Forget Donald Trump, Jimmy Fallon, Michael Bloomberg and Bill de Blasio. According to a study conducted by social media company PeerIndex, ESPN NFL insider Adam Schefter is the most influential tweeter in New York. 

New York Magazine notes that PeerIndex "uses a special set of algorithms to come up with a New York influence score it calls "Apple π," measuring interactions through responses and retweets." And apparently those algorithms have concluded that Schefter is the champ, above current and former mayors, late-night hosts, The Donald and athletes and entertainers like Carmelo Anthony and Nas. 

And since New York is the "media capital of the world" and as "social" as it gets, I suppose we can now conclude that Adam Schefter is the social media king of the world. Could someone please dub that in with this while photoshopping Schefty's face in place of Leo's? 

https://youtube.com/watch?v=kBwkJctDGjo

Here are the top 10, which include another ESPN personality in the No. 8 No. 9 spot:

1. Adam Schefter
2. Donald Trump
3. Jimmy Fallon
4. Piers Morgan (whom I thought was based in LA, but whatever)
5. Carmelo Anthony 
6. French Montana (who or whatever the hell that is)
7. Michael Bloomberg
8. Nas 
9. Darren Rovell
10. Action Bronson (see: comment from No. 6)

New York Daily News NBA writer Frank Isola placed 21st, ahead of Bill and Hillary Clinton, while Michelle Beadle placed 44th, just ahead of Katie Couric and just behind Jon Heyman of CBS Sports.  

But Schefter's position at the top just seems weird. I like the guy, and he's great at his job, but I wouldn't necessarily call him influential. Don't most people follow him just to get breaking news? He doesn't exactly share a ton of opinions on Twitter and isn't a pundit, analyst, politician, musician or entertainer. He does have a lot of followers, but Fallon, Morgan, Melo, Lana Del Rey, Anderson Cooper, Alicia Keys and Rachel Maddow still beat him in that area — some by quite a wide margin. 

From PeerIndex: 

One of the most striking features of the New York list is the lack of correlation between follower numbers and influence. PeerIndex doesn’t look at follower numbers when calculating scores. It is Authority and Engagement that results in higher numbers. Half of the top 20 have fewer than a million followers. And some individuals and brands have been able to make a massive impact on this New York community without necessarily commanding huge, celebrity-like numbers of followers. This goes to show that if you engage strategically and creatively with a clear target audience, you can have a huge amount of influence without needing to be a huge organisation.

Still, Schefter's doesn't strike us as the most influential tweeter among that group. But congrats to him, regardless. 

Adam Schefter, Broncos beat writer at the Rocky Mountain News to social media king of the world* in a little over a decade. 

* Yeah, we're playing it up a little

[New York Magazine]

About Brad Gagnon

Brad Gagnon has been passionate about both sports and mass media since he was in diapers -- a passion that won't die until he's in them again. Based in Toronto, he's worked as a national NFL blog editor at theScore.com, a producer and writer at theScore Television Network and a host, reporter and play-by-play voice at Rogers TV. His work has also appeared at CBSSports.com, Deadspin, FoxSports.com, The Guardian, The Hockey News and elsewhere at Comeback Media, but his day gig has him covering the NFL nationally for Bleacher Report.

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