RightRelevance helps find key topics, top influencers in Big Data, Data Science, and Beyond

Comparing with Data Science list we see a large overlap with Data Science and most ranking are similar. Both are led by rock star Data Scientist Hilary Mason.

Those with higher Data Science influence are

• dj patil (we could not find his entry for data mining )
• Chris Dixon
• danah boyd
• Mike Bostock
• Doug Laney
• Michael E. Driscoll
• Mike Gualtieri
• Werner Vogels

While those with higher Data Mining influence are

• Nathan Yau
• Peter Skomoroch
• Gregory Piatetsky
• Ben Lorica
• O'Reilly Strata
• Drew Conway
• Monica Rogati
• David Smith
• Merv Adrian
• Tableau Software
• Claudia Imhoff
• Ryan Rosario
• Andy Kirk
• Jure Leskovec
• Edward Tufte

Here is a combined list of top 30 Data Science and Data Mining Influencers.

In few cases when influence for that topic was not found (shown in gray and italics), we put a value of 5 less than the lowest influence for any topic for that person).

 

Table 7. Top 30 Data Science/ Data Mining Influencers

N	Name	Twitter	Followers	Data Science Influence	Data Mining Influence	DS/DM avg influence
1	Hilary Mason	@hmason	59,551	98	98	98
2	Nathan Yau	@flowingdata	47,950	93	95	94
3	Jeff Hammerbacher	@hackingdata	22,055	93	93	93
4	Peter Skomoroch	@peteskomoroch	24,124	92	94	93
5	Gregory Piatetsky	@kdnuggets	36,636	91	93	92
6	Ben Lorica	@bigdata	25,980	91	92	91.5
7	Kirk Borne	@kirkdborne	34,394	91	91	91
8	Big Data Science	@analyticbridge	96,377	90	90	90
9	Doug Laney	@doug_laney	29,472	90	89	89.5
10	Drew Conway	@drewconway	13,320	89	90	89.5
11	O'Reilly Strata	@strataconf	25,165	89	90	89.5
12	Mike Gualtieri	@mgualtieri	46,831	89	88	88.5
13	Monica Rogati	@mrogati	13,818	88	89	88.5
14	John Myles White	@johnmyleswhite	12,738	88	88	88
15	David Smith	@revodavid	15,796	87	89	88
16	Claudia Imhoff	@claudia_imhoff	17,393	86	89	87.5
17	Ryan Rosario	@datajunkie	11,489	86	89	87.5
18	Merv Adrian	@merv	20,361	87	88	87.5
19	Tableau Software	@tableau	59,683	86	89	87.5
20	Eric Kavanagh	@eric_kavanagh	45,148	87	87	87
21	Jure Leskovec	@jure	11,857	82	92	87
22	IBM Big Data	@ibmbigdata	83,224	87	86	86.5
23	Andy Kirk	@visualisingdata	19,989	85	88	86.5
24	Rick Sturm	@rick345	15,383	86	86	86
25	danah boyd	@zephoria	109,376	90	82	86
26	Bernard Marr	@bernardmarr	83,129	86	85	85.5
27	Werner Vogels	@werner	70,849	88	83	85
28	dj patil	@dpatil	27,495	92	77	84.5
29	Mike Bostock	@mbostock	29,960	90	75	82.5
30	Edward Tufte	@edwardtufte	53,459	75	89	82

Finally, we combined Big Data, Data Mining, and Data Science in one table, ranked by a combined score = Big Data influence + (Data Mining + Data Science influence)/2.

 

Table 8. Top 30 Big Data, Data Science, and Data Mining Influencers

N	Twitter	TwitterFollowers	Big Data influence	Data Science Influence	Data Mining Influence	Combined  score
1	@hmason	59,551	96	98	98	194
2	@hackingdata	22,055	92	93	93	185
3	@kirkdborne	34,394	94	91	91	185
4	@flowingdata	47,950	91	93	95	185
5	@doug_laney	29,472	95	90	89	184.5
6	@mgualtieri	46,831	96	89	88	184.5
7	@kdnuggets	36,636	92	91	93	184
8	@peteskomoroch	24,124	91	92	94	184
9	@bigdata	25,980	92	91	92	183.5
10	@analyticbridge	96,377	91	90	90	181
11	@merv	20,361	93	87	88	180.5
12	@eric_kavanagh	45,148	93	87	87	180
13	@strataconf	25,165	90	89	90	179.5
14	@claudia_imhoff	17,393	91	86	89	178.5
15	@ibmbigdata	83,224	92	87	86	178.5
16	@rick345	15,383	92	86	86	178
17	@bernardmarr	83,129	92	86	85	177.5
18	@werner	70,849	92	88	83	177.5
19	@zephoria	109,376	91	90	82	177
20	@tableau	59,683	89	86	89	176.5
21	@dpatil	27,495	91	92	77	175.5
22	@drewconway	13,320	86	89	90	175.5
23	@mrogati	13,818	87	88	89	175.5
24	@revodavid	15,796	87	87	89	175
25	@jure	11,857	86	82	92	173
26	@johnmyleswhite	12,738	84	88	88	172
27	@visualisingdata	19,989	85	85	88	171.5
28	@datajunkie	11,489	84	86	89	171.5
29	@edwardtufte	53,459	89	75	89	171
30	@jameskobielus	17,048	93	88	64	169

We also visualized the top 30 influencers in Tableau , with Y axis showing an average DM/DS influence and X axis showing Big Data influence.

Fig. 3: Big Data and Data Mining/Data Science top influencers.

Color is red if influence is higher in DM/DS topics, blue if in Big Data topics, and grey if equal . Circle size corresponds to the number of twitter followers.

Related:

• 10 Predictive Analytics Influencers You Need to Know
• InformationWeek 10 Big Data Pros To Follow On Twitter
• Top Big Data influencers of 2014, according to HadoopSphere