Barack Obama Is Top Social Media Person of 2012

RMN Digital | December 31, 2012 | Americas, Corporate, E-Governance, Masses, Opinion, People, Regions, Surveys | No Comments

Close on the heels of winning the 2012 TIME Person of the Year award, President Barack Obama beats Justin Bieber and Lady Gaga to become the most influential social media person of 2012.

SocialToaster, a social marketing platform, today revealed the results of its 2012 SocialToaster Social Media Survey fielded amongst the 3,000 SocialToaster Super Fans, who are mostly social media professionals.

The survey asked them to rank big names and celebrities by influence and use of social media. President Barack Obama came out on top with 50 percent of those voting ranking him as a social media influencer.

Justin Bieber (38.2%) came in second, followed by Lady Gaga (35.3%), Ashton Kutcher (32.4%), and Anderson Cooper (26.5%).

[ Also Read: Bill Clinton to Use Social Media for P&G Water Program ]

Kanye West and Sean Hannity tied for the third least influential person in social media with a ranking of 11.8%. Madonna (5.9%) was next with Republican presidential challenger Mitt Romney being ranked the least influential person on social media with a ranking of 2.9 percent.

SocialToaster Social Media Survey

Click the infographic to enlarge it.

“As social media becomes more a part of our life, we wanted to determine who was influencing it and what behaviors were considered appropriate,” said Brian Razzaque, CEO of SocialToaster.

[ Also Read: Five Bitter Truths about Social Media ]

Despite the influence of well-known celebrities and politicians, 95% of Super Fans agreed that a social media post from a close friend was most likely to influence them on an important issue.

Family members came next (56.1%) followed by a well-known blogger (39%). Politicians and athletes tied for last place.

When it comes to sharing, an overwhelming percentage (90%) of Super Fans said pictures were most likely to get shared, followed by links (68.3%), quotes (51.2%), and videos (43.9%).

[ Also Read: 10 Most Hyped Tech Offerings of 2012 ]

Studies and statistics (19.5%) were the least likely to get shared. Most Super Fans (85.7%) believe humorous content was most likely to get shared, followed by sports (61%), and politics (48.8%). Only pornography (7.3%) beat Social Media Game Scores (12.2%) as least likely to be shared.

SocialToaster Super Fans also ranked which content would cause them to unfollow someone: