Skoring The Silicon Valley Top 100

In case you haven't noticed, we here at PROskore like to rank people.  We rank them according to what we call 'professional reputation' - which is based primarily on quantifiable data involving a persons professional experience and social media influence. A PROskore determines whether a person has a strong background and the ability to influence lots of people, or doesn't.  PROskore rankings are pretty cut and dry.  

A few weeks ago, Business Insider released their annual Silicon Valley Top 100 -  a compilation of people who did what Business Insider considers to be the "coolest things" in Silicon Valley.   The rankings were apparently determined by Business Insider experts who debated each nominee after months of evaluation.  Although it's not clear what Business Insider used to gauge 'coolness', my guess is that it involved a degree of subjectivity among their team.  

After reviewing the Business Insider list, a few of us here began to wonder how much the rankings might change if we generated a PROskore for each of the Top 100... and in the process, what details would emerge about each persons professional background and social media influence / presence.   So, after about 5 minutes of wondering we went ahead and did it... creating a chart that allows you to sort all of the Top 100 across different variables including:  Business Insider ranking, PROskore ranking, Klout ranking, Twitter following, College attended...  In fact, one of the benefits of generating data on PROskore is that we can also run additional reports across other variables such as location, industry, and more.

Although we're comparing apples to oranges (i.e. B.I. measuring coolness vs. PROskore measuring reputation and influence), there were some interesting statistics to report including:  

1. The average PROskore of the Silicon Valley 100 is 67
2. The average Klout score of the Silicon Valley 100 is 50*
3. Of the Top 10, only one (Bradley Horowitz #4) ranked in the Top 10 for both lists.
4. Of the Top 20, seven were ranked in Top 20 for both lists.
5. 30% of the Silicon Valley Top 100 attended Stanford University
6. 20% of the Silicon Valley Top 100 attended Harvard University
7. 7% of the Silicon Valley Top 100 did not complete a Bachelor's Degree
8. Over 60% do not have a Google+ profile.

Below is a list of the Silicon Valley Top 10 as ranked by PROskore.  To view the complete breakdown of all Top 100 visit PROskore Labs or CLICK HERE >>

The 2012 Business Insider Silicon Valley 100 as scored and ranked by PROskore

The Top 10

View All Top 100 >>

*note:  20% of the Top 100 did not have a Klout score and are not included in our calculation).

Jeremy Lin Scores 79 on PROskore

Earlier this week I spent a few days in New York City attending Social Media Week. I used the week to make a few in-roads into the NY technology scene... and quite frankly to re-energize my batteries (it gets lonely down here in Florida).  In short, I met lots of cool people doing lots of cool stuff.  Mayor Bloomberg's goal of NYC surpassing Silicon Valley as the "go to" location for high tech startups may well be within reach.  I know we (PROskore) are taking a hard look...

My biggest memory of Social Media Week however will be the emergence of Jeremy Lin as an NBA superstar and global icon.  He's literally all anyone in New York (and around the world) has been talking about.  Twitter and other social networks are awash in Lin-sanity.  According to General Sentiment, Lin generated nearly 3 million mentions on Twitter in less than one week. Think about it... that's an increase of 3 million Lin mentions from the week before (i.e. he basically had none!).  

No other athlete has ever illustrated the power of social media so quickly.  Not Tebow, Lebron, Brady... In other words, Lin is the poster boy for Social Media Week in New York City.  It was great to be there when it happened.

Okay, so we know Lin is lighting up NBA scoreboards.  But how does he fare on the PRO skoreboard?  I thought you'd never ask.  :)

View Jeremy Lin's PROskore profile here

Lin By The Numbers:
Twitter Followers:   400,000
Facebook Fans:  700,000
YouTube Views:  4,600,000
LinkedIn Connections:  49 (there's discrepancy over whether the profile is actually Lin's)
Google+ Followers:  NA
Highest Degree Earned:  Bachelors in Economics (Harvard)
Work Experience:  Point Guard for the New York Knicks
Earned Extra Points For:   Dropping 38 on Kobe and the Lakers
Klout Score:  83


PROskore = 79

For more information about the impact Lin is having on social media check out:   http://www.npr.org/2012/02/15/146955598/lin-vs-tebow