Influencer or Agenda Setter

I notice that several of my articles seem to have set off a debate on the 'influencer' issue. Duncan Brown proposes an interesting conundrum of what to do if two trusted influencers disagree under the title Facebook: Agenda setter or over-hyped? He points to an excellent article in the Economist - There's less to facebook and other social network sites than meets the eye - which Duncan infers contradicts my views on the subject. They do in that I would prefer one social and business network profile but with various access settings for family, friends, work colleagues, business contacts etc whereas Tom Standage at the Economist argues that there will be many, many different niche networks. Assuming Standage and I are "trusted influencers" then we clearly agree on the main issue - you have to take social/business networking seriously. i've been banging on about this for a year now and I hope/think I have played my part as an influencer in getting that message through at the highest level.

Steve Ellis at Newmarketing asks an even more difficult question - how do you measure influence? He kindly says that "in the pit of my stomach I instinctively know he (Holway) is a significant player" but says that he has "to measure his (Holway's) 'influence' in order to justify his inclusion in our client's relationship programs. Then I have to measure the impact of those programs to prove their value." I hope if he does find a way of doing that he will share it. It will certainly help in my quest to find how to 'monetise' this 'trusted influencer' thing.