Poulter part of UK's Twitterati

Last updated: 17th December 2009

Ian Poulter is listed at No.16 in a new study revealing the top 20 most influential Twitterers in the UK.

The list was compiled by INQ Mobile following the news that 'Twitter has been named the word of 2009.

Internet news blog Mashable CEO Pete Cashmore is crowned as the most influential person on Twitter, with Stephen Fry at number two and the most influential name in entertainment.

Comedian Russell Brand is at three and Dougie Poytner from McFly at number four.

The Prime Minister's wife is the most influential Tweeter in politics, with Sarah Brown having over one million followers compared to the official Labour party's 8,200.

Andy Murray at number 11 is the most influential sport's personality of the year, just pipping Poulter even though the golf star has far more followers.

The new list, entitled Twitterati, was compiled by phone manufacturer INQ to mark the launch of its 'Chat 3G' phone; a mobile with a Twitter 'feed' running on the homescreen so Twitter addicts are automatically updated when people they are following tweet.

The top 20 most influential people on Twitter are:

1. Pete Cashmore, CEO at Mashable (1.8m followers), influence rating of 81.0
2. Stephen Fry, Entertainer (1.1m followers), influence rating of 76.8
3. Russell Brand, Entertainer (0.6m followers), influence rating of 69.1
4. Dougie Poytner, McFly band member (139k followers), influence rating of 64.2
5. Tom Fletcher, McFly band member (175k followers), influence rating 60.6
6. Eddie Izzard, Entertainer (1.3m followers), influence rating of 55.2
7. Zee M Kane, Editor in Chief of The Next Web (21k followers), influence rating of 47.0
8. Jonathan Ross, Entertainer (461k followers), influence rating of 44.8
9. Richard Bacon, DJ and presenter (1.2m followers), influence rating of 43.9
10.Peter Andre, Singer/Celebrity (390k followers), influence rating of 41.4
11.Andy Murray, Sportsman (110k followers), influence rating of 37.9
12.Calvin Harris, Musician (157k followers), influence rating of 35.4
13.Suzi Perry, Gadget show presenter (29k followers), influence rating of 32.0
14.Sarah Brown, PM's wife (1m followers), influence rating of 31.3
15.Imogen Heap, Musician (1.3m followers), influence rating of 28.6
16. Ian Poulter, Sportsman (877k followers), influence rating of 23.8
17.Tom Watson, MP (6.8k followers), influence rating of 21.8
18.Boris Johnson, Mayor of London (59k followers), influence rating of 20.6
19.Darren Bent, Sportsman (25k followers), influence rating of 20
20.Steven Gerrard, Sportsman (50k followers), influence rating of 19.3

The list was created by identifying the five most popular Twitterers across the five different categories of entertainment, music, politics, sport and technology, giving each an influence rating out of 100.

Their relative influence was then measured by exploring:

* The number of 'tweets' they send
* The number of times they 're-tweet' others' updates
* The number of times that person's updates have been 're-tweeted'
* The number of times they are referenced in other people's 'tweets'

Elaine Quinn, spokesperson for INQ Mobile, said: "Twitter has certainly been the word on everyone's lips in 2009 but nothing has dominated the conversation quite so much as the popularity contest between celebrities.

"In the UK we've become used to hearing stories about celebrities going head to head in the fight for followers with Stephen Fry publicly losing his lead to Eddie Izzard and Richard Bacon.

"However, it actually gets more interesting when you look at who has the most impact. Even though Richard Bacon now has more followers than Stephen Fry, Stephen still holds more influence to date."