What’s in a Twitter Ranking?

For those of us genetically predisposed to be hyper-competitive, the discovery of Twitter ranking services may be a very bad thing. If you’re like me, this revelation can be exponentially compounded if you suffer from O.C.D.  Of course, this is said in jest — remembering everything said in jest generally has some foundation in the truth. Not sure what I’m talking about?  Check out services like Twitterholic.com, Twitterrank.com, or my current favorite, Twitter.grader.com.

There are things that drive me crazy about Twitter.grader.com just like there are things that drive me crazy with the way Google ranks searches.  However, on the whole, Twitter.grader.com gives us more info about how they arrive at a ranking.  Beyond pure ego stroke, what does your grade matter?  From a small business perspective, my measure of how much stuff matters is how it equates to dollars in my pocket.  By that measure, your rank doesn’t mean a whole lot.  However, don’t discount it completely.  From a marketing perspective, how could you use #1 Ranked or Area TOP 10 Twitter Ranked business in your marketing material?  Sounds better than simply “We’re on Twitter”.  Right?  Or, how many local Twitter users use the ranking services to find other local tweeters?  It probably doesn’t hurt to be at the top of the list to be easily found…