Hard Hat Certified. Best Brands on Twitter
Saturday, November 22, 2008 at 01:05PM 
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PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE Let me know if any of these are out of date or incorrect.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% | |
| 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 |
| 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% |
CG |
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