Water Security Influencers: Top Individuals and Brands

Faced with a growing population and climate change, the UN has warned that by 2030 the demand for water is expected to exceed supply by about 40%, with half the global population facing water scarcity.

At Onalytica we used our proprietary Influencer Relationship Management (IRM) Software to analyse the social media debate around water security, in order to identify a list of influencers and stakeholders who hold critical authority over the conversation on water security.

We then quantitatively and qualitatively analysed the conversation drivers, providing insight on thematic issues of importance to top water security influencers and how these key influencers are shaping this important conversation to drive awareness and change policy.

TOP INFLUENCERS

With so many competing sectors of society using water resources, it is becoming increasingly complex to negotiate a comprehensive plan to ensure a water secure world.

Encouragingly, social media can now be used extensively as a channel to communicate with and influence community leaders, activists, journalists, non-profit organisations, businesses, and consumers worldwide as they discuss the topic and search for ways to develop collaborative solutions.

TOP 100 INDIVIDUALS

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Rank	Twitter Handle	Name	Influencer Score
1	@BenGoldberger	Ben Goldberger	100
2	@MMFlint	Michael Moore	83.79
3	@ChadLivengood	Chad Livengood	20.01
4	@julia_lurie	Julia Lurie	19.68
5	@jvdet	Jerome Vaughn	15.93
6	@G_Boccaletti	Giulio Boccaletti	13.7
7	@maddow	Rachel Maddow MSNBC	12.87
8	@MarkRuffalo	Mark Ruffalo	10.93
9	@HRappleye	Hannah Rappleye	9.62
10	@markknoller	Mark Knoller	9.13
11	@alisonannyoung	Alison Young	8.64
12	@NehaShastry	Neha Shastry	8.33
13	@kateamarshall	kate marshall	8.19
14	@RyanFelton13	Ryan Felton	7.33
15	@mhopp7	Michael Hopper	6.9
16	@PeterGleick	Peter Gleick	6.86
17	@adrianasdiaz	Adriana Diaz	6.39
18	@jbendery	jennifer bendery	6.28
19	@Delo_Taylor	D	6.18
20	@DaveBondyTV	Dave Bondy	6.02
21	@dakasler	Dale Kasler	5.75
22	@emptywheel	PotholeWheel	5.09
23	@nayyirahshariff	nayyirah shariff	3.96
24	@KentPage	Kent Page	3.51
25	@RyanSabalow	Ryan Sabalow	3.5
26	@JGHillfreep	James G. Hill	3.35
27	@ErinBrockovich	erin brockovich	2.85
28	@greenman3610	Peter Sinclair	2.65
29	@Tehelmin	Brand	2.45
30	@Raffi_RC	Raffi Cavoukian	2.38
31	@ExposingALEC	Ron Rabatsky	2.18
32	@RichardBurr_DN	Richard Burr	1.98
33	@rickpluta	Rick Pluta	1.88
34	@katiecouric	Katie Couric	1.78
35	@NeilNfg	Neil Glasser	1.68
36	@thewatercyclist	Sean Furey	1.54
37	@dejbanlaw	Dejban Law	1.48
38	@DrBobBullard	Robert D. Bullard	1.38
39	@sasha031	Sasha	1.33
40	@SethMSiegel	Seth M. Siegel	1.32
41	@Alex_Verbeek	Alexander Verbeek	1.2
42	@tiffani	Tiffani Ashley Bell	1.15
43	@justinwedes	Justin Wedes	1.15
44	@NWSCMD	Dr. Silver Mugisha	1.1
45	@jilevin	Jeffrey Levin	1.06
46	@rhackley	Randall Hackley	1.04
47	@Sammy_Roth	Sammy Roth	1.03
48	@rebeccampeters	Rebecca Peters	0.9
49	@caulmick	Mick Caul(#not1pipe)	0.88
50	@SoniaFurstenau	Sonia Furstenau	0.86

TOP 100 BRANDS

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Rank	Twitter Handle	Name	Influencer Score
1	@TIME	TIME.com	100
2	@nowthisnews	NowThis	59.97
3	@ajam	Al Jazeera America	21.42
4	@vicenews	VICE News	15.5
5	@ABC	ABC News	14.97
6	@circleofblue	Circle of Blue	14.81
7	@Water	Water.org	14.35
8	@wef	World Economic Forum	12.75
9	@isciences	ISCIENCES, LLC	9.62
10	@Salon	Salon.com	9.4
11	@siwi_water	SIWI	7.8
12	@IWCare	IW Customer Care	6.36
13	@NRDC	NRDC	6.25
14	@EcoWatch	EcoWatch	5.99
15	@wearewater	We Are Water	5.8
16	@oxfordwater	Oxford Water Network	5.68
17	@nwscug	NWSC	5.29
18	@jhbwater	Johannesburg Water	4.81
19	@MotherJones	Mother Jones	4.76
20	@UN_Water	UN-Water	4.73
21	@CECHR_UoD	CECHR	4.43
22	@grist	grist	3.99
23	@greenpeaceusa	Greenpeace USA	3.67
24	@ConversationUS	The Conversation US	3.56
25	@MIAFLCIO	Michigan AFL-CIO	3.46
26	@nature_org	Nature Conservancy	3.11
27	@ifpri	ifpri	2.99
28	@unitedutilities	United Utilities	2.96
29	@scottish_water	Scottish Water	2.9
30	@saveourwater	Save Our Water	2.83
31	@RiskRewardFBN	Risk & Reward	2.82
32	@UNICEFwater	UNICEF Water	2.81
33	@thirstproject	Thirst Project	2.59
34	@WorldBankWater	World Bank Water	2.46
35	@thameswater	Thames Water	2.33
36	@EEPublishing	E&E Publishing, LLC	2.16
37	@FAOclimate	FAO Climate Change	2.05
38	@EnviroNewsTV	EnviroNews	2.05
39	@FresnoBee	Fresno Bee	2.02
40	@IDEtechnologies	IDE Technologies	1.9
41	@Alimdaad	Al-Imdaad Foundation	1.81
42	@OurWaterCounts	Our Water Counts	1.62
43	@EnvAgencyYNE	Env Agency Yorks&NE	1.58
44	@insideclimate	InsideClimate News	1.53
45	@HFUSA	Humanity First USA	1.52
46	@WaterResearchSA	WRC	1.48
47	@GE_Water	GE Water	1.42
48	@DWS_RSA	Water&Sanitation_RSA	1.4
49	@IrishWater	Irish Water	1.34
50	@ensiamedia	Ensia	1.31

MAPPING THE COMMUNITY

To determine which professionals and brands were leading the online discussion on water security, we analysed 517K+ tweets from November 2015 to January 2015. After examining over 189,000 engaged individuals and brands on Twitter and in the blogosphere, we used our proprietary PageRank-based ranking system to identify the most influential brands and individuals driving engagement on water security.

Using Onalytica IRM, we uncovered valuable insight on the engagement patterns of influencers in the water security community, which may be of use to social media strategists, policy developers, politicians, businesses and consumers alike as we work together to develop collaborative solutions to ensure global security, development, and overall human well-being.

Below you can see a network map of the online engagement between our top 100 water security influencers. Be sure to click on the map to enjoy the network diagram in greater detail.

WATER SECURITY INSIGHTS

Water security influencers are highly engaged on a variety of sub-topics affecting the water security community. We determined that there were seven key subjects which dominated water influencer conversations in 2015:

Of the seven subjects most discussed amongst water influencers, Climate Change was the largest debate driver, with water influencers posting about the subject 23,519 times in 2015. Agriculture followed with 23,024 posts by water influencers. Freshwater and groundwater accounted for 22,272 posts, while water influencers discussed drought in 15,097 posts. The remaining three subjects still played an important role in influencer conversations, together accounting for 15% of the share of voice. Water, Sanitation and Hygiene programming accounted for 6,527 mentions, most of which were by non-profit organisations. Water influencers made general references to water scarcity in 4,426 posts, while the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) adopted by world leaders at the UN Sustainable Development Summit in 2015 captured 3,800 mentions.

THIS REPORT (AND HOW TO USE IT)

At Onalytica we know that social media influencers wield genuine power to inform the development of public policy. The myriad of connections and interactions on social media amongst thought leaders play an important role in steering decision-making on some of the most fundamental issues in the world. This report enables communication professionals to unpack the mass debate and understand who the key water security influencers are and how to communicate with them to address the vital issue of water security.

Our in-depth analytical report on Top Water Security Individuals and Brands has been produced as a multi-part series, allowing readers to understand the flow of the debate, which topics this vital audience really cares about, and how they are driving influence on the overall debate and its subtopics. In each section of this multi-part series we will examine the chief water security debate drivers in detail, to help illustrate how our Top Water Security Individuals and Brands are interacting on each subject and shaping key debates within the community.

Stay tuned as we release in-depth insight on each of the key sub-topics deemed critical to water security influencers.

UPDATE: The first part of this series focusing on Climate Change has been released! Click the link to read our report on Water Security Influencers and Climate Change!