Mindtouch Names the 50 Most Powerful Voices in Open Source

by Lisa Hoover - Mar. 17, 2010Comments (2)

Today is a good day to be Google's Chris Messina or Miguel de Icaza, founder of GNOME and lead of the Mono Project. According to collaboration software vendor Mindtouch, they're among the most powerful voices in open source. Using a combination of metrics that include the number of Twitter followers a person has and how often they're referenced in the blogosphere, the company named 50 individuals it says stand out in the crowded FOSS community.

Other notable names include CNet blogger Matt Asay and O'Reilly Media founder Tim O'Reilly. What's really interesting are some of the lesser known people who made the list, and who was left off.

Shelly Roche, CTO of FoodTree was estimated to be one of the most popular voice in open source based on her number of followers. More than 16,000 people tune in to her Twitter feed, making Roche 2.3 thousand times more popular than the average active person on Twitter. By comparison, Ubuntu's Jono Bacon only has a little over 4, 200 followers but made the list because he's a highly influential member of the community.

No list of this nature would be complete without a nod to Linus Torvalds who, interestingly, barely uses Twitter, has only about 5,800 followers, and follows no one in return. Mindtouch chose to include Torvalds because when he does speak, people listen.

"We actually debated whether to include Linus Torvalds due to his inactivity online. Torvald’s blog and Twitter feed are more about his family than open source communiqués. Yet we ultimately decided to include him because when he does communicate he generates a lot of attention. In fact, his recent purchase of a Google Nexus One generated an off the charts response," writes Mindtouch VP of Sales, Mark Fidelman.

The company notes that they are not the final authority on who the most important players are in the open source community. Indeed, change the metrics and data sources and you're likely to see an entirely different list emerge. One that includes names like Canonical's Mark Shuttleworth or Jaspersoft's Brian Gentile. Twitter makes for an interesting data source, but it would also be enlightening to see what shakes out in a list comprised of people of influence and popularity thanks to their blogging efforts. After all, Twitter is great for quick and random thoughts, but blog posts can convey so much more thought-provoking information, making it perhaps a better indicator of people who shape and drive open source efforts.

Check out Mindtouch's blog post for the full list, more on how data was collected, and a great one-click option for following all 50 people on Twitter. Who would you add if the list was expanded to include more names? Let us know in the comments.