Taking Sciencebase to the Top #takingsciencebasetothetop

August 27th, 2009 by David Bradley >> 11 Comments

I just mentioned in passing that I was two slots below Stephen Fry in the UK twitterati (for the second day running). Seems quite amazing really for a humble science writer to reach such giddy heights. Those saddos among us who waste precious minutes checking our ranking in Twitter Grader can easily get hung up on not being in the Top 50 for our region, but it’s nice to be in such esteemed company as @wossy, @beverleyknight, and @davegorman.

Being in the top 50 is usually short lived and seems to happen if there’s been a burst of twitter activity surrounding my username @sciencebase. @Doc_Remy, very kindly tweeted our Les Paul guitar tribute and my “No Stairway“, a silly acoustic version of the Zeppelin classic done as a tribute to Page, Wayne, and bungalows.

Anyway, I mentioned my sudden high-ranking position to my good buddy @AndrewSpong, who then suggested that he’d like to get @sciencebase to #1, or at least #25 in that top 50 of UK twitter users. He has very kindly initiated a campaign and created a hashtag to complement it – #takingsciencebasetothetop – in the name of #science.

The Sciencebase army had grown to well over 3 members (4, actually) at the time of writing and is still going strong. I’m not sure I want to be on top of @TheBoyGeorge or underneath @wossy but next to @BeverleyKnight would be okay, so please feel free to join the ranks…

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Andrew Spong // Aug 27, 2009 at 11:21 am

Happy to be a loyal foot soldier for the cause. As long as it doesn’t hurt, I get to lie down a lot, and my water bottle is filled with Laphroaig.

Onwards, ever onwards comrades, #takingsciencebasetothetop in the name of #UK #science and for the glory of 25th place!

I could have chosen a snappier hashtag, eh?

Just one final thing: when are the scheduled tea-breaks?
David Bradley // Aug 27, 2009 at 11:30 am

I’m off to walk the dog now, so feel free to take a teabreak and I’ll expect to see I’m #1 on my return. ROFL
David Bradley // Aug 27, 2009 at 3:39 pm

Well, both StephenFry and sciencebase have dropped a few slots since I wrote this post, new entries have sat on us it seems, although my grade is still 100.00
Andrew Spong // Aug 27, 2009 at 3:43 pm

Ah well.

Perhaps the Revolution will start tomorrow. Either that, or after the bar closes.
David Bradley // Aug 27, 2009 at 5:01 pm

I’ve been in the top 50 before, I don’t think their algorithm is particularly forgiving of quiet patches, so unless there’s a sudden surge of interest in my No Stairway cover, I think I’ll be gone by tomorrow. Or if I tweet an LHC black hole cold fusion scoop or something similar…
David Bradley // Aug 28, 2009 at 11:08 am

Despite receiving a cheeky tweet from @theboygeorge in response to my lewd comment, it looks like, as I predicted, I’ve dropped like a stone. For a moment, I was 653rd out of 3million+ twitter users and sat at #29 for UK twitters for a couple of days. Like I say it’s flurries of activity that get you your 15 pageviews of fame. There’s just no way for us plebs to compete with the clebs on a long-term basis…
David Bradley // Sep 3, 2009 at 9:53 am

It’s such a fickle system. I’ve been in and out all week, but currently two slots above @TheBoyGeorge who hasn’t tweeted me since…hope he’s not sulking.

That said, I just checked again and I’ve gone up a few more places to #43 and George has overtaken me. However, I’m now above @StephenFry who has dropped to #50

Michelle Williams (never heard of her) is #1 @teemwilliams
David Bradley // Sep 9, 2009 at 11:27 am

By the way…while I feel some sense of gratification at getting into a Top 50 and having a decent-looking rank on these various systems, they really are entirely meaningless. Their values change on a whim and so there is really no kudos to being #29 for five minutes and then dropping down to #4365 immediately after, and then back to #923 or whatever.

These ranking tools are as fickle as the young-peoples’ popular music charts, but at least those remain fixed for a week, so that you get some fame for longer than 15 minutes…
Andrew Spong // Sep 9, 2009 at 11:33 am

You’re right of course, David, and the somewhat sarcastic way in which we conducted what I’d like to refer to as The Great Campaign hopefully signified to anyone watching (and seeing as all these comments are between you and me, I suspect that’s… well… no-one ) that gaming the numbers is the antithesis of what makes social media so great.
David Bradley // Sep 9, 2009 at 11:57 am

Exactly But…it is nice to be nearer the top of a list than at the bottom, isn’t?
David Bradley // Nov 3, 2009 at 8:02 pm

Well, after languishing outside the Top 50 for a few weeks now, having been overtaken by what look like a lot of spammy, scammy tweeps, seems I’m back in at #41 once more…