelie

[DShan]

Len,

I'd also love to help out as a judge down the road. Whatever I can do to help this project along; I think it's a wonderful idea.

DShan
@dshanahan

[@MattWilsontv]

Thanks for the nominee. Congrats to all on the list, especially to @JaredOToole coming up big for @Under30CEO

[Jared O'Toole]

Thanks for including me on the list! Great list!

[Laura Marczika]

Thanks so much for including me as a nominee. I enjoy your tweets, and am really excited for more quality tweeters to follow!