Shashi Tharoor: Twitter impact down by 59%
By Techgirl

Twitter, on its official website, describes Indian Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Shashi Tharoor, as one of its ‘Advocates’ in India.  Shashi Tharoor on his Twitter account describes himself as author, humanitarian, peacekeeper, columnist, former UN Under-Secretary General and now Minister in Indian Government.

To his credit, more than 750 thousand Twitter users follow Shashi’s Tweets. Shashi’s tweets are intelligent and engaging although he does not mind in using them to promote himself. 

Web Analytics Demystified, Inc. is one the world's premier consulting firm for web and digital analytics strategy. Its statistics are regularly quoted in New York Times, Cnet, Wall Street Journal, CNN and PBS.

Web Analytics Demystified runs software platform Twitalyzer which Twitterers use to  ‘track their use of Twitter over time, benchmarking themselves against other Twitter users, and helping to determine which social media strategies are working (and which are not.)’.  Twitalyzer is currently tracking more than 400 thousand Twitterers.

In Dec, 2009 when I used Web Analytics Demystified tool Twitalyzer to analyze Shashi Tharoor’s account, all the elements like Impact, Engagement, Influence, generosity and clout were positive. According to Twitalyzer, of the 5 key Twitter influencers on Shashi Tharoor, 3 are powerful, successful women.  These women include highly regarded journalist Barkha Dutt, Tech super executive Padmasree and Delhi based super blogger Twilight Fairy.

That was in Dec, 2009.  How times have changed!

It is public knowledge that Shashi Tharoor’s intelligence, charisma and growing influence has lead to some jealously in the Government.  On the other side, he does tend to sometimes Twitter before thinking of its possible ramifications.  The first incident of Twitter foot in mouth was when Shashi Twittered about flying cattle class in solidarity with the holy cows.  Then there was his asking Indians why we should have a holiday rather than work harder on Gandhiji’s birthday.

The most recent gaffe was when Shashi Tharoor described Saudi Arabia as a ‘valuable interlocutor’ in our talks with Pakistan.  After maintaining a silence for a few days, the Congress Party gave him a clean chit in early March, 2010.  Apparently, after his latest media blow up, Shashi was warned to avoid controversy at all costs.

And you could see the difference in Shashi Tharoor’s tweets since early March, 2010.  They are now more subdued and mechanical. The spark has gone in a man who loved to engage his Twitter followers.

I used the Twitter analysis tool Twitalayzer on March 11, 2010 to analyze Shashi Tharoor.  As you can see from this image (at the top of the article) his Impact has dropped by 59 percent, Engagement down by 1 percent, Influence down by 59 percent and generosity reduced by 49 percent.  His clout remains at 100 percent.

All the signs are that Shashi is becoming part of the system.

Techgoss note:  Techgirl is a senior Tech journalist who reports on the IT, KPO and KPO Sectors for a leading media house.  In her spare time, she dabbles in satire in her blog http://techgirltalk.blogspot.com