This may be the last follower report I do, depending on the response. As mentioned before, this script takes 6 hours to run and a bit of data massaging time. As I hinted at last week, @jesta's been hard at work and recently launched a tool to track these changes over time called SteemDB. Also @heimindanger's excellent tool Steemwhales now tracks follower counts as well.
Steemdb.com
Steemwhales.com
That said, I do enjoy looking at this data in terms of a competitive analysis over time which neither of these tools yet do. Let me know in the comments what you think as far as if this report is still useful.
Rising Stars!
These accounts have moved up the ranks the most since the last report.
@penguinpablo +65
@charlieshrem +43
@drinkzya +41
@serejandmyself +38
@emancipatedhuman +30
@steve-walschot +20
@sirwinchester +15
@barrycooper +14
@alexbeyman +12
@royaltiffany +12
@falkvinge +11
@steemdrive +11
New Accounts This Week
These accounts are not only new to Steemit this week, but they've landed right on the top 100 most followed list (and well deserved, IMO)!
@rogerkver
@tracemayer
@adamkokesh
The "Trying Too Hard" List
This may be a bit controversial, but these accounts appear to be trying too hard (IMO). They either purchased followers or they follow thousands and thousands of accounts and are the recipients of the "follow back" effect. Either way, I've chosen to exclude them from the list because, IMO, their content is not at the same level as others on this list who grew their follower count organically. As more people game the follower report (or are the victims of follower bots), this information will become less useful for determining who others are interested in listening to.
@freedomnow
@steemitmarket
@always1success
@rook
@arnoldwish
@ivanba12
@skyefox
TOP 100 USERS BY FOLLOWER COUNT
| Rank | Change | Account | Number of Followers | Change | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | @dollarvigilante | 2364 | +460 | 19% | |
| 2 | @dantheman | 1469 | +239 | 16% | |
| 3 | +1 | @larkenrose | 1171 | +304 | 26% |
| 4 | -1 | @stellabelle | 998 | +104 | 10% |
| 5 | @lukewearechange | 984 | +146 | 15% | |
| 6 | +1 | @corbettreport | 938 | +187 | 20% |
| 7 | -1 | @dan | 901 | +101 | 11% |
| 8 | @gavvet | 851 | +121 | 14% | |
| 9 | +11 | @steemlinks | 822 | +337 | 41% |
| 10 | -1 | @ned | 821 | +187 | 23% |
| 11 | +11 | @falkvinge | 723 | +246 | 34% |
| 12 | +7 | @dragonanarchist | 710 | +221 | 31% |
| 13 | -2 | @sterlinluxan | 698 | +129 | 18% |
| 14 | -4 | @cryptoctopus | 683 | +79 | 12% |
| 15 | +43 | @charlieshrem | 641 | +332 | 52% |
| 16 | -1 | @blocktrades | 640 | +122 | 19% |
| 17 | +8 | @dragonslayer109 | 639 | +170 | 27% |
| 18 | +9 | @kevinwong | 628 | +162 | 26% |
| 19 | -7 | @donkeypong | 620 | +92 | 15% |
| 20 | -6 | @masteryoda | 617 | +93 | 15% |
| 21 | -8 | @craig-grant | 606 | +82 | 14% |
| 22 | +15 | @sirwinchester | 596 | +184 | 31% |
| 23 | +3 | @heiditravels | 590 | +123 | 21% |
| 24 | -7 | @xeroc | 588 | +79 | 13% |
| 25 | -2 | @roelandp | 585 | +108 | 18% |
| 26 | -10 | @piedpiper | 580 | +63 | 11% |
| 27 | -9 | @cryptogee | 576 | +73 | 13% |
| 28 | +14 | @barrycooper | 572 | +189 | 33% |
| 29 | -5 | @andrarchy | 569 | +96 | 17% |
| 30 | -2 | @fyrstikken | 569 | +105 | 18% |
| 31 | -2 | @berniesanders | 562 | +101 | 18% |
| 32 | -11 | @clains | 546 | +62 | 11% |
| 33 | +1 | @jacor | 541 | +113 | 21% |
| 34 | -4 | @tuck-fheman | 534 | +78 | 15% |
| 35 | -2 | @kaylinart | 524 | +96 | 18% |
| 36 | +8 | @fairytalelife | 517 | +143 | 28% |
| 37 | -5 | @jamtaylor | 515 | +73 | 14% |
| 38 | -7 | @complexring | 504 | +57 | 11% |
| 39 | @infovore | 497 | +98 | 20% | |
| 40 | -2 | @smooth | 496 | +94 | 19% |
| 41 | -6 | @pfunk | 489 | +65 | 13% |
| 42 | +6 | @jesta | 488 | +125 | 26% |
| 43 | -7 | @arhag | 485 | +61 | 13% |
| 44 | +8 | @cass | 475 | +126 | 27% |
| 45 | -5 | @steemed | 464 | +70 | 15% |
| 46 | +4 | @pressfortruth | 464 | +105 | 23% |
| 47 | +7 | @knozaki2015 | 460 | +130 | 28% |
| 48 | -2 | @hisnameisolllie | 460 | +97 | 21% |
| 49 | -2 | @dana-edwards | 457 | +94 | 21% |
| 50 | -7 | @pharesim | 455 | +80 | 18% |
| 51 | -2 | @anwenbaumeister | 449 | +87 | 19% |
| 52 | -11 | @rok-sivante | 443 | +50 | 11% |
| 53 | @rogerkver | 437 | |||
| 54 | -9 | @anyx | 432 | +67 | 16% |
| 55 | @steempower | 428 | +104 | 24% | |
| 56 | -5 | @ozchartart | 427 | +77 | 18% |
| 57 | -1 | @lukestokes | 422 | +103 | 24% |
| 58 | -5 | @modprobe | 413 | +67 | 16% |
| 59 | +20 | @steve-walschot | 410 | +177 | 43% |
| 60 | +4 | @ericvancewalton | 407 | +118 | 29% |
| 61 | -1 | @the-alien | 404 | +101 | 25% |
| 62 | +5 | @calaber24p | 390 | +113 | 29% |
| 63 | +2 | @officialfuzzy | 385 | +104 | 27% |
| 64 | -2 | @steemzine | 383 | +86 | 22% |
| 65 | @tracemayer | 380 | |||
| 66 | +4 | @jaredhowe | 373 | +122 | 33% |
| 67 | -4 | @kencode | 364 | +69 | 19% |
| 68 | -2 | @liberosist | 355 | +76 | 21% |
| 69 | -10 | @steemrollin | 351 | +47 | 13% |
| 70 | +30 | @emancipatedhuman | 345 | +158 | 46% |
| 71 | -10 | @ash | 337 | +34 | 10% |
| 72 | -15 | @federicopistono | 327 | +18 | 6% |
| 73 | +7 | @katecloud | 318 | +89 | 28% |
| 74 | +41 | @drinkzya | 314 | +142 | 45% |
| 75 | +1 | @opheliafu | 314 | +79 | 25% |
| 76 | +5 | @thecryptofiend | 312 | +83 | 27% |
| 77 | -8 | @sean-king | 312 | +47 | 15% |
| 78 | +12 | @alexbeyman | 307 | +101 | 33% |
| 79 | -2 | @joseph | 306 | +71 | 23% |
| 80 | +11 | @steemdrive | 305 | +100 | 33% |
| 81 | -8 | @clayop | 302 | +55 | 18% |
| 82 | -7 | @nextgencrypto | 299 | +62 | 21% |
| 83 | -15 | @crypt0 | 295 | +21 | 7% |
| 84 | -10 | @condra | 294 | +54 | 18% |
| 85 | @adamkokesh | 292 | |||
| 86 | -14 | @steemship | 292 | +43 | 15% |
| 87 | +7 | @hilarski | 289 | +92 | 32% |
| 88 | -10 | @lauralemons | 288 | +53 | 18% |
| 89 | -5 | @blueorgy | 285 | +67 | 24% |
| 90 | -19 | @steemitblog | 281 | +30 | 11% |
| 91 | -2 | @daxon | 274 | +68 | 25% |
| 92 | -7 | @abit | 273 | +57 | 21% |
| 93 | -7 | @blakemiles84 | 269 | +54 | 20% |
| 94 | +38 | @serejandmyself | 267 | +114 | 43% |
| 95 | -13 | @nanzo-scoop | 265 | +37 | 14% |
| 96 | +65 | @penguinpablo | 264 | +131 | 50% |
| 97 | +4 | @razvanelulmarin | 260 | +75 | 29% |
| 98 | -3 | @bridgetbunchy | 258 | +62 | 24% |
| 99 | -16 | @jl777 | 256 | +38 | 15% |
| 100 | +12 | @royaltiffany | 246 | +72 | 29% |
Overall Stats
| Count | Change | % Change | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Total number of accounts: | 75,142 | +6,518 | +9.5% |
| Accounts with at least one post: | 24,650 | +2,363 | +10.6% |
| Accounts with at least ten followers: | 3,766 | +1,543 | +69.4% |
Previous Reports
Personally, i think all available data is valuable. What would be really valuable imo is if this data could be filtered to eliminate spam accounts. This would take some creative data manipulation. For example you could eliminate all inactive accounts and set some thresholds for eliminating likely spam accounts as well. Not sure if others will find such information valuable, but it seems like it would potentially be more useful than the raw data itself, especially follower counts seem to be highly spammed these days.
Great point, @trogdor. That's what I've started to do with the "trying too hard" list. For the most part, those accounts just bubbled to my awareness in an "Wait, that can't be right" sort of way. True human inactivity is a difficult thing to measure. Those accounts can post regularly and even vote up their own stuff (and comment too) via other bots to make it look like they are real, active accounts. I'm thinking the payout amounts are currently the only way to know what's real and what's fake (or, at the least, what someone spent a lot of money purchasing influence to produce). If someone has hundreds of followers but no content paying out more than a few cents, that makes me suspicious. At the same time, it is possible for someone real to go unnoticed by the whales. It's a difficult challenge to provide meaningful data as opposed to just raw data.
Good point. I wonder if it would be possible to make use of the reputation scores too. For example, if someone has rep 25 and 100 followers, that's a pretty clear red flag, unless it's some whale account that has very low activity but followers nonetheless for celebrity status. Then again you don't want to discount new members either. One thing that could be interesting to look at would be total steem power of your followers. That is an easy way to solve the sybil issue, i think.
Ah, I like that! It would also emphasize the very real incentive to purchase influence here which can drive up the price of STEEM by creating more of a demand for Steem Power. I may have to play around with that idea. Instead of going off of numbers like "has 10 followers" maybe I could look into something like "has more than the initial starting Steem Power balance."
Great ideas, thank you! Now I'm thinking a programatic look at this data may still be useful.
I've been followed by some of those people who follow thousands. The follower page on Steemit could be expanded to show more details about them, e.g. their follower and followed counts. I've seen this sort of 'follow spam' on other sites.
Even the top people have small followings compared to sites like FB/YT/Twtr. Steemit only has about 75k users. It will be interesting to see how it scales to millions.
Yeah, expanded follower details would be fantastic. I've been thinking how cool it would be to expand the username popup to show some stats along with the follow/mute buttons. A summary of post count, followers, and followed.
Do you think they will add the ability to set up a proper profile? It should be optional of course. I'd like to see the ability to verify yourself as Keybase does.
Hmm, not sure. Sounds like a good idea though.
Great! I'm in the process of editing a steemwhales vlog, I will link this for the stats info :)
Very cool, thanks @beanz!
Hey I'm in the top 100:)
Indeed you are and well deserved! You were highlighted as a rising star a couple reports ago.
Thanks sorry I missed it am finding it hard to keep up with everyone's posts:)
Dollar Vigilante is a social media sensation.
That's what happens when you work daily for years to build a following while providing valuable information in an entertaining format. He's a smart dude, for sure.
Yep. Developing an audience is a form of capital.
Very well said! Thanks for stopping buy to leave a comment and congratulations again for making such a a splash with your steemit debut. A well deserved expression of the capital you have earned.
I'm really going to miss you posting these. :(
Last week you ran me, I had a growth of 28% -- all of it was organic. Wondering if you could look at me again.. I've gotten some surprising growth lately, and I've only mentioned to 1 single person they should follow me for an upcoming post. No one else.
Thanks...
Thanks for the encouragement. I'll keep that in mind.
Looks like your growth rate percentage wise is increasing and you have moved up a few spots, but there's just so much competition at this point.
➜ Reporting git:(master) ✗ php FollowerStatsTest.php | grep 'intelliguy' | 307 |+4 | @intelliguy |109 |+34 |31%|Also, those who are popular get more popular much faster than others can get noticed. Maybe I should run a report on who's moving up the most percentage wise? The challenge becomes, whatever we measure and reward becomes a target for people to game the system.
Also, as mentioned in the post, you can now track your own growth in follower count using Steemwhales and Steemdb.
You put @adamkokesh on the same category as @dollarvigilante and @tracemayer? Pffffttttt ... I might have to start vlogging videos of myself in a sleeveless shirt while talking out my ass so I can move up in the ranks.
Kokesh has yet to respond to the accusation that he is a FBI/Russian double agent who has been ousted by whistleblower Donald Marshall
If by "same category" you mean I reported on the results of statistical data, then yes. In his first week on Steemit, he made it to the top 100 list.
As to accusations about him being an FBI/Russian double agent... that's a new one for me. Do I need to get my tin hat on to research that more? Adam has been building a following for a very long time and yes, he did have some stuff on RT. Having content on RT does not qualify someone as being a Russian spy. :)
Wow, I made it to your list :-)
Thank you @lukestokes for your mention as a Rising Star. I feel honored :-)
If you publish more original content, I think you'll do well financially also. ;)
What scares me is the # of accounts vs. the # of account with atleast one post.
Only 1/3 of total accounts have a post. That doesn't seem like a whole lot of participation.
Does that mean we have 10s of thousands of bots. Or 10s of thousands of people that are just invested in steem with their fiat $$$???
It most likely means we have 10s of thousands of people who created accounts (just to reserve their preferred name), but have no interest in investing in yet another social media platform until the network effect is there and their friends ask them, "Hey, are you on Steemit yet?" and they can reply, "Well of course, I created an account way back in August."
I've done it myself on multiple social media platforms. I reserved an account... never found a reason to go back.
As for some investing in steem via their fiat, I have zero problem with that, just as I have no problem with them investing in any other cryptocurrency. A steem account isn't just a social media account, it's also a wallet and, in a sense, a bitcoin address (but for steem).
It could also mean there are 10's of thousands of bots too. :)
I have one of those accounts with no posts. I can't write well and have no time or interest in writing original content. I do value the content provided by others and created an account and purchased a modest amount of steem with bitcoin to be able to upvote and support them.
Creating high quality original content takes a lot of work and is not for everyone! That is where Steemit's model of rewarding curators and people who make comments is so awesome.
Thank you Luke for present these interesting stats! :)
You're welcome!
why @steemlinks isn't in "Trying Too Hard" List? =)
Yep, looks like another questionable account. Thanks!
Why "steemitmarket1"? Are you also steemitmarket? Are you adding more follower spam to the network?
Thank you for the update Luke!! I know how much time this type of work takes. I follow about 20 people per day. If 25% follow me back I am thrilled.