I received a tweet tonight from Monica Obrien, of Twenty Set, stating “two influentials I’d like to thank” and included a link to her latest blog post on Word of Mouth Marketing. She was referring to myself and Tim Jahn.

According to Monica’s recap she was calling me an influential based on criterion she had heard at a marketing meeting:

Only one person out of 10 is a true influential. Influentials have three traits:

• They try things just because they are new
• They tell stories to friends
• They get intrinsic value from sharing their stories

Note #1: Influentials are not people who like free stuff simply because it’s free! True influentials are happy to buy the things they are interested in.

Note #2: Bloggers are not necessarily influentials and influentials are not necessarily bloggers, though many influentials use blogs as an outlet for sharing.

Note #3: Influentials self-identify, because they are proactive about finding new things and sharing stories with their friends.

I’ll say it’s pretty cool to be considered among the 1 out of 10! Monica is certainly an influential herself. Her first book is due to come out in December!