Jared Keller summarizes the results of a new study on online influence in What Fuels the Most Influential Tweets?:

According to co-author Vespignani, having millions of followers does not denote an important message. Rather, the messages with the most immediate relevance tend to have a higher probability of resonating within a certain network than others. Think of it as “survival of the fittest” for information: those tweets that capture the most attention, whether related to a major geopolitical or news event or a particular interest, are likely to persist longer.

This isn’t exactly earth-shattering news, but it’s an interesting study nonetheless (you can find the original research paper here). It shows that online influence is not so much about the number of followers you have, but the relevance the message has to existing current events. So it’s not really about guiding conversations, but about being good at joining whatever conversations are already taking place.